It’s Opening Day in Baltimore and the clouds that hang over the start of the season have already begun with injuries and a split in Toronto. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss getting Gunnar Henderson on the field and where the innings are coming as Albert Suarez is the latest to leave the bullpen for the IL. Plenty of baseball ahead and a long season here at Baltimore Positive.
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive. It is a strange week. We have baseball at home. We have off days, we think, and on Wednesday, we will be together at Fauci. We will have the Maryland lottery. Scratch. Also have the magic eight ball. One lucky batch of these left before we get into spring here, we’re doing a whole month load of Maryland crab cake tours. We’re going to be at Costas next week. We’re going to be Cocos later on in the month, we’ll be back at Cooper’s north. We’re going to be at the Beaumont this month. All of our sponsors, all of the people that keep us fed and happy here into the spring. It is opening day. Luke Jones joins us here. He and I were in Toronto. We were in Buffalo. We were in Baltimore. We’ve been watching what’s going on in College Park, as well as the NFL owners meetings, which I have attended 13 of the last 16 years that are coinciding with Oriole baseball and opening day Orioles split it on the road in Toronto. Luke and I were there for at least half of that over the weekend. We appreciate all of the social media feedback and the folks that we saw up north of the border. Luke, how was that the Toronto thing for you? I mean, I know you went with a Venezuelan gang member like me. You’re shocked to get back in at the Peace Bridge, but, but we made it across it. You’ve got Niagara Falls a number seven on the top tourist trap list according to Huffington Post,
Luke Jones 01:21
yeah, how about that? As I said to you, Niagara Falls is very cool to see. I don’t know if I personally would have ever planned a trip just to do that, but that’s people. Other people would laugh about the fact that you go all the way to Toronto just to watch some baseball, but Well, the fact that you are old
Nestor Aparicio 01:37
enough to be my son, it felt very Clark Griswold, it felt very Look at that. All right, let’s get across the border. Yeah,
Luke Jones 01:44
yeah, exactly, exactly, but, but, no, it was a good trip. You know, for the Orioles, it’s a split, you know, a split on the road against the Al East opponent, it’s fine, you know, there’s nothing to be alarmed about in terms of the results, per se.
Nestor Aparicio 01:57
But Dodgers are five and oh sure.
Luke Jones 02:01
Or you could be oh and four like the Braves right now, which you know, how about that with San Diego? But I think what my big takeaway from the weekend, other than just the opportunity to see Roger center for the first time in my life, which was cool. I mean, as indoor ballparks go, old skydome has a little bit of sentimentality, I suppose, but, but I think
Nestor Aparicio 02:22
not for Bob Malachi, but that’s another Well, yeah,
Luke Jones 02:27
just in a general sense, but I think you come away from the weekend not really feeling any differently about the starting rotation. FM was good, not a whole lot to write home about after that. Sagano had the makings of a decent outing, but has the cramping issue and leaves in the fifth inning. The offense was feast or famine. They scored a lot of runs in the two wins, and they scored three runs in their two losses. And Friday night was a little bit different than Sunday in the sense of Friday, they didn’t have much traffic on the bases. Sunday, they had their chances. That was a very winnable ball game, and they didn’t do it. So I think the big takeaway from the weekend doesn’t really have to do with the results. It has to do with the fact that Albert Suarez is now on the IL Jordan westburg did not play Sunday. Brandon Hyde did not disclose why, but said he was only available in an emergency situation, although he suggested he should be in there for the home opener, and then really the one we’ll be keeping our eye on at least the next couple days. Colton cows are a head first slide in the first base, which I know you’re an old school guy, and I, I tend to be more on the old school side. There are few instances where I really like a head first slide in the first base. I don’t think that was one.
