The loss of Zach Eflin and how it impacts Orioles pitching

We knew the Orioles would need Dean Kremer back in Baltimore at some point but we didn’t think it’d be this soon. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the Tuesday night elbow injury to Zach Eflin and the current bullpen strain for the Birds as the first week proves choppy for rookie skipper Craig Albernaz.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Host a dedicated segment on the next show to break down the recent series, including bullpen strain and rotation issues, using all of Thursday after the series to discuss what went well and what did not.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Prepare and execute the ‘Maryland Crab Cake Tour’ segment at Faidley’s on Lexington Market next Friday during the Giants series, including coordinating the live broadcast and associated sponsor integrations.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Coordinate and conduct an interview with Stephen O Miles during the Faidley’s segment to discuss John Miller and his return to Baltimore, including ensuring he sits in on the show.
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Provide fresh Maryland Lottery scratch-off tickets for listeners to play at the Faidley’s event next Friday.

Zach Eflin’s Elbow Injury and Its Impact on the Orioles

• Nestor Aparicio introduces the topic of Zach Eflin’s elbow injury and its impact on the Orioles’ bullpen.
• Luke Jones discusses Eflin’s back surgery and how he worked hard to return for the season.
• Jones explains that Eflin’s elbow issue was discovered during a game, leading to his removal from the game.
• The conversation touches on the potential severity of the injury and its implications for Eflin’s season.

Zach Eflin’s Pitching Performance and Injury Details

• Luke Jones elaborates on Eflin’s pitching performance, noting his strikeouts and effective pitches.
• Jones mentions a lengthy visit from the umpire and the training staff during Eflin’s game.
• The discussion includes speculation about the cause of Eflin’s elbow discomfort and its relation to his back issues.
• Jones emphasizes the importance of imaging to determine the extent of the injury.

Impact of Eflin’s Injury on the Orioles’ Bullpen

• Luke Jones discusses the overworked state of the Orioles’ bullpen and the need for relief pitchers.
• The conversation highlights the challenges faced by the bullpen in the first week of the season.
• Jones mentions the potential return of Dean Kramer to the rotation to alleviate some of the pressure on the bullpen.
• The discussion includes the importance of having a deep rotation to manage the workload of the bullpen.

Comparison of Baseball and Football Injuries

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones compare the nature of injuries in baseball and football.
• Jones explains that baseball injuries, especially for pitchers, can be more catastrophic and impactful.
• The conversation touches on the emotional toll of injuries on players and the team.
• Aparicio notes the difference in injury expectations between baseball and football.

Orioles’ Bullpen Strain and Management Challenges

• Luke Jones discusses the challenges faced by Craig Albernaz in managing the bullpen.
• The conversation includes the overuse of certain relievers and the need for fresh arms.
• Jones mentions the importance of having a reliable bullpen to support the starting rotation.
• The discussion highlights the need for better performance from the bullpen to avoid losing games.

Orioles’ Rotation and Depth Concerns

• Luke Jones and Nestor Aparicio discuss the performance of the Orioles’ starting rotation.
• The conversation includes the need for starters to go deeper into games to reduce the workload on the bullpen.
• Jones mentions the potential return of Dean Kramer and other prospects to bolster the rotation.
• The discussion touches on the importance of having a strong starting five to ensure success.

Orioles’ Offensive Performance and Individual Contributions

• Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the offensive contributions of key players like Adley Rutschman, Pete Alonso, and Gunnar Henderson.
• The conversation includes the importance of consistent performance from the offense to support the pitching staff.
• Jones highlights the need for better approaches and results from the offense to improve overall team performance.
• The discussion touches on the potential for improvement in offensive production as the season progresses.

Orioles’ Upcoming Schedule and Strategic Adjustments

• Luke Jones and Nestor Aparicio discuss the Orioles’ upcoming schedule and the need for strategic adjustments.
• The conversation includes the importance of regrouping and making necessary changes to improve performance.
• Jones mentions the potential impact of an off-day on the team’s recovery and readiness for the next series.
• The discussion highlights the need for better planning and management to ensure the team’s success.

Orioles’ Bullpen Depth and Future Prospects

• Luke Jones discusses the depth of the Orioles’ bullpen and the potential return of key relievers.
• The conversation includes the importance of having a reliable bullpen to support the starting rotation.
• Jones mentions the need for better performance from the bullpen to avoid losing games.
• The discussion touches on the potential impact of future acquisitions and promotions on the bullpen.

Orioles’ Lineup Strategy and Opposing Team Tactics

• Luke Jones and Nestor Aparicio discuss the Orioles’ lineup strategy and how opposing teams are attacking the team.
• The conversation includes the importance of making adjustments to counteract opposing team tactics.
• Jones mentions the need for better performance from key players in the lineup to support the team.
• The discussion highlights the importance of having a balanced and effective lineup to ensure success.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Zach Eflin, elbow injury, bullpen strain, Orioles, Dean Kramer, Trevor Rogers, Craig Albernaz, pitching staff, rotation, Tommy John surgery, Adley Rutschman, Pete Alonso, Gunnar Henderson, bullpen management, off-day.

SPEAKERS

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Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones

Nestor Aparicio  00:02

Welcome home. We are W, N, S T, am 1570 task, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive, positively into a baseball season where things go wrong in the baseball season, and sometimes things even go wrong in my basement, and I have a flood and a plumbing problem, and I need to call barn and Dermer, the comfort guys. That actually happened, oh, about 15 minutes ago, things have been going wrong with the pitching staff with the Orioles as well. Luke Jones was at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Tuesday night, just under 500 it’s not a good start at home this week, especially against these two teams. But Dean Kramer, come on down.

