The big war in Major League Baseball is a percolating and longtime baseball insider and writer Dave Sheinin has seen it all before. In his new role with NOTUS in Washington, D.C., the longtime Post sportswriter gives Nestor and Ricig a primer on life after newspapers and the handbook for the battle ahead between owners and players at Koco’s Pub on the Maryland Crab Cake Tour. Billionaires vs. millionaires. We’ve seen this before…

The conversation focused on Dave‘s career transition and growing concerns about the health of Baltimore baseball and local sports engagement.

Career Update

• Dave said the Washington Post laid off 300 people and eliminated its sports department; he later joined Notus as a general assignment reporter covering Washington sports.
• He described the move as a reinvention and said the smaller newsroom has more startup energy and tighter local focus than his previous national role.

Team Outlooks

• Dave gave an upbeat view of Washington sports overall: the Mystics are rising, the Nationals have modernized and improved their farm system, the Wizards are rebuilding around young talent, and the Capitals remain competitive.
• The Commanders were the main concern because of a rough camp, offensive line injuries, and pressure to protect Jayden Daniels.

Orioles Questions

• Nestor and Dave were sharply critical of the Orioles’ direction, especially ownership visibility, roster building, pitching depth, defense, attendance, and fan access to games.
• They also worried that MLB is heading toward another labor fight over a salary cap and economics. Can baseball avoid another damaging stoppage? Can Orioles ownership prove it can make credible baseball and business decisions?

• Schedule and coordinate guest appearances on WNST AM 1570’s Baltimore Positive programming: have Gilmore check in on Thursday and Rick Emmett from Triumph join for the Friday concert segment. (@Nestor Aparicio)
• After taking a break, reconvene with Dave Sheinin for a follow-up conversation to record his ‘six stuff’ segment. (@Nestor Aparicio)

Career transition

• Dave discussed being laid off when the Washington Post cut 300 jobs and shut down its sports department.
• He said he joined Notus in May and now works as a general assignment sports reporter with a tight Washington focus.
• The conversation framed this as part of professional reinvention.

Washington sports outlook

• Dave said the Mystics are surging, the Nationals have modernized their front office and improved their farm system, and the Wizards are building around a young core.
• He described the Capitals as competitive after major offseason additions.
• He said the Commanders remain fragile because of injuries and offensive line issues despite optimism around Jayden Daniels.

Ravens expectations

• Nestor argued that Baltimore’s new coach inherits a Super Bowl-or-bust standard with little margin for error.
• Dave said that situation is harder than taking over a struggling team because regular contention is already expected.

Orioles and baseball concerns

• The group criticized Orioles ownership for lacking visibility and questioned whether the organization is building correctly around its young core.
• They discussed weak pitching depth, poor defense, disappointing player development, and sparse attendance.
• Nestor raised concerns about TV accessibility and whether the club’s business model is sustainable.
• Dave warned that MLB labor rhetoric resembles prior work stoppages and could lead to a major conflict over a salary cap.

Nestor Aparicio 0:00
Look at all. We are WNST AM 1570 Task Baltimore. We’re Baltimore positive. It’s our 28th anniversary here. If you’re hearing interviews here at AM 1570 with musicians and whatnot, it’s just leaning into that here on 28th anniversary. It’s all brought to you by friends at the Merrill Lybr. Here at Koco’s, there’s a whole scene. Look at all these crab cakes coming through here, Dave Shining. All it brought to you by friends at GBMC. No French fries for me. I’m trying to be a little healthier. I’m getting a little more. I’m feeling feeling myself right now here as we get to end the summer. Also our friends at Farming and Derma who are always putting fire out for me for plumbing and HVAC and all of that. Although it’s been very very tempered. My thanks to them. Zach was with us last week. We were Fishmonger’s daughter over in Catonsville. We’re here in beautiful Laraville and Koco’s. I get to bring my East Side goons out, my Butchers Hill.

Dave Sheinin 0:49
You call it Lower Fells, Upper Fells. What do you say? Upper call. I call it Butchers. I’m in Butchers Hill. Yeah. Previous to that, I lived in Upper Fell.

Nestor Aparicio 0:59
Where does that stop? Upper

Dave Sheinin 1:01
Fell stops at Pratt. Anything below Pratt between Patterson Park and or Broadway, I think would be Upper Fells.

Nestor Aparicio 1:12
Okay, and where does Butchersville stop? Broadway, Butcher. Not Broadway. That Baltimore Street, I’m talking about.

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Speaker 1 1:17
Fayette. Fayette. Okay. Between Fayette

Dave Sheinin 1:20
and Pratt, and between Patterson Park and and I want to say,

Nestor Aparicio 1:26
do you claim the pagoda as Butcher’s Hill? It’s on the Butcher’s Hill side. It’s yeah, very much. It

Dave Sheinin 1:33
certainly is like our beacon. If I cross

Nestor Aparicio 1:36
the street there, it’s Butcher Hill. It’s not. No, no. If you cross over

Dave Sheinin 1:40
Patterson Park, you know, then it’s Patterson Park. Well,

Nestor Aparicio 1:43
if I leave Patterson Park and go westbound and cross the street, that is Butchers Hill. Butchers Hill is the neighborhood that abuts. Yeah. So yeah. So I would say it’s visible from Butchers Hill. Oh, absolutely. Oh, yeah. So I mean,

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Dave Sheinin 1:56
and we claim it. We claim it. Well,