Nestor Aparicio 03:40
And he liked it on Pete Rose in this week in baseball, and it wasn’t second base. I think it was third base or first Yes. Well, I’m talking about first base, yeah. I mean, there are some, you know, other than a tag play, that’s about the only time where two outs anything in game six of a playoff game. Okay, baby. So, so
Luke Jones 03:56
he bends the bends the thumb back. He did stay in the game initially. So you hope that’s a sign that this isn’t anything major, but he didn’t bat in the ninth inning, so it’s just more of the same, right? Spring Training, health issues, health issues, health issues, and you get to the start of the regular season, and now more health issues. And you know, with Suarez, we’ll, we’ll keep an eye on that their pitching depth is what it is at this point in time, they already have Brian Baker and Matt Bowman both in their bullpen right now. We know about the rotation, but certainly you don’t want to be missing Colton Couser for a significant period of time, and we don’t know, right? I mean, it was, he was still getting checked out after the game. Hopefully we’ll have some clarity as the Orioles start this very brief. It’s not even a home stand, it’s just a home series, and then they’re back on the road on Friday. But certainly you don’t want to be missing cows or so at some point in time. It’s just
Nestor Aparicio 04:51
no bad news. You don’t have any good news here, other than two and two, really. I mean, I don’t. Is there anything you loved over the weekend? I mean, westburg hitting home runs. Well, in sitting home runs, just in a general Jackson holiday, getting yourself going a little bit like, Listen, you have a press pass. I don’t I have to be positive. They told me, if I want to get my press pass back, I have to be more positive about the team so and not focus so much on the business and the empty seats they’re eventually going to have this week. And And how about this, dude, you want me to bitch about something on opening happy Opening Day to everybody. I was with my dearest friend, Mike brooch, and I do want to plug him a little bit, because she finally got to see what he looked like when I put the pictures out. There was a young man I met in 1993 he was at that time. It turns out he was nine years old, eight years old, but he is two weeks older than my son, a year two years weeks younger than my son, a year younger than you. So he’s your age, but I knew him when he was eight years old. He used to come in. He was my first Luke Jones, I mean, no offense to Allen McCallum. Was before Allen. He was like the little baseball guy who would come into my studio and talk baseball with me in the 1990s um, he lives in North Carolina. Now he lives in Durham, North Carolina. And I always knew he was going to grow up to be like a hippie, liberal professor, which is exactly what he looks like. His hair is almost as long as mine. He teaches that at UNC Greensboro, and he teaches, you know, good stuff, you know, like law and order and international law, things like that, because he’s traveled the world and Dude, I don’t know anybody who knew more about baseball or loved baseball more 30 years ago, right? And he’s going on his way in life, and he likes baseball, but he likes a lot of other things, including his children. And I said to him, I’m like, Dude, you watch the games, right? He’s like, Nah, now we don’t get the games in North Carolina. Like, it’s not, you know, the stream and this and that. I’m like, dude, like, you’re a base you’re a baseball guy, you’re an Oriole guy. They have taken, wow, you know, I don’t get sometimes I get a weekend Game of the Week, or if they’re playing the Braves or on TV, I’m like, I don’t know what it’s like to not live here and try to be an Oriole fan. My buddy John Keller, who was you? You were with him four months. And he lives in Little Rock Arkansas, the pride of Dundalk, another federal government employee who’s been threatened for his his blue card, he doesn’t get the games either. Like, I’m blown away like at how poor the sport has done. Would not just keep a little nasty Nestor and having Mark fine telling me that I’m not a real media member, but you are. But the fact that they can’t get their games right. For people who love the game and want the game, and Friday night, I was in Toronto, you went to the game, I spiked a blister on my heel just trying to find the games as the season begins. If you want to get into the vibe, no one in the city of Toronto watched the game on Friday night. It wasn’t on in any of the bars. It wasn’t anywhere. Everybody was talking about six to two in the home or 92 in the home runs. And like all that, I can’t believe at how poor Major League Baseball has done. And we’re one of now three teams that don’t have an option at all. They lose fans every day on opening day. I mean, I got friends that want to follow the season because they are interested and they, they don’t have access to the games. It’s insane, man. Well, I’ll
Luke Jones 08:04
push back a little bit on the out of market thing. That’s actually the thing they do, right with MLB TV. You pay for it, and you get out of market games. Now, if you’re living in North Carolina, though, I would assume that’s territory still mass and territories territorial, short of getting fubo, which, you know, some some people have gone that option. I’ve gone that option because I got rid of satellite TV over the off season. Your options are limited. But if you’re completely out of the market, MLB TV, when it doesn’t go down like it did on Thursday afternoon, which I had a lot of people pointing that out to me on social media, generally speaking, that is actually one of the few products and things that I think baseball has gotten right. But for everyone who’s in market, well, tough luck. It gets blacked out. So I hear you,
Nestor Aparicio 08:49
this is where you get on the train. Sure, this is where the movie starts and you get in on it, or you don’t get in on it. You come to the games, or you don’t come to the games. You’re into the soap opera. And, you know, you know, I basically said this to broach and this is about, this is for anybody in the car today going down to the games. We can break down this and that and talk about it. But to follow baseball, for me, to follow baseball is to know who’s pitching tonight and know who’s in the lineup. You don’t need to watch every game. You watch three games a week. You follow the highlights. Do what I did on Friday night, watch the pitch cast. Fall asleep in the fifth inning, wake up. You come in the room, wake me up. And I look down on the pitch cast, and I could see what’s going on. You can even see the highlights. I mean, the holiday hit the home run on Friday night. Five minutes later, it’s on my timeline. I get to see what it looks like, whatever. But they really made this difficult on me as a person who loves sports, who loves promoting sports, and has been a part of this, but just in a general sense of like, the arrogance of the access to their games is just, I don’t know what to say. If there’s anything I would say to Katie Griggs, I’d say, you have a. You have a distribution and a a thickness problem for the people outside of the people who buy your Kool Aid, and I don’t know where they’re going to find the new people. When? Where’s the game? Oh, eight on tonight, you gotta buy some service in order to watch the game, the second game of the season on Friday night. I don’t know. I found it to be kind of a rude awakening, and especially when I was in Toronto and they took my press pass and like to just all of that, I just found like, Oh, Mr. Rubenstein, you’re the same as Mr. Angelo’s just a little different.