Luke Jones  00:42

Yeah. I mean, we said it from the moment that he was optioned to trip away Norfolk. We said he’s going to be back sooner than later. We didn’t know exactly how it would occur, but it’s pitching. It breaks and I mean, I feel for Zach Eflin, because, by all accounts, worked his butt off when he had that back surgery back in August. The timeframe, at that point in time, whether he was going to be back with the Orioles or not, was probably was back for spring training, but probably going to ramp him up slowly, maybe missed the first three weeks, first month of the season, and lo and behold, he showed up for spring training, ready to go. I mean, this isn’t the back it’s an elbow issue, and if you watched his start, the pitch efficiency wasn’t as great as you’d like it to be for how good his stuff was, but he’s getting lots of swing and miss. I mean, he had seven strikeouts in three and two thirds innings that matched his season high from a year ago. Change up was really good. Curveball was getting some swing and miss, but it was interesting. Drew French came out the pitch prior, and had a very lengthy visit to the point where the umpire came out, and even as the umpire reached the hill, there was still a little bit of conversation going on. And I thought to myself, that’s a little strange. And then he throws one more pitch, and then Albernaz and the training staff comes out, and he leaves the game. And then we find out not long after that, it’s right elbow discomfort. So you know he’s gonna, he’s going on the Il. That’s obvious anytime you know whether this turns out to be something major or whether it’s on the minor side of elbow issues, it’s at least an IL stint, we know that, but he’s going to have the imaging. They’re bringing back Albert Suarez to help out with the pen, because the pen’s just been really overworked. Let’s face it, this first time through the rotation, other than Trevor Rogers wasn’t ideal, you know, in terms of getting deep into games. So they’ll do that. The assumption is Dean Kramer’s going to be back here and making a start at some point here in the very near future, but disappointing for Zach Eflin, disappointing for, you know, not a guy that you necessarily viewed as one of the ceiling guys, but this guy started opening day last year. This guy started a playoff game for the Orioles two years ago. So we know he’s capable, but you feel for him. It’s hard to say whether this, in any way, is related to the back, but I’ll throw this out there. He had talked about it in spring training, that the back was something he dealt with for a few years. And if you actually look at some of the stat cast data, his arm slot had dropped the last few years, I think, to account for that. And he even talked about that, well, his arm slot was back up higher than it had been the last few years. And you know, I always use this term with you, the kinetic chain, right? The idea of anything in your mechanics possibly changing, even if it meant for the better, in terms of him feeling better and throwing the ball better, you don’t always know what impact that might have on the you’re stressing

Nestor Aparicio  03:43

another part of your body, for sure, and

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Luke Jones  03:44

you’re stressing it in a different way, right?

Nestor Aparicio  03:46

It’s anybody who’s ever had a limp in any way just walking. You know that then your hips out, and then your left side is out. Say, your

Luke Jones  03:55

other side can even be bothered so, so, and that’s not to say, I’m not trying to speculate that this is catastrophic, necessarily, or anything like that, but you just feel for him, because he’s a well, like guy in the clubhouse. I mean, you could tell Craig Albernaz, this is really the first time Albernaz, you know, he had some injury situations in spring training, but that’s different, right? You’re not playing games that matter in February and the early part of March anyway, as the calendar turns the April at this point, but you could tell guys were bummed for him. Pete Alonso was bummed when he was asked about it. Albernaz was bummed we didn’t get a chance to talk to eslin after the game. You know, I think it’s

Nestor Aparicio  04:31

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different in baseball than it is in football, too, just in a global sense, because football, you kind of expect guys to get hurt and they do sure guys feel for each other, and we’ve all been a part of that, you and I have been doing this a long, long time to see that baseball injuries, especially for pitchers, shoulders and stuff like that, and arms, when those kinds of things happen, it’s one thing to take a take a handmade bone because of an errant pitch get hit by, you know, those kinds of things. If you get tangled up running and you got a limp, and you have to limp. Off, or something like that. Or you dive after a ball and you come out of the game. But, but when these catastrophic sort of, Oh, my God, it might be his elbow, you know, that is when it happens in the big leagues. It to a veteran guy like that, a beloved guy. It does put a, you know, a little black cloud over a lot of things for that evening, for sure, not just that, but anytime a baseball team loses, you know the difference between the sounds in a locker room when they win

Luke Jones  05:25

and when they lose no question. And as you alluded to, when you’re talking about an elbow or a shoulder issue for a pitcher, even though the Tommy John return rate is very high, and even though guys come back from various arm ailments, and sometimes come back and it can be better than ever. There is a little more of a facing your mortality, kind of feeling to it as a pitcher, because we just know how fragile it is. I mean, you know, we it’s funny, you made the comparison to football, and I agree. I think it’s appropriate. But pitchers, it’s kind of like injuries in football, where you say, if you play long enough in the NFL, or you play football long enough. In general, the injury rates 100% pitchers with arm injuries or arm issues of some sort kind of feels the same way, right? I mean, my goodness, the the number of major league pitchers today that have had Tommy John surgery, either in the majors, the minors, college, high school, or some of these guys even have it prior to high school. You know, you hear about 13 and 14 year olds having Tommy John surgery, so hopefully this isn’t that for Zach Eflin, but he’s going to miss some time. This is where you’re very happy to have Dean Kramer at triple A and we talked about the amount of debt. That’s why we didn’t spend a ton of time talking about the prospects of a six man rotation. Because one, it’s really tough to manage that with your bullpen, which is already overworked here in the first week of the season. And two, you just know that rarely is everything going to go perfectly, that you’re going to keep everyone healthy in the long run. So a six man rotation quickly becomes a five man rotation, an eight or nine man depth chart for your starting rotation soon becomes six or seven, right? So the

Nestor Aparicio  07:07

other day, you said they would use 12, right?