Nestor Aparicio 1:58
I I claim you as Baltimore, like a total Baltimorean of Georgia, we’ve been through this in your old stories of baseball and Olympics and your music pursuits and all that. But like Washington Post will be the story of most of your life, and you set out. They gave me a reinvention of the Baltimore Magic. I’ve reinvented. Like you’re, we’re all going to have to do that at some point in our life. I mean, maybe you did that when you became an Olympic writer for being a baseball writer. I don’t know. Maybe your music are even. We’re always kind of like doing something new. You’ve been forced into a lane to do something new with your career and your Washington Post thing blowing up on you last year. But like, this has been probably a good time to talk to you about like change, right? It is,

Dave Sheinin 2:42
you know. And I will tell you, a great, great man, one of the greatest men I’ve ever known in my life, a guy by the name of Dusty Baker, told me one time that you you need to reinvent yourself every 10 years, and it’s not a hard and fast rule. Doesn’t have to be 10 years on the dot. But you need to reinvent yourself every decade to keep life fulfilling, interesting. And I’ve I’ve taken that to heart, honest to God. My music, when I got really serious about music, it was largely with Dusty’s words in my head. He said,

Nestor Aparicio 3:26
“Professional wrestler, Dusty Rhodes. Dusty Baker. Dusty Baker. I said Dusty Rhodes. Yeah, Dusty Baker. Manager. Dusty Baker. I was Dusty Rhodes. Go ahead. Dusty Baker. I couldn’t say. I don’t know, but maybe I’m out of my mind. Dusty Baker.

Dave Sheinin 3:39
Yeah, and and you know it’s it’s great advice, and I believe you’re someone who maybe not because of those exact words, but you you you have that internal drive for reinvention every decade or so. You’ve done so many different things in your life. You were talking about your your music criticism career. You’ve been a newspaper guy. You’ve been a radio guy, and now you’re you’re a radio guy who also promotes Baltimore. Although you’re reinventing yourself more than once. I like to think I have too.

Nestor Aparicio 4:11
Yeah. So what? Give me give me the lowdown, man. Like I mean, I haven’t talked to you on the air off. You’re here talking to Ron Cassie forever making new friends, which is one of the reasons he gave me that crazy reward. Is like he likes the guests on my show and hanging out and making their and you guys know of each other. You said his books on your on your on my nightstand. Yeah,

Dave Sheinin 4:30
I love his. I mean, it’s a perfect bedside book because it’s low investment. If you go to bed, you’re tired. You read one story. It’s full of just great three page stories that are just awesome for like the last thing you read before you go to sleep. We’re kind

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Nestor Aparicio 4:47
of trained to write that way, right? The sort of long form, like a takeout store, right? Like write a magazine style, couple of pages. You know, you get to say more than you get to say in a newspaper article, in a column, right? Yeah, I say.

Dave Sheinin 5:00
100-word column. No, total school. Yeah, total school. Yeah, give me give me 2000 words on that. What’s your

Nestor Aparicio 5:05
new gig, dude? Like fill me in here. They shine in front of the Washington Post, my dear friend.

Dave Sheinin 5:09
Yeah, Bob

Nestor Aparicio 5:10
and Bob guitar player. Oh, that’s hard

Dave Sheinin 5:12
to that’s hard to that’s hard to hear, man. It’s still hard. It’s still hard for me. I have to hear it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But yeah, the post laid off 300 people in February. I was one of them. They killed the entire sports department, and you know it was tragic. I heard from a lot of friends. It felt like a death in the family. I mean, I I was hearing from lots of long lost friends and relatives and everything else. Overwhelming. It was a it was a period of mourning, man. Like a funeral, but you didn’t die. Nobody’s calling in on you, right? Yeah. And you know, I mean, I moped around for a while. I I

Nestor Aparicio 5:55
tried to make sure you weren’t moping, man. You did. You

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Dave Sheinin 5:57
checked in on me multiple times, dude. I love my

Nestor Aparicio 6:00
friends, man. And to be honest,

Dave Sheinin 6:01
man, I became I I I came up with a theory during this whole ordeal that your true friends are the ones who check on you more than once. I heard from everybody. The layoff happened on february 4. I heard from everybody under the sun from february 4 to to the 11th that first week. But the true friends are the ones who check back a month later when when when the phone call stopped and when the dude I invited you South America. Tell the whole story. Come on, I did invite you, South America. I mean, I did. I invited him. I said, “What else do you do? I mean, you got nothing

Nestor Aparicio 6:35
else to do. Let’s go see Martin. Yeah,

Dave Sheinin 6:36
I mean, definitely, I regret that in some ways. I needed to be smart for money, though, too. You know, so I don’t know, man. You weren’t

Nestor Aparicio 6:45
gonna eat the guinea pig with me. About your picture, were you? I

Dave Sheinin 6:48
don’t know. I didn’t eat the guinea pigs. No, I

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Nestor Aparicio 6:51
didn’t do that.

Dave Sheinin 6:52
Oh man! But I saw your pictures. It looked amazing. But yeah, you know, I poked around for jobs for a few months. You know, and well, what is that?

Nestor Aparicio 7:02
What is poking around for a job at this point in this industry? It’s hard, man. And name the names, you Maske. I’m just thinking the people I know. I mean, it’s just a. It was a glut of premium sports writers and sports media people. It was

Dave Sheinin 7:18
the best sports department in the country. I mean, I’ll be honest with you. Okay, you know the Athletics certainly had the post beat in breadth and and and numbers and and quantity, but for the quality of the weight day in and day out, the Washington Post for and that’s not just me saying it as an insider. I heard that from so many people. I mean, yeah, the legacy of of Boswell, Cornheiser, Will Bond, Sally Jenkins, Jerry Brewer, Ken Denlinger, Bill Gilday, who’s a Baltimore guy, Feinstein, Feinstein. I mean, it just goes on and on. Barry’s Verluga, my colleague, Rick Mace, Adam Kilgore, myself. We we were Mason.