Luke Jones 10:34
Well, I mean, in a general sense, I’d like to tell you that that’ll get better, but all of sports are trending this way. I mean, there’s going to be more streaming in the NBA. New TV deal that’ll be kicking in football is already trending that way, to the point where we have playoff games that are being shown on streaming services. So I don’t know what to tell you on that front other than I’ve said this, other than mate, perhaps a gunner Henderson contract extension, which, again, we’ve talked about it, Boris, clients, all that different stuff. The biggest show of goodwill that the new ownership group could have made happen for 2025 would have been an in market, direct to consumer streaming option. The number of people that I’ve talked to, whether it’s fans and interacting with people on social media, whether it’s people that go to my church, all walks of life, people I know
Nestor Aparicio 11:27
that old people find the games. I mean, I’m 56 and I’m not farting around with giving everybody my
Luke Jones 11:32
credit card. You know what I mean? One Direct TV. Oh, you mean for the string. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 11:36
I just mean they have a lot of older fans, just in a general sense, who are not technological sack. I understand people would also say MLB At Bat apps to come to gate, like just all of the just little things they do that are restrictive or lead you into doors where you have to go down hallways to find things I just, I don’t know what I’m gonna write about it this week, because I hear about it as much as you do. Yeah, today it won’t be anything. Everybody’s going to the game, they’re going to the game, they’re going to drink, they’re going to get drunk, they’re going to half watch the game, as they usually do, and then they might come back a couple times this year or not, and but they don’t have that 3.6 million fan base. When you were a boy, Mike broach was a boy, my son was they’re not dealing. They shouldn’t be dealing from a level of arrogance. And that’s where I get off on Katie Griggs and Mark fine and how I’ve been treated in this radio station, and not, quite frankly, me or you, how my audience has been treated, how how a citizen has been treated. I am. I’m offended. I’m wildly offended. And, yeah, I mean, I’m just saying, just as a general, are we going to get them? Well, because you and I spend a lot of time talking about on the field, and every time we talk about on the field, you start spending their money because they need more pitching, right? I mean, they do. Every time fans talk to you about them. There’s when you go sign gunner, when you go give it some money, Mr. Ruby, I’ll take a selfie with you. But do you when you go spend some money? He spent a lot of money, you know, like Sugano and I mean there, whether they spend it well, is up for debate. Payroll up 50% this year. It’s more than that, right? Let me 60s and they were in like the 90s last year, right? I am looking
Luke Jones 13:24
it up right now because I want to be accurate for you. So their payroll is, and this is according to cots, which is on baseball.
Nestor Aparicio 13:33
By the way, they had five and a half million last week. Just bring it in the picture, right? Yeah, with Kyle
Luke Jones 13:37
Gibson, it’s so it’s looking like it’s at 167 million, which is middle of middle of the pack, and that’s the most anybody’s ever spent, right? That’s the highest payroll they were. They were really close to that territory at the end of the 16 they were really close to that now we can certainly debate how well it was spent, and you can debate how well it was spent this off season, but you know that that’s kind of where they were. And last year, let me pull it up. Like I said, I want to be accurate here. Last year, they were at 93 on opening day. Now keep in mind, they added, as the year went on, they picked up effluent, some of the other, you know, trade deadline acquisitions, but yeah, it’s very sizable. There’s no question about almost doubled. But at the same time, the bar was so I mean, they were at the very bottom. They were there with Oakland just a few, just a couple years ago, really, but
Nestor Aparicio 14:33
it’s gone. The reason anybody’s coming out and buying tickets today, specifically, the reason they’ll buy tickets tomorrow, Luke, is because they saw the game last night and wanted to go tomorrow. And their daughter, or their nieces, in your case, are like, Hey, Uncle Luke, I’d like to go to a baseball game. Don’t you go to games? Yeah. Well, teach me baseball. Teach me baseball. Sure, one of the greatest scenes for me. You know how much I love Getty Lee, you know, I’m in Toronto on Thursday. I paid my. Dollars Canadian to get in. I’m walking, walking, walking, which got me the blister. And Getty is sitting down in row three behind home plate. Getty had his grandson with him key, and Gettys a score keeper. Getty had his he has a book. Getty’s keeping score with the number two pencil. And like that part of baseball, and it doesn’t need to be keeping score or whatever. But it even is like, I’m in skydome, and I’m looking up at all of the scoreboards they had in there, and it’s like the fifth inning, and I’m trying to say, What did holiday do the second time up? I’m looking at like the at bats, and they didn’t even have it up. So I’m like, I gotta keep score to even know what he did last time. Because with all these scoreboards, it doesn’t say grounded out to second and the fourth like even the steinage and