Luke Jones  07:08

Yeah. I mean, that’s that. That’s usually, that’s where it is. Sometimes it’s more, sometimes it’s a little bit less, but it’s just disappointing, because, again, efflin had worked his butt off here over the last six, seven months, whatever it was to really kind of get himself in this position. He beat out Dean Kramer. He looked good on Tuesday night. I mean, again, that was that was impressive, how he looked a lot of swing and miss. I mean, even efflin at his best a couple years ago wasn’t a guy that you were talking about getting a lot of strikeouts. So remember when

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Nestor Aparicio  07:39

Bradish fell apart two years ago? He came, made their starts, and he looked good. He was phenomenal, right?

Luke Jones  07:43

I mean, he looked that’s what was wild about Bradish. A couple years ago, he had the PRP injection, you know. But you know, when we found out, like the spring training started, and we found out all about that on the on the heels of them getting Corbin burns, he came back, and his strikeout rate was higher than ever, and he looked as dominant as ever. But we also know in certain cases, when you’re talking about PRP injections, or in this case, someone who had a surgery to another part of the body. And like I said, I don’t want to speculate too much. Sometimes this might have happened whether he had a back issue or a back injury or not, but I just wanted to note that the arm slot was different, and sometimes, sometimes that can end up being a problem for someone. So hopefully the imaging doesn’t look bad. Hopefully this is a case where, you know, it’s a little bit of inflammation, and, you know, maybe misses a month. But we also know sometimes it’s not a happy ending in that regard, but again, disappointing, and for the Orioles bullpen that has been worked a lot on Tuesday night, it crumbled, and then they’re in a position where, you know you’re you’re happy to have an off day, and you’re hoping that you can regroup and fare better over the weekend. Because, you know, we’ve talked about this bullpen a lot, right? No Kittredge for the time being, although he’s starting a rehab assignment, so he should be back pretty soon. Keegan Aiken will be back at some point, but we know it’s not imminent necessarily. So there are a couple guys down, and we talked about it this, this bullpen, if it was going to hold up, I think a lot of that optimism, that guarded optimism was contingent on what the rotation being the real deal. And first time through the rotation, not so much, right? Not panicking, but not impressive, either. Smell as

Nestor Aparicio  09:33

good as it smelled a week Exactly.

Luke Jones  09:35

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So, you know, other than Trevor Rogers, so yeah, they’re gonna have to adjust. This isn’t me panicking one week into the season that said, I can’t say I’ve been terribly impressed by what I’ve seen, either. And again, rotation needs to help out this bullpen a little bit, as these guys are trying to kind of find themselves, as Craig Albernaz is trying to find himself as a manager. And how to manage this bullpen, you need to have good. Options, and you don’t want to be in a position where you’re having to throw someone into the game,

Nestor Aparicio  10:04

because it makes you a bad manager.

Luke Jones  10:07

They’re the freshest man, the freshest guy, right? The freshest arm. And Tuesday night after efflin left the game, they’re kind of in a position where they said, All right, you know, we have to use Wolfram now because he’s he’s ready. We have to use Geraldo now, because we don’t really have anyone else, and even late in the game, they use Anthony Nunez, who they probably didn’t want to use in that situation. They probably wanted to save him for maybe a chance to, you know, protecting the lead. But instead, because he was the freshest of what they had left, they had to kind of go that route. So No, wasn’t pretty on Tuesday night, but obviously efflin health is at the top of the list of concerns.

Nestor Aparicio  10:43

Luke Jones is here. It’s all brought to you by Francis Farnham and Dermer, who saved my water this morning. Actually, the comfort guys, so big thanks to Zach. I’ve had Zach on the show this week. You know, you have a plumber on the show, and the next thing you know, you have plumbing problems. I don’t know, you know, I we thought we’d have no pitching problems here. I’m just looking at the line score right, like you and I talked about the bullpen being the biggest concern. Alan, everybody I’ve talked to about this. I’ve had Messina on earlier this week. I had a lot of people on. We all love the rotation. We all think they’re going to Bob the baseball. We all think they’re probably going to strike out too much be motion, you know, plate to plate and base to base, they’re not going to steal a lot of bases, but the bullpen, two in the fifth one in the sixth, three in the seventh one in the ninth. You can’t win, right? I mean, you lost that game, whatever that game is, two in the fifth one in the sixth, three in the seventh one in the ninth. That is the Bullpen’s problem. I mean, just in a general, global sense, that even if Rogers gives you seven innings, and he did, and he might again, he might have to again, that this was something in the off season, that if, if I were Jason lock and four, I’d be beating up michaelias today about the bullpen, right? Like, because the bullpen, we can all agree they didn’t do enough in the offseason, and it’s sort of like, let’s feel it out. Well, we’re feeling it out

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Luke Jones  12:04

right now. We are, but I’m going to throw another number out to you, 184 that’s the number of pitches the bullpen had to throw between Sunday and Monday, and then when your pitcher leaves in the fourth your starter leaves in the fourth inning on Tuesday, you’re overworked, so I until Tuesday’s game, I can’t say that I looked at the bullpen, you know, okay, Tyler, Wells has been at best, shaky, right? He’s given up a run in each of his first three appearances. Geraldo is the last guy in the bullpen, right?