Nestor Aparicio 7:58
I interviewed Cal Ripken over Siberia. Yeah,

Dave Sheinin 8:01
right. I know that. I mean, like state crazy.

Nestor Aparicio 8:03
Yeah,

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Dave Sheinin 8:04
yeah, yeah. You know, and we’ve all scattered, and it’s it’s it’s kind of sad to see everybody. You know, Verluga, Kilgore are at the athletic. Mace was kept on at the post to sort of spearhead sort of a sports as culture that that they’re going for. I’m not. Don’t ask me. I’m at least

Nestor Aparicio 8:30
Bezos gave some money. His wife gave some money. Yes.

Dave Sheinin 8:33
And I recently, well, in May, I latched onto an operation in D.C. called Novas. N O T U S, is like a play on KOVIS or Spokane, and it was started. It was founded about two years ago by a guy named Robert Albert, who is a very wealthy guy who is a journalist. He also founded Politico a few years ago, so he has a deep background in journalism. His father was the owner and publisher of the Washington Star, back which folded in the ’80s, but was the number two favorite of the Post for a long, long time. You know

Nestor Aparicio 9:12
why I love the Washington Star? We had the wrestling results there on Sunday morning at the Capitol Center when like Ken Patera. Yeah, yeah. So I got the star.

Dave Sheinin 9:21
Yeah. So old school to Washington. That’s right. So so so this is a this is a real journalism operation. It’s not it’s not a bauble. It’s not like a plaything for a billionaire, a status symbol. Our owner is a journalist, and I love I love it. You know, it’s it’s a small operation. It’s probably 150 in the newsroom or something like that. The post at its peak was like 1000, so it’s about the size probably of the banner. You know, and it has that same. It has that scrappy upstart energy, which is really cool after being at the post as long as I was. Yeah, we didn’t we didn’t. Have that there. We didn’t have. It was institutional till it was over. Yes. Yeah. And so it’s kind of cool and refreshing to be part of something on the way up, you know. And people there are, I mean, excited. And

Nestor Aparicio 10:12
what’s the beat you got? What are you doing?

Dave Sheinin 10:14
I’m a, I’m like a general assignment sports reporter. We’re very tightly DC focused. So you know the downside to living up here. I no longer have like a national gig where I can just jet off anywhere. I’m not going to cover an Olympics probably. I think I’ve capped off now at eight, and but I’m in D.C. a lot. Yesterday I was at the Commanders practice in the morning, and then I went all the way around the beltway to Nat Park in the afternoon. Double dipped, you know. It was a long. So you are

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Nestor Aparicio 10:46
immersed in Washington sports again. Yeah, yeah.

Dave Sheinin 10:48
It may be a month more than you are. Okay, yeah, because I had a national focus up there.

Nestor Aparicio 10:56
Give me a little state of Washington sports. I feel it’s very far away. No, state of Baltimore sports for me and you living here is where the Ravens are with becoming this not local franchise anymore at all. You know what I mean? Everyone feels that, right? And the from the arrest and Justin Tucker to the way they conduct themselves to the way that they throw the guy out and has the local radios. Just insane things that they’ve, and then the baseball team’s on the second bad ownership. Yeah, and I read, and and I had Belson on. Speaking of real reporters, Ken Belson wrote a book on the NFL, and I’m literally reading his book right now. And I just read a thing about the next group of owners coming. It was about Dan Snyder. He would have really. He was literally about Dan Snyder. About the next group’s always worse. The next owner’s always worse. Somehow, like there was a quote in there from someone that Belson quoted 30 years ago, saying the next generation’s always worse. This was about Snyder, and that was then, 35 years, 30 years ago now, right? I would say for Rubenstein, the waiting part here. But in D.C. it feels like they just got new ownership for the one thing. Leone just isn’t going anywhere, right? And the Nats feel like for sale, not for sale. Like the state of Washington sports doesn’t feel like great people. Financially booted. I’m gonna

Dave Sheinin 12:22
make. Well, I don’t. I don’t. I don’t know about the finances. Sure. I don’t. I don’t even care about the finances. I feel vibrant about the story. Oh, it’s vibrant. Okay. Let me just run through it. I mean, just let’s just start with the Mystics because they’re like of the moment. They’re like in sixth place in the WNBA, they’re going. They’ve clinched a playoff spot. They’ve got their best team since 2019 when they won the WNBA title. They’ve got the youngest roster in the league, the second youngest roster in the history of the league. So they are absolutely on the. They are an absolute juggernaut. They may not win it all this year, but they are a title contender next year. That’s a new start. Yeah, I mean

Nestor Aparicio 13:05
the WNBA’s the lead. I left that out.