score. I’m trying to figure it out as a fan. I’m not trying to be bitchy about it today, but I’m trying to help them. I’m trying to say I have people around me everywhere who used to really love baseball, and I’m one of them, and they need to make me love it again. They need to make everybody love it again. They need to make a city love it again. And you know what? They probably need a guy like me to help him make people love it and they don’t even know it, and they’ve treated me like sub human trash. They’ve refused to even get in the room with me. So I am a I promote baseball, I promote Baltimore, I promote sports, I promote going to games. I promote watch the game today, and let’s talk about it with me tomorrow. So when they when they do a poor job, and it’s been poor for 30 years, I think we’d all agree with that. They’ve done a lot of poor things here for 30 years, I would like to think these new people would be doing more than making bobble heads and taking selfies and having their key Ivy League executives treat me like trash. I’d like to think it would get better than this, but it hasn’t, and it’s opening day, and I’m pissed about it, but not I’m pissed on behalf of the community, because this, these are not the steps they should be taking going to war with me. Having people in North Carolina who love baseball not be able to get it, have people at your church come up to Luke. How do I get the games? What’s going on Apple TV? What are they doing like? So from a fundamental standpoint, I think OB Day is a perfect day to talk about it, because it will be full today, and it will be 77 and it might rain. It might not. I don’t know. First things first, they moved the game up. That was a great idea, especially if they get all nine innings in, right? Yeah,
Luke Jones 17:25
yeah, it was. I mean, the question will be, maybe they should have moved it up a little more. But half an hour, you know, we didn’t even send out the WS wmst text alert, because I think first of all, all tickets are electronic at this point, so I’m everybody notification for that. The Orioles put it out on social they talked about it during the game. During the game, all that. We retweeted it, we tweeted it, we posted the press release. So, yeah, it was a good idea. We’ll see if it was enough time. I mean, maybe they could have put push it up to two, or maybe you just need to truncate your pre game introduction, you know, that whole ceremony a little bit. So, so we’ll see. But, but, yeah. I mean, everything you just covered, look some of what you lay out there is the reality of non NFL sports in 2025 and figuring out where your place in the relevancy of sports and the relevancy of how people consume and spend their make it easy For me, that’s all. So there’s that. So again, I come back to it’s simplistic. And I’ll say, I’ll probably, I would acknowledge, I’m sure they have some headaches in terms of carrier agreements with cable and satellite, with the gnats being part of mass. In one more year, I fully acknowledge there’s probably some complications that make it difficult, but I’d like to
Nestor Aparicio 18:45
hear Katie Creek say that to me and to everyone else you know, you know what?
Luke Jones 18:50
Even with those complications, you’re a billionaire, the the owner is a billionaire. Figure that out. Figure that out some way, even if it has to be on a little more on the pricier side, than than $20 a month. Maybe it would have to be 30 this year, just because you have headaches with XFINITY, you know, go down the list, and that would really bang people out. And you better have a good team. If you chart, you know what I’m saying, like, I mean, at this point, you better have a good team, right? I mean, I mean, that’s, that’s kind of, you know, it’s a non starter at this point, if you don’t, then, yeah. I mean, a lot of this is not going to go all that far, but, I mean, it really is just a matter of presenting a product that people want to watch and look, as I’ve pointed out to you, and as we talked about even at Pizza John’s less than two weeks ago, I mean, they’ve won 192 games the last two years. They’ve done well on the field. Now, it hasn’t translated to October success. And we can certainly talk about that. And we’ve talked about it plenty with the ravens, in the wake of John Harbaugh getting another, you know, a three year contract extension, where the ravens, I’ve called them regular season roll. Royalty, but you do get to a certain point in time where people are like, Hey, let’s go the the idea isn’t just to win a bunch of games in the regular season. You want to play deep into the postseason. So that’s the next objective. We’re going to see what the pitching is going to look like. You know, you asked me, this was several minutes ago. You asked me about positives from the weekend. I thought Felix Batista looked good on Saturday. I think Ryan O’Hearn has smacked the heck out of the ball, even with some results not going his way. You mentioned holiday, you mentioned Jordan Westbury. I mean, it’s not as though they split. It was fine. But, yeah, when you come home, and especially you’re going to have this very brief three game set, you know, it’s going to be warm. You know, there’s storms in the forecast. You have an off day Thursday, Gunner Henderson could be activated and play in the finale. I mean, he hit a home run in Norfolk on Sunday. So, you know, things are trending up with him. But you know, this is your chance. I mean, these are the first couple snapshot