Nestor Aparicio  12:34

Or why he might not be a big league pitcher, right?

Luke Jones  12:37

Yeah. I mean, and he has options, you know? He, I assume, as someone’s listening to this in

Nestor Aparicio  12:43

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real time, let’s go get somebody new, right?

Luke Jones  12:44

Pretty good chance Geraldo has already been sent back to Norfolk, so but that’s the cumulative impact, and that’s why I said, if this is going to work as it’s presently constructed, and I’m talking right now with no Kittredge, no Aiken, you need your starters. And look, I’m not even saying like what Trevor Rogers did on opening day has to be the norm. It doesn’t have to be seven, but it can’t be where you’re struggling to get through five. And that’s kind of what it’s been so far. When you look at radish on Saturday, Boz was able to regroup from that second inning and get into the sixth inning, but that game was just such a grind in general. I mean, just a slog back and forth. They were able to win that one at least. But then, I mean, you and I haven’t had a chance to talk about it, Bassett was just bad in his debut. You know, I’m not, I’m not panicking over it, but 37 year old pitcher, he’s another year holder, right? I mean, just like we talked about it with Charlie Morton last year, we talked about it with Kyle Gibson last year, Bassett could be totally fine from here on out, but his first start was not good. I mean, it just was not, not even close. He was kind of fortunate to not give up more runs than he did in his debut. But when you have back to back to back starts like that, where one guy gets into the sixth inning, your bullpen is going to pay for it. And when you have some question marks in your bullpen, then, as a result, the cumulative impact, I mean, it can pile up pretty quickly on I call it

Nestor Aparicio  14:10

falling down the mountain, and that’s what happened to, like, tumbling, yeah.

Luke Jones  14:14

I mean, look, I’m not sitting here saying that those guys that pitched on Tuesday, like, get a pass. But I kind of looked at it and said, If you told me on Tuesday afternoon that Zach efflin is going to leave in the fourth inning, I’m going to tell you that’s not going to go well for the state of their bullpen right now, just in terms of who they have out there and what the workload had been the previous two or three days. So that’s where you look at it, and say, Man, you need Trevor Rogers and Kyle Bradish and Shane Boz their next time out to give a little more length and look a little more like the upside guys. I mean, Roger Rogers was, Rogers was really good on opening day, so I’m not throwing him into that. But point is, this all needs to fit, right you? You have. To You have to have a 26 man roster, and, by extension, a 40 man roster that’s going to complement the other phases well enough. And part of what’s going to make this pitching staff work, if it is going to work, is to have starting pitching that it’s good, right? I mean, those guys you know, consistently get into the sixth or seventh inning. If you do that, then you’re able to envision this bullpen cobbling enough innings and enough arms and doing what you need to do in the bullpen to get to Ryan

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Nestor Aparicio  15:32

Helsley, who less innings would make it more adequate,

Luke Jones  15:35

for sure, exactly. But, but, but, if you’re in a position where you’re throwing 184 pitches in two games, like they did Sunday and Monday, and then they had to end up, by extension, throwing more on Tuesday night, and then a quick turnaround for a Wednesday afternoon game. Boy, if you’re Craig Albernaz, you’re saying, man, get me to that off day, because we’re already it was some water.

Nestor Aparicio  15:55

It wasn’t good at 930 on Tuesday night. I can’t imagine how good it’s going

Luke Jones  15:58

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to be. 315 on Wednesday right? I mean, they’ll have a, you know, they have a couple guys, Housley will be available. I mean, they got, they’ve got some coverage. Suarez is but it’s just, it’s not what you want it and it’s, it’s why baseball’s so fascinating. Because, you know, the the casual observer says, well, 62 games, it’s a marathon, not a sprint. But we have to remember, there’s a sprint on a daily basis, though, right? And you want to be able to put as close as you can your best foot forward. And again, by by the time efflin left the game Tuesday night, you’re already in a position where you’re saying, Man, if it’s better, score some runs. And you know, they, they had a couple moments, you know, obviously Pete Alonso hit a home run, and gunner had the game tying two run double off off of Jacob deGrom, who looked like Jacob deGrom, so they were able to chase him, but just didn’t get enough going against their bullpen. Taylor Ward had a good night. That was good to see, because he hasn’t been all that great out of the gate. But, you know, they had three runs going into the bottom of the ninth inning. I mean, that’s on a night when your starter leaves with an injury in the fourth inning, that’s generally not going to hack it. And that’s why looking at a series loss and trying to regroup and seeing where their pitching is going to be for the next few days, and take advantage of an off day and hopefully regroup, because you know this this first week, as I’ve said to a few people now, yeah, who are you talking to here? I’m not, I’m not going to panic over anything that happens over the first week of the baseball season that said. I’m also not going to lie to you and say that I’ve been terribly impressed with what I’ve seen, really across the board. I mean, it’s saved for a couple individuals here and there. It’s been choppy at best. And when you’re talking about a home stand that you know you would have loved to come out of the gate five and one, four and two, and certainly they’re not doing that,

Nestor Aparicio  17:52

I was going to say, no, it feels to me. And again, this is a different thing than Brandon Hyde, and we always Joel pointley came on this week and said, We never really know whether it’s the general manager, the manager that’s even managing the bullpen these days, right? Or it’s collective, and they sit around all day and they have every strategy that how much is is Albert as going by gut or whatever, but it does feel like canoe has been elevated into a place where he’s really important, you know what I mean? And I don’t know that we wanted it to be that way in February or March. We’re talking about it, right, but, but he might be the best they have in a pack of wolframs and geraldos and Nunes. Is right like he he is the guy we’ve heard of, and you’re not bringing Helsley and in the seventh inning, no matter what. So canoe is doing more leverage than maybe you and I would have been comfortable with or even saying, Can he even be successful at that level?