Dave Sheinin 13:07
And and and that’s just you know that’s partly because like I’ve been writing about them a little bit this this summer since I started as notice. The Nats, okay, you know they they they were sellers at the deadline, and it was it was probably a smart move made. They revamped their entire front office. They went from probably the 30th most analytics-driven franchise to one of the top five or six. They’ve got they modernized. They’ve got young GM, young manager. They have the sixth best farm system in the majors now, according to MLB Pipeline. That’s up from 23rd at the same time last year, so they moved up 17 places in one year. They’re not. They’re not going anywhere this year. They may not go anywhere next year, but they are awesome. Very much surprised. We’ll get back to that. Yeah, we’ll get back to that. The Wizards just had the the number one overall draft pick. They have a young core again. They’re probably not contenders this year, but they are. They’re on the way up in a big way. The Capitals just brought back Alex Ovechkin. Of course, they they made massive trades this off season to to beef up their their forwards. They’re going to be they they have a contending roster. Well, that’s why I don’t contend Ross, right? And and then the Commanders. Now you know this has been a really rough camp for them, and I don’t think anybody’s really happy with what they’ve seen on the field. They are, as we speak, they’re going through a scrimmage with the Ravens. I’ve been following along on X, and it’s it’s not going well for the Commanders. Jane Daniels is getting crushed back there. They’ve lost two offensive linemen, two starting offensive linemen already. One of them, Laramie Tunsil, for the year. It’s been bad. But aside from that, you know, anything is is is an improvement since the Snyder. And and that franchise as well, I think, is is on the right track. Future has happened; they’re going to have to figure it out. But Jaden Daniels is is you know a top six, top eight quarterback in the NFL when he was helping.

Nestor Aparicio 15:12
Well, you wrote the RG three book back in the day, and

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Dave Sheinin 15:15
it’s it’s a similar type of dynamic. If you keep him healthy, he’s going to be he’s going to be Kelvin

Nestor Aparicio 15:19
Lamar thing would be along that line of what you wrote about RG three at that tender moment when the Hello Diana thing happened that I was down there. Yes,

Nestor Aparicio 15:30
you know this is kind of like bringing it to Baltimore where we are the Lamar thing, Super Bowl, Super Bowl Super Bowl had a lot of success here, but you bring a new coach in now, and all of a sudden they win one playoff game and get stunk to Buffalo as the Sids are waiting to get in. Oh, Sig, you coming in? Get in here! Get in here! So, but for the Ravens, they have no margin for error for Minter in regard to what the fan expectations were doing? We’re doing our podcast reward. Yeah, we’re still. I’m still doing it. Yes. No. It’s all of a positive. We’re right here. It’s all good. Did you win? Did you win the lottery? Now she didn’t win. Pub Ceversi. Yeah. So so anyway, the the Raven situation for me is very tough for a new head coach to come in. It’s been 18 years. They have a really easy early starter, Ravens. Like this should be four and one, five and one, six and two, feeling good about that. You know, I mean, and I don’t know what Washington’s going through, but I’m looking at this and saying that’ll be same old, same old. If they’re eight and two, it’ll be hey, wake me in January because that’s the way people trigger the ball. Yeah, yeah.

Dave Sheinin 16:49
Well, and that is a tough spot for a head coach, right? The expectation is is you know Super Bowl or bust, or you know, and and and we’ve gotten spoiled in Baltimore in that every year the Ravens are contending. I mean, you know, they may not win in January. A lot of teams don’t win in January. It’s hard to win a championship. We sat here one time a year ago, and you asked me who’s closer to a championship. Okay, and I said I said neither, right? Who’s more likely to win? And

Dave Sheinin 17:20
I said neither. It’s freaking hard to win a championship, and and so yeah. Jesse Minter’s in a tough spot. Like yes, you’re expected to win because of this roster, but it’s hard to win as as the John Shaw area

Nestor Aparicio 17:35
got him like decent again, right? Like Rainbow until he was you know screwing around with the ass. So like

Dave Sheinin 17:42
you have an easier job if you’re taking over a disaster.

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Nestor Aparicio 17:45
I don’t know if this was a disaster one. No,

Dave Sheinin 17:47
it’s not. That’s why I’m saying it’s a much harder job coming into a situation like this than it is coming into a disastrous situation where just turning it around and getting to the playoffs is like, oh my God, Euphoria. You know,

Nestor Aparicio 18:01
Mercedes here, Mike Resigniano. my one of my dearest friends. Gonna back up just a little bit here. You know, get you guys in shot. Get it all right. It’s all brought to my friends. Lottery. I have Raven Scratchoffs. We’re Koco’s. When we’re Koco’s, we’re basically in with Sig’s neighborhood. So you know, I get to come out. You’re back. How you doing, man? Grandkids, kids, more kids, more all over the place, upstate, downstate. Are you done with the kids? Well,

Dave Sheinin 18:28
it was a grand. She was five-year-old. Oh my God!

Nestor Aparicio 18:33
So I did a piece last night with this very pretty young lady assuming the national anthem. She told me how she got hit by a truck, and I did 20 minutes with her, and she did national anthropology. It was her her dream when she got back on her feet. That she’s a public speaker, Rachel Druckenmiller, and I had her on for all this time. Like it does, and then we got to talking. Like she, they grew up with her six kids and stuff. She didn’t know your kids made me nasty. Now she didn’t know any of this stuff.

Speaker 2 18:57
But I I was there for her. I went out to the game. I saw. I was out there. Music

Nestor Aparicio 19:03
makes the world

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Speaker 2 19:03
go round, doesn’t it?

Nestor Aparicio 19:06
So I mean, it’s smart.

Dave Sheinin 19:07
I couldn’t.

Nestor Aparicio 19:14
Well, even pimping the Washington Sports thing. Yeah, you know, you live here in Baltimore. Do you have anything you want to say about the orbit? What is this? Arcadia. I was trying to see what it said. Arcadia. That’s a cool shirt.