opportunities for people to get out to the ballpark and like what they see, there’s gonna be a new sound, sound system at Camden Yards, for example. I mean, for people who have for years told me, and believe me, I I empathize. Sitting in the press box, I can’t hear what the PA announcer says. I mean, it’s, it’s brutal, so hopefully that’s better in terms of a, don’t say that out loud, because they’ll remove you. Oh, they know that. They know Katie Griggs, I’ve heard her mention that fans have talked about their you know, the sound system being what it is. So, you know, these are a lot of these things are incremental steps. A lot of these things are things that aren’t going to bring people back in droves, but they’re steps. And they’re steps you need to take in the right direction. And the cumulative impact of taking positive steps, multiple positive steps, is you will bring people back, and you will get more people interested. But as I’ve said, if there was one thing I could point to, if you would ask me a year ago, right? A year ago, David Rubenstein was doing the press conference. He was officially becoming the control person. All that, if you would ask me a year ago, one thing the Orioles really would benefit from doing at that point, I would have said, then a direct to consumer in stream in market streaming option. And they still don’t have one on opening day. Will they have one? Can they work something out, even to do it at the All Star break? I don’t know. Or is it just going to be, sorry, tough rocks, you got to wait until 2026 I think that’s a missed opportunity. And and again, I I’m sure there are headaches and hoops and financial complications as it pertains to the NATs and one last year with mass and in the way that it’s constructed at the moment. But that doesn’t mean you’re not missing people in the process. If that’s you know, if you’re just throwing your hands up so you know that that’s something that, for me, is a miss. And I get it. They’re inheriting, they’ve inherited something that has been a mess. But if you have a messy kitchen, right? You have a messy house, get to work, staring at it, looking at it, does it doesn’t make
Nestor Aparicio 23:03
it clear what I do, make a list and get to work. It’s what,
Luke Jones 23:07
literally. But that said, this is still an exciting club, I think. You know, I haven’t looked I haven’t actually done a count, but I do think they have a better promotional schedule this year than past years. I think they’ve beefed that up a little bit, even some giveaways during the week, which I think is something you and I’ve talked about a lot where, you know, even big market teams have done a lot of that in recent years,
Nestor Aparicio 23:28
because that was an old school mantra, right? Of all the games is, don’t take a D game, a Tuesday night game against the Sacramento A’s, and try to make it a B game. Take a B game and try to make it an A plus. Take a Friday night where you’re going to get 30 and get 45 instead of trying to take a Tuesday, where you’re going to get eight and turn it into 14, because you’re never going to get 35 on a Tuesday. Theoretically, theoretically, yeah,
Luke Jones 23:56
but that, but that’s also where, you know, you can do a giveaway that’s just, you know, something that’s on the smaller side, but it’s still a token to say, hey. You know, the thing
Nestor Aparicio 24:04
they always did was a $5 night on Monday night or Tuesday night to get people out the budget. Bargain night, bargain night, kids night, student night. I mean, they were doing the student nights on Friday nights for a long time, and they had 20,000 drunk kids in the upper deck and Id people going around trying to shake people like you down 20 years ago. Luke Johnson, here he is Baltimore. Luke, He will be at the ballpark as a W, N, S T, Baltimore positive media member. I’m going to be here as a Dundalk schlub that owned a radio station for 30 years at done radio for 35 years, and has now been really offended by Katie Griggs and Mark fine and David Rubenstein so and once I get offended, I probably don’t get unoffended. But that’s okay. I’m here. We will continue to talk about them, watch them, opine about them, and fairly and reasonably discuss the baltimores, because I’ve been doing that here for a long, long time. It’s a lot harder and harder to be fair and reasonable when you lose 100 games every year. Or when you’re winning, and when the level of expectations up, and when you’ve raised the bar, raise the payroll, raise the voice of leadership, and come take a selfie with me, and I’m going to have a bobble head and all that. You know, run the team like, like a real team. Don’t ban media members. Don’t get people to run around. Figure your fans out. Figure out how they want to come to the ballpark and do better. I don’t know what else to say. Do better. I mean, they’ve had six months of the off season. Honestly, Luke, I haven’t heard or seen much of them in six months, and now they roll out the carpet. It’s opening day. I mean, they really and this is where you and shining. Got nasty with them two weeks ago about their off season and stuff, and I’ve been more like from a roster standpoint, I am patient. Given their I’ve been the most patient. So to have their PR guy say that I’ve, you know, said things or done things, or haven’t, I’ve been positive about them on the field. Because I do believe they did spend a lot of money. I didn’t believe they had two, $50 million worth of pitcher to go get. I’ll hear all of that. But