Luke Jones  18:51

Yeah. I mean, it’s but you just kind of answered it, answered the speculation yourself. I mean, you know him, right? He’s at least done it in the past at times that. And look, that’s not to say, I mean, I talked to you a couple days ago. I mean, I like Anthony Nunez. I mean, he gave up a solo home run Tuesday night, but you saw it again. Two strikeouts, you know, gave them two innings in a situation where they didn’t really want to pitch them two innings, but they didn’t, you didn’t want to use Helsley when you’re down five runs, right? So he’s

Nestor Aparicio  19:19

also not a guy that has been doing this for 10 years, where his arm is going to fall off either He has a younger arm kind of, sort

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Luke Jones  19:24

of, right? He’s a younger arm. But keep in mind, he’s a former infielder, so you don’t necessarily want to lean too hard into that profile, right? He’s young, but he’s very, very green in terms of just not having been a professional pitcher for very long. So he isn’t necessarily the guy you’re going to point to in terms of, oh, well, you know, go give us multiple innings. Go get them kid. I mean, you probably do want to protect him a little bit.

Nestor Aparicio  19:48

You know what? 32 pitches out of him, right?

Luke Jones  19:50

Yeah, so, so it just, but when effing leaves in the fourth inning, you’re, you’re at the mercy of, all right, who didn’t pitch yesterday, who didn’t throw a ton of pitch? Is on Sunday, right? I mean, that’s kind of what you’re looking at. And it’s not

Nestor Aparicio  20:03

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even game situational at that point. No, it’s pure it’s just somebody’s at the plate. We got to go

Luke Jones  20:06

get somebody. It’s pure management, right? I mean, let’s be clear. Let’s be real. Craig Albernaz did not look at yaramijo Geraldo in that situation where they were getting into the later innings in the seventh inning, and say, Man, that’s the guy I want to pitch right now. He had to do that because, well, that’s the guy who was fresh right now. So, you know, it’s not ideal. And again, this begins. This has to start though, with the rotation this next time through being a little more representative of what what we hope it and envision it to be, rather than what it was, which you know wasn’t horrendous across the board, but it wasn’t great, far from Great. So that’s where you look at this thing and say, All right, everyone’s been out there, everyone’s been on a big league mound, everyone’s appeared in a game, everyone’s made a start that’s in the rotation, other than Dean Kramer, which you know are. We’ll see him at some point here, presumably very soon, but then it’s okay. It’s go time. You know everyone. You know most guys have had given up a run at the very least. So everyone’s, don’t want to say no, is being has been bloodied, but in some of these guys cases, yes, but you need better. There’s no doubt. So again, efflin health is kind of at the the forefront of this in terms of trying to look at it from a big picture standpoint. But in the meantime, you need to, need to find your footing a little bit more. And, you know, if you’re Craig Albernaz, who’s, you know, he’s new at this, right? I mean, you can scrimmage this, or you can sit next to Steven Vogt as his bench coach the last couple of years, and kind of go go through it in your mind, as far as, okay, would you bring this guy in for this spot, or bring this guy in in this inning? Whatever you can talk about that. Until you’re blue in the face, you can think about that. But until you’re the guy, it is a little bit different. So you’d like for the starters to put him in a little bit of a better position on that front where, hey, get into the sixth or seventh inning, and then, hey, he has his choice between two or three different guys to bring into this one specific spot, rather than who’s available right now, who’s actually fresh right now, who can I lean on to because these other guys have thrown so much over the last couple of days, Luke

Nestor Aparicio  22:21

Jones is here. It’s all brought to you by friends at Farnan and Dermer, the comfort guys. We’re appreciative of them. And next Friday, we’re doing the Maryland crab cake tour, getting it back out on the road. We are at faidley’s. I’ve actually got a Koco’s date as well. We punted for one more week. We’re going to be at Koco’s on Thursday the 23rd all of it brought to you by GBMC and our friends at farming, and Farnan and Dermer and the comfort guys. Luke, you mentioned, like, what’s going well? And there’s a lot about this that we have not liked, at least in the early going bicycle O’Neal general soreness. You know the whole deal the Jackson, the Alexander’s at the bottom of the order, had hit the ball a little bit. I think you’re waiting for that to happen. We’re getting a bunch of hits good, right? I mean, good to see that Alonso’s on time, right? I mean, Alonzo is where you need him to be. And I think even Richmond has shown signs of life this week, and we’re just doing a weekend, and we’ll do that. Obviously, after the series is over, we’ll have all day Thursday to break that down. We have an injury, we come together, we talk about this. They’re playing a noon game in the middle of the afternoon. But what’s going well, obviously not the record right now. Yeah, and

Luke Jones  23:39

obviously you’re not panicking about the record. I mean, it’s not oh and five, but it’s not what you want for your first home stand, especially against a couple teams that at least weren’t perceived to be big time contenders this year, although I’ll throw out there. I mean, Texas, like, look at their rotation, right? I mean, you’ve got to grow them. Jack Leiter was really impressive on Monday night. We’ll see. Of all the right. I mean, they their starting pitching wasn’t their issue last year. They’re the question for the Rangers was, could they hit the ball? And that’s kind of where they fell apart last year. So, you know, you never really know. But yeah, this has certainly been a disappointing opening home stand. But Al lighters

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Nestor Aparicio  24:17

kid channels, Al Leiter, the way he looks, but right handed, left handed, but, but stuff is different. Yeah.