Speaker 2 19:29
Thank you.

Dave Sheinin 19:30
Very nice. Doreen. I don’t know, man. I think it’s not working. You know. Whatever. Whatever it is they’re doing, it’s not working. We’re we’re many years into the Elias era. I don’t I don’t know, man. To me, nobody’s going to be ownership. Because the owners are

Nestor Aparicio 19:55
the ones going to decide. Like I mean, literally, they

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Dave Sheinin 19:58
well

Nestor Aparicio 19:59
they’re hiding. Now he’s down in D.C. doing these symposiums, thinking he’s going to get away with calling it embarrassing. Like he’s thankfully said, I, I am, I’m sort of blown away that these guys have put 2 billion on this, and they don’t feel like serious people. They feel like they’re good. They’re check writers. That’s cool, but they think that’s the that’s what this job was going to be, they need to write better checks to better people. I I can confirm that. Yeah, yeah. I mean, look, the move is the the Pete Alonso signing is great. Worked out. Give give me some pitching. You know, right? Let’s let’s open it up and get some pitching. Hey Sean Bradish, if Sean Bob. They signed Alonzo. And Luke and I talk about this all the time. The reason that they have sputtered is Gunnar Henderson. They hasn’t been any good. All the young players. This all does take Kalser. Nobody’s been nobody’s improved. Nobody’s on a church. No one’s emerged,

Dave Sheinin 21:02
right?

Nestor Aparicio 21:02
And Rutchman is-you could say this-he failed. I mean, couple-time All-Star, whatever, but he failed. That was a failure. Yes,

Dave Sheinin 21:09
that was a failure of the organization to not build around that guy. He

Nestor Aparicio 21:14
spent six months in the last place to get that guy,

Speaker 1 21:16
right? Yeah, they weren’t. Yeah, yeah. That’s right, right. I mean, blame them at the time. At the time, it seemed retroactively

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Dave Sheinin 21:27
college catcher, switch hitter, you know, versus a high school shortstop. You know, I can’t blame them except in hindsight. Right. But but at the time, I was I was 100% on board with the fish, and I think everybody was.

Nestor Aparicio 21:43
Well, it was sort of a Peyton Manning, Ryan Lee thing, where like everybody would think Peyton Manning kind of server, right? And especially in retrospect, I mean,

Dave Sheinin 21:51
retrospect, right? Yeah. Pete Shine

Nestor Aparicio 21:54
is here. Receive is here. We’re Koco’s doing the Maryland Crab Cake Tour. But for the Orioles and for the sport itself, and this is where the grind down happens for me. Right now, as we’re sitting here at Koco’s, we’re going to play a couple games in St. Louis. They’re going to play in Sacramento in front of nobody. They’re going to play next week in Colorado in front of somebody, but nobody. These are the like they can will themselves back into an incredible position by the time people hear this, or by the by, the time they get home next week again, and the penny race stinks. But the falling out of all of this is the minute the season ends. We go back to war again, and all the old guys, especially the journalists like you that have covered it, me who’s been on the radio back 35 years now. I was there for every one of these work stoppages, for all the awfulness in ’94, going into ’95, the World Series being canceled, we’re going to go back into that area again, and this franchise and this city, and them selling tickets in this market at this time, it’s really problematic for me, seeing how empty the stadium is and being a guy who engages in it, and I can find old white guys like us that like it or whatever, but just for what it should be, what it should be in the community, how to bring people together. I’m just I’m not getting it right now, and I don’t know if these new owners get it, and that really concerns me because I had high hopes that whoever the next owner would be would just get it. You know, just get it. You don’t have to win. Just win’s hard, but just get it. And I don’t think they did. That’s that’s how I did.

Dave Sheinin 23:26
What did you guys already talk about the Russian trade?

Nestor Aparicio 23:30
No. Yeah. No. No. I I have no problem with the trade. I mean, I’m shocked that they made that kind of trade in the division. I mean, I mean, when’s when’s the last time they they did something like that? Made a this franchise made a trade a massive trade like that? Right. It probably was right.

Dave Sheinin 24:00
So I was surprised by that. I liked the return they got back, but of course we’re not going to know for for half a decade if it was a good trade. We’re, you know, by who’s ever

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Nestor Aparicio 24:14
to Dean Kramer, he was the rem and a Manny Machado, right?

Dave Sheinin 24:17
Right, but like by the by the by the rules of attrition in baseball, if you get six pitchers, two of them are going to blow out, two of them are going to be okay, and two of them are probably going to be great. You know, so we we just don’t know. It’s way too early to say whether it was a good trade or bad trade. On the paper, it looked great. Right, and the reality of it is, fortune for Oriole fans, you know, they’re they’re.