now they gotta go play baseball on a day by day basis, and Suarez is injured. We haven’t seen Henderson yet. God bless him. I mean, without him, I don’t think they’re as good as we’d like to think they are, unless he’s back and good. Hey, rushman, a couple days into this holiday, couple days into this westburg before the injury, or whatever thing, the thing was on Sunday, their stars and cows has got an injury now too, but they’re star players. Their their first round draft picks are guys that have played, like first round draft picks, the guys that are going to make $100 million or more playing baseball, all five of those guys are going to make 100 million bucks playing baseball. They just are, based on what I saw Tony taters get like all that, they’re all going to make a lot of money. This is the point where they have them all that early cubs, period, that you know that they can really make a movement here while the Yankees have injuries and stuff. But this has been a sort of a rattling start to the season to not have a full compliment of players. And we talk about this in football all the time, that hardball who just got his up, his contract for life, that on opening day for the football season, you’d like to think that, like Lamar is going to be playing. You’d like to think that I saw, I saw Derek Henry running up the hill with the with the with the the chains. I’d like to think that their star players are going to be on the field. The Orioles don’t really have that going on right now. It position or pitching that they’ve had attrition, and it’s opening date and it’s not even April dude and and they’re sort of playing with one hand tied behind their back, certainly without Henderson today. But this hasn’t been a good six weeks for them since they got the series, it really hasn’t been two and two. I’m not judging the record. I’m just saying they they’d like to have their full roster, and I don’t know if they’re ever going to get there. They never really got there last year. They did for a week or two with Bradish in the pitching that they had, but I don’t know that the vision that Mike Elias had for the team is going to be realized, where they get the full compliment of their players healthy
Luke Jones 28:03
two words, torpedo bats. That’s the I mean, you made mention of the Yankees. I mean the Yankees over the weekend and hitting home runs, and your boy, Nestor Cortez giving up three home runs in the first three pitches of his outing. But no Bronx generosity. I hear what you’re saying, and I think it’s important to recognize me. Gunner is going to be back this week, you know, whether it’s Thursday, whether it’s Friday. I mean, he’s looking very close to ready at Norfolk, and we knew it wasn’t going to be long. I mean, this was a matter of in fact, I would another takeaway, and I included this in my 12 Orioles thoughts at Baltimore positive.com you can check that out as I kind of recap. I did one on opening day, and then I recap the last three games of the series over the weekend. But you know, they they did with Gunner Henderson, what they probably should have done with Jorge Mateo, is put him on the high L and let him go get at bats at Norfolk. And because, I mean, Mateo hasn’t hit and he made a couple bad throws on Sunday anyway. Look, you’re going to deal with injuries over the course of the season. And I you and I talked about the pitching, so much, starting pitching, starting pitching, starting pitching, and then the bullpen after Kittredge went down with the with the knee surgery. But you know that we talked about this apparent strategy from Mike Elias of trying to build, you know, kind of this bottom heavy rotation of guys that are innings eater eaters and, you know, durable all of that. But, you know, they’re already their depth is already being tested. I mean, Suarez is on the the IL now, and he was in the pen. I get it. But if something happens to one of your five starters right now, Grayson Rodriguez is just starting to throw bullpens. Kyle Gibson’s at least a couple more weeks away. So, you know, Chase McDermott and Trevor Rogers started the year. Gibson thinks
Nestor Aparicio 29:53
fascinating to me, because there is a veteran guy who had every intention to pitch and every intention of getting paid. Why isn’t he? Ready to pitch. Why isn’t he more? You know what? I mean,
Luke Jones 30:01
like, there’s always, but there’s only so much you can do, though. I mean, he was throwing bullpens. But, I mean, how do you throw to live hitters when you’re not if you’re not with a team? I mean, I mean, I guess you could try to throw to some high school kids, and you’re the homestead homies when you need them, right? But you know you’re still going to need a guy to to ramp up it. I just would think
Nestor Aparicio 30:19
a guy like that can ramp up quicker, and would have been much more ready to step in and pitch on opening day. Being a veteran guy who’s got a lot of money, he’s looking for a lot of money, that he could get himself ready to be a week or two away from pitching not, hey, I got to start spring training against CNA. You know, I would hope that that’s not, I just, I don’t go to the guy, and again, I don’t have a press pass, you do, but like I I know from the outside, and I thought they signed a guy like that, I’m a little shocked a week later that he’s just not up and available for a couple of innings today, because I just thought he’s a major league pitcher who wasn’t injured, right? He’s not working back with something, right?