Luke Jones  24:24

I mean, he Jack later has got some nasty stuff. I mean, he was, he was good. I was impressed with him, not not giving the Orioles a pass. But they face some representative arms. Here is the point. We talked about that in the first series with Joe Ryan and and Taj Bradley in the first couple games for the twins. But by the way, I’m in Minnesota,

Nestor Aparicio  24:43

and everything’s Byron Buxton here. But go ahead.

Luke Jones  24:45

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Byron Buxton is a heck of a player, no question about it. But you you look at their lineup, I have liked what I’ve seen from Adley rutchman. Now he had an over on Tuesday night. I mean, it’s baseball. Everyone’s going to have some offers, but I’ve seen better at bats. I You see him drawing some walks. You know, the on base percentage through the first five games is over 400 I mean, I don’t know if he’s going to do that for the bulk of the season, but Adley rutschman, his first couple years, he was a 375, on base percentage kind of guy, which is why you talked about him, even though he’s a catcher, being a lead off option because it got on base so much. So that was good to see you said it. I mean, Pete Alonso, you know, slow start, but the bat starting to come alive was good to see him hit his first home run. Gunner Henderson with a big hit on Tuesday night. We’ve seen gunners start to come alive after a, you know, really slow start for gunner the first few games. I mean, striking out a lot.

Nestor Aparicio  25:39

He’s frustrated too.

Luke Jones  25:41

Yeah, he’s looked better since then. So, and can’t say I was overly concerned about gunner Henderson, but was good to see Ward get four knocks. Now I’ll tell you one of the better at bats that I was impressed with on Tuesday night, as they’re facing Jacob degrum. How about Blaze Alexander handling a low and away slider and flicking it into right center, which that started the two out rally when they tied the game. You know, they got two guys on and then gunner doubles off the left center field fence and chase to Grom at that point in time. So that was good to see. So they just, they need to be more consistent with the bats. They know that. I mean, I think at times, the bats haven’t necessarily been horrible compared to what the results have been, but they’ve also had some times where, yeah, the approach hasn’t looked great, so it’s been choppy. Basically everything about this team has been choppy through the first week, right? I mean, the defense at best has been choppy. Make me regret

Nestor Aparicio  26:35

picking them to win 92 games.

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Luke Jones  26:36

So it’s one week, that’s why. I mean, it’s one week of the baseball season. No, I’m not panicked. The only thing I’m concerned about are things I was concerned about. Three or four I was gonna say all of the worst, nothing. The only, the only new information that I’m concerned about is the efflin injury. Now that said I wasn’t necessarily sitting here with conviction, confident that Zach Eflin was going to make 30 starts coming off a back surgery and low, low and behold, it’s not the back, it’s the elbow now. But point is no one sitting here trying to whether you’re the most optimistic or the most pessimistic of Orioles fans or prognosticators. You also knew no, the starting five wasn’t going to all make 30 plus starts for them. Something was going to happen. You were hoping it wasn’t going to be the fifth game of the season, because then you start to, you know, with the injuries they already had in spring, it’s like, okay, here we go again. They had actually, you know, the starting pitching had stayed healthy. You know, that was the one area the team, they hadn’t been bit by the injury bug. And here you go. But, but you also know this is why you need Dean Kramer. This is why we’re going to be paying attention to what Trey Gibson does, and Levi wells does, and Nestor Hermann does at triple A Norfolk, because those are guys that I don’t think May and June, but maybe come July, August and September, one or two of those guys could be an option for you, as you know, whether it’s number five starter or long relief, or swing man in the bullpen, or whatever it would be, it

Nestor Aparicio  28:09

would be exactly. I mean, attribution, you’re going

Luke Jones  28:11

to have to lean into that. K Povich is going to be back here at some point in time, right, even though he got knocked around in his first start at Norfolk. So as we say, somebody’s got a pitch, right? Exactly. So you need depth. No, not everyone’s going to be guys that you have a ton of confidence in, but this is where you kind of lean into, all right, Mike Elias and baseball ops, and you’re pitching development and, you know, go continue to develop some of these younger guys. Make them better. You know, make make K Povich a better option this year than he was last year, right? I mean, that’s kind of the game, right? Can Can guys get better? Can guys get become more consistent? Can guys that have figured out ways to get out double A and triple A hitters a certain way get out major league hitters, which is a different animal? So, so there’s that. But reality is, every team in baseball is going to deal with these types of things. Guys are going to get hurt. You lose guys. I mean, the Orioles know that well, right? Look at what they dealt with the last few years, not having Kyle Bradish, for example, or not having Grayson Rodriguez all of last year. Right? So it’s part of it, and the teams that are able to weather that. The teams that are able to endure those types of woes and backfill their rotation or backfill their bullpen with guys that aren’t going to be all stars, but can at least give you functional, competitive outings and competitive innings, those are the teams that are going to be left standing, and the teams who can’t do that are the teams that end up well, like the Orioles last year, which was not good enough, not nearly good enough. So you know, again, I’m not not panicking. That said, this first week of the season, this first home stand, certainly hasn’t gone the way that you would have hoped. But that’s baseball, and whether you