Dave Sheinin 24:49
That is rough, seemingly. Yeah. So there was a

Nestor Aparicio 24:54
lot. And there’s a lot of things about them selling tickets. I talk about it all the time. And you know, Luke and I. 8% of our conversations on the field, you know, it’s seen in that way. I still continue to see it as this business that when I go down there and see a game, I’m like, how are they affording Pete Albernaz? Where is this money coming from? Where are the cable pullouts coming from? Where are the subscribers? Oh, it’s Friday night. Last Friday night, I got off the yoga mat at 715. I got in the car. I’m listening to Hollander. He had this huge call of a home run. I tweeted it. I got home, and I realized the game was on Apple TV, and I ain’t got no apples. Wow. Yeah. So you know what I mean? Like, so that’s not unique. Actually, I want to watch. Yeah. And they’re not letting me even watch it or making the bar so high on Friday night in a pennant race, were I to say no thank you, and it’s been very easy for me to say no thank you to baseball since they’ve said no thank you to me in a general sense. I I just didn’t think the new owners would be saying no thank you, not just to me, but to good sensibilities. You know what I mean? Like I don’t see any signs in regard to because look, we’re baseball nerds, and Luke’s the same thing. Elias, Elias. I don’t know about Elias. I don’t know about these baseball decisions. Who’s the guy making the decision, or the guy making baseball decisions? And that’s not Angelo’s anymore. It’s Rubenstein and Armageddon, and this is going to be on their. And I don’t know that they’re capable of making good decisions. I haven’t seen any signs that these guys have the feel for running a baseball team, or they want to, and certainly not. And this is big picture for you, Day Shing baseball historian during wartime, because we’re about to go to wartime. You know what that looks like? Yeah, looks like the fans get two middle fingers every week.

Dave Sheinin 26:40
Yeah, I mean it’s it’s it it would be tragic at this point for for baseball to to screw up 2027. I don’t mean even like losing the whole season, which of course you. I mean just don’t lose two months of the season. Don’t don’t push opening day to June. June. Don’t screw this up. They have a great school in

Nestor Aparicio 27:00
Sarasota, and all these towns are in business with spring training. They’re in business with Arizona. Absolutely, they are absolutely.

Dave Sheinin 27:07
And you know, I mean, I’ve looked at this a million ways. I’ve covered three or four labor wars in MLB. I’ve staked out owners and and Don Fear. Yes, I’ve been that guy. I’ve been that guy, and this one it looks about as bad as any of them. I did not cover 9495, I did. Yeah, you did. It doesn’t quite look that bad, but it it is the same rhetoric you’re hearing. It’s the same kind of hardline stances. MLB looks hell bent on on getting a salary cap this time, breaking the U. And if that’s the case, this is going to get a. To me, you know, one interesting thing that I’ve seen written a lot, a lot during this thing. Your view of the state of the game rests entirely on whether you believe it is more important to make the playoffs or win the World Series, and I’ll explain that baseball doesn’t have a parody. Baseball has great parody right now. If you talk about being able to make the postseason, the Tampa Bay Rays are a perennial roll bar

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Nestor Aparicio 28:19
even further, according to Luke. Like let more. I mean, team began in the playoffs. Winning 79 games this year, right? Well, yeah,

Dave Sheinin 28:25
exactly, exactly with the with the extra wild cards. You know, the Cleveland Guardians are are always in the playoff hunt. You know, the Baltimore Orioles have been in the playoffs in the last decade, right? 2016. Three

Nestor Aparicio 28:38
years for them to win. Well, okay,

Dave Sheinin 28:40
right, and then right, right. So twice in the last decade, right. So teams can get to the playoffs. It’s easy. Winning the World Series has become hard, and that that never used to be the case. I mean, we are only a decade a decade and change removed from the Kansas City Royals winning a World Series, the

Nestor Aparicio 29:01
Tampa Bay Rays. That’s a wild man for talking point as to how we know the difference between the Hawks and the Doves in 1994. I don’t know where Rubenstein is on this because in 1994 Peter was we were Peter with, but Peter also had a full stadium with three and a half million tickets sold, and every business in the area wanted to give him money. The Pittsburgh Pirates and the San Diego Padres were not dealing with that at that moment. I mean, the Yankees weren’t dealing with that at that moment. Honestly, before a new stadium came online. So for me, I think the economics have changed. Where like stadiums were going to save the game, club levels were going to save the game, media and TV was going to save the game. I haven’t seen an idea yet where they’re going to sell to Oriole fans, and Russell and his wife are going to give them 20 bucks a month, and you’re going to give them 20 bucks a month six months a year, and we’re going to maybe go to the games, but it’s really expensive than we do. Where’s the revenue model? Like I don’t, I, I’m going back to. I haven’t met the person that’s telling me where all this money’s coming from, but they will tell me we’re willing to fight over. The money and how we’re going to fight, and the fight to your point has to be Dodgers and Yankees are just bringing that money in; they’re going to keep it, and the little guys are going to stay little, and the players have no problem with that system.

Dave Sheinin 30:12
Well, but but you’re also forgetting that like, do you believe what Bill Bain always said? Right, postseason’s a crap shooting.

Nestor Aparicio 30:20
Sure,

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Dave Sheinin 30:20
all you got to do is get there, and then anything can happen. Well, at a certain time, that was sort of proven to be that was believable. Why has that changed? Has it changed, or has it just been fluke of the last few years? Well, the

Nestor Aparicio 30:35
Dodgers had nine starting pitchers on their roster. Most teams, New York’s had three or four most maybe at any given major league star. I’m not talking about Katie Povich or guys even Brandon Young. They didn’t want that. I’m talking about guys that you want the final rotation, thinking like they have so much more money. But like before, but before

Dave Sheinin 30:55
the Dodgers, it was the Yankees, right? And then the Yankees went from 2003 to whatever, and not making the World Series, right? Even though they had the highest payroll in the game almost every single year. So I’m just saying, like the Dodgers maybe are are are a juggernaut. They may also be a fluke. We may not see another franchise like the Dodgers, but all I’m saying is that before the Dodgers, the Yankees had the highest payroll in the game most years, and they went a decade and a half or whatever it was without making the World Series. So I don’t know that you can say that the the economics of the game are broken, even though yeah, the Dodgers are winning. They won a lot of World Series, they have an advantage, but teams have had that that same advantage for decades in Major League Baseball, and and we’ve never had this feeling that oh, it’s inevitable that you can’t win anymore.