Luke Jones 30:58
That’s how guys get injured, though, that Jordan Montgomery was a great example that last year, I think back to Alex Cobb. You know, the year where everything burned down for the Orioles and 18. Remember, they signed him late. He needed a little bit of time. He came up, got hurt pretty quickly. Wasn’t good like so I hear what you’re saying. There’s merit to that, but at the same time, you’re talking about someone in their mid 30s, approaching their late 30s, and Gibson acknowledged he didn’t know if the he didn’t know if the phone was going to ring. You get to that point you’re you get ready for
Nestor Aparicio 31:30
the phone to ring. Joe Flacco could go play he was right now, because he thinks like that. Yeah, but this is why
Luke Jones 31:35
he he’s going to be ready at some point in the next few weeks, not two months from now, right? I mean, these guys do a lot of ramping up and all that. So I hear what you’re saying, but you also need to be smart, because you just gave him 5 million. You throw him out there before he’s ready, then you might as well throw flush that $5 million
Nestor Aparicio 31:52
throw it in some high school and hurts himself March 15, did he? Then he doesn’t get signed at all. Right? Yeah, but, but I just Yeah. I have questions about that as a journalist, as a fan, just sort of like that. It’s a little shocking to me. That’s all that. When I saw him signed, I’m like, good, that dude will be wrecked. Dude ain’t gonna miss a beat. That dude’s a pro. He’s gonna be ready to go. I’m just a little shocked, maybe not today, but like that, he’d be in Norfolk doing three innings today, and like they’d be really getting him ready to go, because I don’t know if you know this, Luke, they need pitching. They got guys hurt right now, and that’s the reason they signed him, was to be ready. And I’m that part flusters me a little bit.
Luke Jones 32:31
I would also say, in fairness, and I know he said this down in Sarasota after they signed him, the flu went through his family and that actually they had actually had some contact with him. I want to say it was two weeks before they signed him, so they had checked in with them, and then they checked in with them again. And his whole family was down for the count, as many people were this winter, you know, with all kinds of different stuff going on going around. If you got kids, everybody’s sick. So I think, in all, and I’m not saying that completely erases your question, and that it’s a valid question, I think that, I think that threw a monkey wrench into it a little bit. But I think
Nestor Aparicio 33:04
he knew all along, if he was going to be on a team on opening day, it would behoove him to be sort of, kind of read a pitch and not say, oh, it’s February 10. I got a I’ll see in May. You know, like, and again, that’s a little shocking, that’s right. And again, to be clear, this wasn’t a guy who hasn’t picked up a baseball in three months, but yeah, how much do you do? You know, how much is too much? When are you gonna see him in a game? Luke, it’s, it’s March 31 What did he tell Elias last week when he signed him? April 20, may 1. When is it gonna be? Do you think you just
Luke Jones 33:33
to me, you just gave the range that I would have said, you know, somewhere between the third week in April, which, I think that would probably be ambitious. I think if that happens, he’s probably on a pitch count, but may 1, if he’s not pitching by then, then I yeah, I’m really asking some questions on because keep in mind, I mean, they signed him, you know, of what, less than a week before the start of the season. So we’re talking about someone not even a first week in the camp of Aldo Jimenez Giovanni Gallardo, kind of a signing. So, so I hear you, but yeah. I mean, at this point, man, you need to keep guys healthy. I mean, it sounds like the Sagano cramping thing was more of a hydration issue. You hope that’s all it is. He’s he, he spoke after the game and said that he dealt with that a little bit in Japan. So hopefully it was just a matter of some nerves, and he was sweating a little bit more all that. But yeah, they can’t afford to lose anyone else. I mean, they’re, we’re already, like I said, we’re already talking about a couple guys in the pen who you really didn’t want in the pen, although I’ll say, in fairness, Brian bakers looked really good. I will say that he looked very good his last outing in Toronto. But man, you don’t want to be losing anyone else at this point. I mean, we’re not even the we’re not even the Tax Day, and they’re already dipping into reserves and who’s a triple A and claiming guys and trading, you know, acquiring pitchers for cash considerations and all
Nestor Aparicio 34:56
that. And they’re spending money. Yeah, they never would have spent, or had to spend. And, well, they’ve had it. I mean, they had it, yeah. I mean, crying for John Angelos is something that, yeah, these networks have done it, and Jeff Barker did it at the sun and everybody $2 billion and, you know, they couldn’t buy a relief pitcher when they’re in the stretch two years ago. It’s insane.