Nestor Aparicio  29:58

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bring your stopper back. Get you back to 500

Luke Jones  30:01

too, and that’s what you’re hoping for. You’re hoping Trevor Rogers can be that dude on Wednesday afternoon, and then if he can, then you’ve got a day to catch your breath and get ready for Pittsburgh and get ready and hope that your bullpen with a day off will be in a better state.

Nestor Aparicio  30:15

Are they going to skip schemes? They’re going to miss schemes, right? Because he started opening day he would sort of be on the same, right. I hold on, yeah, I actually

Luke Jones  30:25

have it in front of me, yeah. Sorry, schemes is Yes they will. Because schemes is actually pitching Wednesday after he’ll be pitching when the Orioles are or concluding he

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Nestor Aparicio  30:32

was married to Roger. Oh, it was

Luke Jones  30:34

it, yeah, well, but it was interesting, because, remember, he got chased, yeah, yeah. He got knocked out in 37 pitches. Because, you know, the pitch count was so elevated in one inning. And I was actually wondering, like, how do you approach that? Right? I don’t know if the best solution is actually what they did, which is to just keep them in turn. I almost wonder when that happens, should they have brought him back a day or two earlier, but then just lower the pitch count a little bit, right? I mean, this time of year, and this is where it’s tricky. And you know, efflin, we’ve used as an example, because he’s someone who got hurt. But we have to remember, none of these guys are fully ramped up to mid season mode just yet, right? I mean, we’ve seen the pitch counts be a little bit on the lower side. I mean, generally, in today’s day and age, other than dudes, you know, other than legit number ones and legit number two starters. Most pitchers in today’s game throw 85 or 90, and then you’re kind of looking towards the bullpen. It’s been more 75 to 85 this, this opening week, with looking at most of these start was arch, exactly, retraining, right? And even, and even 20 years ago, you know, even when 100 pitches became the new magic number, you know, 20 years ago, opening day, like guys first start, usually it was around 90, right? You know, you didn’t see them push guys too hard, unless, unless you’re talking about the Roger Clemens or Randy Johnson’s of the world. So, so there’s a little bit of that, but yeah, I thought schemes like, I was interested to see how they would handle that, because it’s kind of a unique situation. He got pulled because of the pitch count in the first inning, but he didn’t get his normal workload in terms of an entire start. So how do you approach that? So I guess it’ll be interesting to see what they do with them and how he fares and all that. But yes, good for the Orioles. I mean, disappointing as a baseball fan, but certainly good for the Orioles that they will get to miss Paul Skeens, because, you know, Jacob deGrom was challenging enough, and Joe Ryan was challenging enough, and they had their issues with Taj Bradley as well, so Jack Leiter on Monday night, so they will avoid him, but Pittsburgh does have some other good starting pitching. And you know, pirates aren’t off to anything special in terms of their kind of start. But you know, it’s funny. You’ve heard some people point to them as maybe a little bit of a sleeper in that wild card race, that maybe the pirates would be a little bit better. I saw Ryan O’Hearn hit a home run off a lefty the other day, so, you know, maybe he would have been in

Nestor Aparicio  33:03

the lineup around here, right? He would not have been.

Luke Jones  33:05

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I saw a few fans making that comment about Brandon Hyde, which, again, I’ll continue to say that was an organizational thing as much as Brandon Hyde, so, but, yeah, we’ll get to see our old friend, Ryan O’Hearn, well,

Nestor Aparicio  33:15

you just gave the protection. You just gave all the cover you can give, right there. It’s an organizational decision. You’re you’re built, you’re built to work with Mark fine, because, like, literally, that is the baseball. Thing that we all wonder about with the bullpen with managers, is to say how much of this is the great managerial stylings of whomever, or how much of this is just they get a think tank together, and it’s not only bullpen by committee. It’s decision by committee. It’s decision by statistics.

Luke Jones  33:42

Yeah, and obviously, when you’re in the midst of managing the bullpen, obviously a manager has some some instinct, there, some gut, all of that. And yes, by definition, the field manager writes out the lineup. But as I always say to people at the same time, you have an analytics department, and you have predictive mod, you know, statistical modeling and all of that, where you’re looking at matchups, you’re looking at ideal lineup, configuration, all of that. And let’s call a spade a spade. If you’re someone, and I’ve said it, field managers for the last 20 years now, with very few exceptions, more and more becoming middle management, right? They work for the general manager, they work for the front office. And my thought is, yes, technically, they write out the lineup. But do you really think there it’s good job security if you’re going to deviate and go against what the front office is kind of spitting out there. As far as what the optimal lineup

Nestor Aparicio  34:43

into study? Yeah.