Dave Sheinin 31:54
But those few teams like the Dodgers, Dodgers, they just confessed in winning the World Series. Now they’re probably going to make. They do. Right. Right. They just invest in whatever. Yeah. Yeah. You’re right. So they’re right. They gave us three years. You could prospect. But

Dave Sheinin 32:17
I’ve seen enough baseball to know that the postseason is a crapshoot, especially you know in a five-game series, anything can happen. Well, we

Nestor Aparicio 32:25
got in order to play Tampa in the last two weeks that if they got into a cage match with Tampa, that they could win a couple threes without a four. Absolutely,

Dave Sheinin 32:33
absolutely. I’m just saying that, man. It looks right now like money buys you the World Series. That’s that’s a new concept that that has never been true in in baseball. And you know, just look at look at the Yankees. That’s all I’m saying.

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Nestor Aparicio 32:49
Dave Shining is here, longtime Washington Post reporter now with Notus. N O T U S like POTUS. For Sig is here. He

Dave Sheinin 33:00
is Versailles. Yeah, I don’t know the legend, legendary. Yeah, that’s what he said. I know it is.

Nestor Aparicio 33:07
That’s how it’s spelled. I don’t see you. So you appreciate this. I get received. We’re here at Koco’s. Obviously, all the brought to you by friends at the Maryland Lottery have Raven scratch offs. Also, GBMC and Fernand and Derma are sending us out. I’m celebrating my 28th anniversary right now. I did 25 crack cakes. I did 26 oysters for 27. I did tastings, which are my favorite things to eat. By the way, I got my final peach cake of the season today. I got two of them in the car because tomorrow is the last day. Peaches have been tough this year. So you know my favorite things to eat this year. I’m putting music in my music memory. So if you’re listening on AM 1570 this week. You hear some rock and roll. I’ve got Gilmore checking in on Thursday. I got Rick Emmett from Triumph on Friday for the concert. They’re coming back to Baltimore. I saw Rush this week, so it’s been a big music week here. Dave’s your album still available, right? Oh hell yeah! Spotify, Apple News. Tell everybody about your album. Yeah, well, there’s two of them. There’s the the first one’s called First thing tomorrow, it came out in I want to say 2018. The second one, the Measure of Things, came out in 2022, I believe. Yeah, they’re anywhere. You’re tickling the odds playing again a little bit,

Dave Sheinin 34:12
you know.

Nestor Aparicio 34:13
You were game three unemployed for the ball. At first, he got he got the post, and I said, “Pub, and we’ll work it out. You know what I mean? That’s what a real friend does. It was. It

Speaker 2 34:23
was.

Nestor Aparicio 34:24
I thought you didn’t seriously consider because I figured like his wife and kids didn’t want him around right now, and I figure two weeks in South America, some ACTC, go get some mom back.

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Dave Sheinin 34:33
I was, I was in a bad mental place. I was

Nestor Aparicio 34:36
trying to get you. Which is the

Dave Sheinin 34:37
reason to do it, but I was just, I couldn’t, I couldn’t really think.

Nestor Aparicio 34:41
Three days a month, and they don’t know how fixing.

Dave Sheinin 34:44
The pictures looked amazing. I gotta say, I was having some FOMO. Yeah, so it goes.

Nestor Aparicio 34:50
Cover Washington Sports pursuit. You’re still harvesting in cartoon. What are you doing?

Speaker 1 34:57
When he wants to, he does it when he wants to.

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Nestor Aparicio 35:03
Well, I was gonna say I hit him and I’m like, “Hey, we’re seeing. I’m gonna be at Koco’s, you know, Wednesday. He’s like, “That’s protest day. What time you need me? And I’m like, “I see. I know his protest usually begins right around happy hour, right when cars honk and stuff like that. Yes. So you come out right here at the end, right at the end of the street. Right

Dave Sheinin 35:20
here, two blocks away? Two blocks away. Yeah, yeah. All right. Yeah, today I’m not protesting. I’m kayaking today. But normally protest. Is this

Nestor Aparicio 35:30
mental health kayaking?

Mike Ricigliano 35:31
No,

Nestor Aparicio 35:32
it’s still summer. You can protest in October, November. But yeah, I you know I came out of my yoga studio last

Mike Ricigliano 35:39
night. Maybe if you feel inspired, come out and protest. Oh, we just sine wave and not a

Nestor Aparicio 35:46
good time. I like. I have a feisty woman in my yoga class, like little tiny firecrack woman. She came out. She soaking wet. She was coming out of class, and I was coming in, and a short set isn’t dead yet. Yes. Yes. Just kidding. No, just kidding. You know, I thought he may even care more about Rushton finishes. I mean, what’s next? You go pickle and Sarah LeBlanc. I got all my. I got all my Canadian Morrissey. Hey, I got all my Canadian gear, I guess, yesterday after that. I was just at Canada. I was at the beach

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Dave Sheinin 36:30
in Canada, so I, you know, I love Canada.