Luke Jones 35:17
And I will say, because you, you asked me, and I had mentioned it. I 2017 their payroll was $164 million
Nestor Aparicio 35:27
above 150 in
Luke Jones 35:28
16 and 17. They were ninth and 10th in Major League Baseball payroll. So now they were they spending more than they had at that point in time in terms of where they were with massen and the legal dispute, litigation all that. Yeah, probably, but, and we could certainly talk about whether that was money well spent at that point in time. But yeah, they’ve been in this territory. You know, they’re back to that territory. And the question will be, what is the ceiling over these next few years, as these got young guys get into arbitration or making more money, as you’re trying to augment, you know, whether it’s long term deals or more one year contracts for pitchers, I mean, you got to pay them, you know? I mean, even Charlie Morton, who did not look very good on Friday night, is making $15 million so we’ll see how it plays out. But you know, there’s still, still lots I like about this team. But, man, the pitching, it feels like the threads are already starting to break on the rope, and it’s just like, all right, you know, this is it’s a little early in the campaign for that. Yeah, yeah. So, you know, just settle in play baseball, get through a handful of games without anyone being hurt, and just kind of settle into and let the season breathe a little bit. And I think if they can do that, I think they’ll be okay. It doesn’t mean they’re going to be 100 win outfit, but I still think they’re plenty good enough to be a playoff team. And as you have pointed out over and over and over, see what happens as we approach the trade deadline in terms of more pitching, or what moves they could potentially make, anything on the Red Sox while they’re here. I mean, we’re not, we’re not gonna have six chances to talk about them this year. I didn’t even call Dan Shaughnessy or Bob Ryan this week. Yeah, anything on them? I mean, a tough, tough start for them, but lots of expectations. I think if you kind of look, they’ve kind of been the trendy pick for the Al East in the wake of the Cole and Luis heel injuries for the Yankees. You know, we’re going to see Derek crochet on Wednesday. You know, he’s going to go against effluent. So that’ll be a nice pitching match up Tanner how goes in the finale. And, you know, two lefties and Cade povidge And Sean Newcomb for the home opener. But obviously, Bregman was one of the biggest additions anyone made in the Al east. Yeah,
Nestor Aparicio 37:47
they did things in the off season to augment and that makes them more exciting to their fan base, whether it is or isn’t. But
Luke Jones 37:53
I would also say they’re also coming from a lower place than where the Yankees and the Orioles are, for example. So you know, we’ll see how it plays out. I mean, the Devers thing was definitely weird for them, in terms of him wanting to play third base and it being obvious, you know, eyeball test or metrics that fregmans A better third baseman. You know, with Devers, you know, Devers wasn’t healthy over the course of the spring. So, you know, they had some drama. You know, they had players commenting on who should make the roster, and who should it, you know, just kind of stuff like, you know, can you imagine Jordan Westberg saying, you know, trying to tell Mike Elias, indirectly, telling Mike Elias publicly, how to do his job. I mean, they’re just some weird things in their camp, but hey, they’re talented, and the Orioles need to play good baseball, and they need to play a CRISPR brand of baseball. I thought the defense at times was a little sloppy over the weekend. So look, it’s the first week of the season again. As I say to you, good or bad, you kind of let it breathe for a little while, but gotta stay healthy, you know? We can’t. Don’t want to be sending out any more. Wnst Baltimore, positive text alerts that are bad news. You know, I want to send out the one that’s gunner Henderson is being activated. But, you know, certainly don’t want to be hearing anymore. And, you know, kind of bracing the see what happens with cows or and, you know, see just how serious the shoulder issue is for Albert Suarez. It’s
Nestor Aparicio 39:14
interesting. You know, with the banning of me by the by the local sports teams that we’re not covering the NFL owners meetings right now, Sashi Brown’s down their mouth and off, or whoever wants to hear him, John’s got his three years. So there’s ravens news. There’s going to be NFL news. It is a big week here, obviously, March Madness and the whole Kevin Willard stench on the backside of that. But it is opening day, and on Wednesday, we’re going to celebrate with crab cakes. I’m going to have the Maryland lottery scratch offs giveaway from the magic eight ball batch, my final batch of that let me get some monopolies to give away before it’s all over. So I can get a Community Chest. Uh, ravens are going to be doing things the next couple of weeks, so we’ll be monitoring them as well. And the Red Sox are in town Wednesday night, 635 And we’re going to be at fade Lee’s all afternoon talk of baseball next week. We’re going to be a Costas. And much love to everyone at Costas. I spent most of the day Sunday in Dundalk, Connery Connolly Funeral Home, across from my high school, honoring Costas tree and to philos tree on to Philos. And just a lot of tears shedding Dundalk this week. So I haven’t had a lot of chance to talk about mister Costas, but we’re going to be there next week. We will talk about him and a lot. There was a lot of conversation on my timeline over the weekend as well. So it’s a baseball season. It’s an NFL owners meeting week. The Terps are in trouble and the Orioles are home. See you down at Fauci. I’m Nestor. He’s Luke. We are wnst. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, happy opening day. We’re two and two. We’re.