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Luke Jones  34:44

So that’s where, you know, you might have a couple tweaks here and there. And yeah, the manager has to know, hey, so and so is not feeling great or so and so two of his three kids are sick, and he was up all night, and he could probably use a day off today, you know, like, so there’s always that element to it. The. Human element and knowing injuries and things like that. But like, like, anyone who thought, anyone who hated the Orioles lineups the last couple years, if you really think that was a 100% Brandon Hyde thing, I think

Nestor Aparicio  35:10

you’re not so. Alan McCallum and I went through that as to what the modern construction of lineups are and how to better serve younger players in the two hole protecting them. May, you know where a Jackson holiday would be a two hitter with Henderson behind him and somebody getting on bait. You know that that affects the individuals more? I think,

Luke Jones  35:33

Oh, it does well. And if take notice of this, you know, I’ll give everyone a little bit of a homework assignment, because I know everyone’s not checking out. Craig Albernaz is pregame, you know, pregame press conference every single day. I understand like people have lives and only so many hours to consume. But he was asked about this the other day. Take note when you get to that top pocket in the lineup, the top three spots in the lineup, how opposing managers and opposing teams are attacking the Orioles now they’ve had Ward gunner, Henderson, Pete Alonso, so two, right, he’s sandwiching gunner Henderson. They’ve been facing left handed relievers. Everyone’s going out. Everyone is matching up with Gunner, way more so than with Ward and Alonzo. So one, we know gunner has had his issues against left handed pitching. But that’s even all the more reason that Taylor Ward and Pete Alonso need to make teams pay for that approach, right? Because we know there’s, there’s no loogie anymore, right? There’s no left handed one out guy like Brian Mattis or jet or Jesse Orosco or whoever you want to throw out there. So but, but it has been interesting to see, to kind of see this work, where just because Taylor Ward and Pete Alonso have sandwiched gunner Henderson in the lineup, teams are still throwing a left handed reliever out there. So we’ll see if that continues. But that’s been the early trend that we’ve seen, you know, with these first couple teams, where you get to that top third in the in the order, and generally speaking, we’re seeing lefties deployed to go after gunner but that’s all the more reason that Taylor Ward and Pete Alonso then need to make teams pay for doing that. So just to get an interesting doesn’t mean it’ll continue that way. But you know, teams know. And I say this with no disrespect to ward or even to Pete Alonso, who just got $155 million contract gunner subdued in this lineup, you know, or at least that’s the perception, right? So we’ll see if that continues. But that has been the early trend, and that’s not something that has gone unnoticed by Craig Albernaz,

Nestor Aparicio  37:35

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that’s for sure. Well, he better start hitting the left handers and tell Mark, Mark Larose about it, or DeRosa about it as well. He is Luke Jones. It’s all brought to you by friends of foreign and Dermer and our friends at the comfort guys who supremely helped me at a very early hour this morning on a getaway date for the Orioles headed to Pittsburgh, Luke’s head of the Camden Yards, we will be headed to two fadleys at Lexington market next Friday, when the San Francisco Giants come to town, Luke, I had occasion to chat back and forth with someone that both you and I think is a legend. And it wasn’t even just Paul Molitor I ran who I ran into, but because the Giants were coming to town, and we’re doing the show at Faith lease a great John Miller and I connected yesterday, because I was going to invite him down. I mean, how often did the Giants come in, right? How often the Giants come in when we’re doing the show at faidley’s on a Friday? And John hit me, and he sent me this beautiful text, and three or four texts back and forth. He’s like his wife. He said, this is like, a big thing. I’m coming back to Baltimore. He’s like, my wife has a suite. We have 40 people in it. He said, If I read the text, he’d laugh. He said, it’s almost like I shouldn’t bother calling the games. I should just socialize.

Luke Jones  38:51

You know, my affinity for John Miller, I mean, as a kid, who was born in the 80s and grew up on Orioles baseball, really, really remembering Orioles baseball, starting in the late 80s and the early 90s. I say this because I had so much reverence and respect and affinity for Chuck Thompson as well, right? But John Miller was my generation’s Chuck Thompson and I it’s been fun. I don’t have it this year, but last year, I had the full MLB TV package where I had every game in baseball on my television. And part of what’s cool about that app is it will let you, it will actually sync up the radio call with the TV broadcast, and not every night. Like, I’m not, I’m not like a psycho. I don’t have that much time on my heads,

Nestor Aparicio  39:37

you know, like the Giants. Maybe colors aren’t

Luke Jones  39:39

you black? But there were times where I would, you know, if I were working on something and or it was, you know, it’s, it’s the Giants, they’re on at 1230 at night when I’m getting home from an Orioles game that that evening, I would put a game on just to hear John Miller call an inning or two. So it’s great, you know. And obviously, now we’re in, we’re in a, we’re in a baseball world now where National League teams come. Come in every other year

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Nestor Aparicio  40:01

now for he looks great. He’s lost a little bit of weight. I’ve seen pictures, but

Luke Jones  40:04

his he still sounds good. Calling games,

Nestor Aparicio  40:11

right? Oh, absolutely. So many social engagements, so little time. So anyway, John Miller will not be having a crab cake, but I tried like hell for both of us next Friday, but Stephen O Miles is going to sit in we’re going to talk about it. We’ll be at Fay Lee’s next week. It’s all brought to you by GBMC. I’ll have fresh Maryland lottery scratch offs. I have John Martin coming on the show. I’ve been away a couple of weeks. I caught a cold. My wife’s caught a cold. So if I sound a little it’s because I am. And the Orioles have caught a little cold in their bullpen in their rotation right now. So trying to get back after he is Luke, I am Nestor. We are W N, S T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, and we never stop talking Baltimore. Positive, you.