Nestor Aparicio 36:32
All right, Rasig is here. Dave Shy is here. Is there anything base grad oriented you want to say in regard? And any because you’re a baseball guy, we’ve gone through the labor, which is gonna beat us all up, and the new ownership, and Pete Alonso and Albernaz. I mean, there’s really nothing. I I don’t know what to say that’s good. Like in regard to if they get through the labor thing and they just play a normal season next year, how this franchise is gonna get up and to your point, they might make a playoffs, right? Like literally, but how it’s really going to excel in this market in a real way? Where you love baseball, you love baseball, I love baseball. I have a couple dollars to rub together. You do. People give me tickets. I offer you guys to go. Like, just to want to be there, to want to be there. And I will say this, and this is for my soul. Having it run out and looping down there, this has really been a demarcation year for me to do these two middle fingers in a really serious way. And the reason for that is, if I love baseball, even if I like baseball, the television product with the box now for the challenge for somebody that really wants to watch the game. I don’t care about the girls or the pom poms or the bird or the or the the crab bath or the bird bath. I like baseball. I want to see them win. I talk about the sport, not the gambling, not who’s winning bats, none of that. The standings, what I talk about, and and the city. You know, that’s the heart of what it is. I, I, I look at it and say, with watching it on home for me, when I’ve gone to the games and Wendy from Curio’s giving me tickets, I’m taking you to see. I like being with you. I like being with John Allen. I like being my buddies, but I see the game better at home, and I like it better at home. And when Ben’s on and Jeff Palmer’s on. It’s really good at home, and and they’re gonna have a hard time getting me out there thinking I’m ever gonna get 15 bucks for a beard because I wouldn’t even do that for rush long, right? Like thinking that I’m this consumer that I’m an ATM because I love baseball. My name’s Aparicio. That’s all over with. But in this new incarnation for me, I found that watching the game. Even my wife came back from vacation, wanted to watch the game because the game is enjoyable with the box. It is. The box lets you watch the game

Dave Sheinin 38:49
absolutely, and and the pitch clock saved the game for me. Saved the game. I I got to the point where I could not watch baseball anymore. I got off the baseball beat partly because of that. I hated the product. This this is a great product right now on TV. It’s I love watching baseball again, and it’s all all the fun. The challenges is fun.

Nestor Aparicio 39:11
Have you been to the ballpark? You go to Natscape’s uniform. Yeah, he literally covered Washington. Yeah. So you go to Natsume, but like I don’t believe I’m. You’ve been four or five. Okay. You saw Rachel C last. Last week, and I got some Jimmy tickets

Dave Sheinin 39:32
earlier. When people

Nestor Aparicio 39:33
offer me free tickets, and Wendy from Julia Wellness is, I love her. I mean, she sent she she throws me a text, and I got four free, and they’re right on the on deck. I mean, they’re unbelievable scenes, right? I mean, they’re hot as hell. We go long day in the afternoon, and I mean, I love going out. I love going with you guys. We go to Faithies. We stop. We make a day of it. I get to bromance and be with my buddies. You know, show them a good time on behalf of someone who’s trying to show me a good time to be kind to me. But it is work when she. Gives me four tickets. I’ve got to send out 15, like literally. Yeah. I got to hit 15 people on short notice to get anybody to want to go, and then I go down there. It’s empty. Yeah. I mean, you know, it’s empty. When I go, it’s empty. So that hurts my heart. I mean, that that part of it makes it feel like it’s less fun because it’s empty, I did heckle that. I was such a jerk. Well, no way. You know about this? No. I’m a little embarrassed, but I’ll

Dave Sheinin 40:30
tell you. All right.

8

Nestor Aparicio 40:32
You know they make a lot of errors. I mean, you watch the order. Yeah. I’ve never seen anything like it. I mean, if there’s any reason to fire a lie, other than the failure itself, it’s just the lack of any thought that defense matters. Like they don’t, they don’t. It doesn’t matter architectural. Yeah, it just I look at it and say you just don’t take this seriously. Yeah, it’s like when you go into a place and their bathroom’s dirty in their restaurant, probably not a place I want to eat. Like literally, right? And the bathrooms here at Koco’s repectable always, but but they are, but that that is part of like it, right? Like I see it as a deficiency to not take defense seriously. That’s that’s a that’s tough to tell me you’re really going to win long term playing the kind of defense that they played this year. Okay, so I’m there and it’s third inning and it’s 150 degrees and I’ve watched them make error after air after error, and his third inning. It was the error that cost him the game. I mean, in the end, it was the three-run inning. Brandon Young booted a ball game off the mound at one o5′ in the afternoon, 1235 stars. Nobody in the stadium, and I’m in the fourth row, and I’m hot as hell. And like, if I’m home, I’m frustrated with it, and I say something. I stood up, tour John Allen, my rock star buddies, with me, and I don’t remember who was with me. Somebody else I embarrassed with. It wasn’t Chris Piper. I stood up, and I’m in Koco’s right now, but I stood up, and I’m like, “That’s Embarrassing, embarrassing! Field your position, and then I Albernaz saw me on the dugout because I’m in the fourth row. I’m over the Mike Trouts, it’s Frank. He’s on the next. Mike Trout’s looking at me. Pozo, the catcher, is like looking at me. Albernaz is looking at. I swear to God, I looked at Albernaz. I’m like, extra infield, Albie. Extra infield. And and then I gave one more every night. It’s embarrassing. And I sat down, and I sat down, and it was like, as as Ray Lewis once said, you can hear rap this on top. Ah, yes. But I I lost my mind. Yeah. And if I if I ever see Brandon Young, I’m gonna apologize to him. I mean, Luke says he’s a good guy, but I was just nasty at home. Yeah. And it’s just watching them kick the two of us

Dave Sheinin 43:01
fan Nestor. You just happen to be in a really quiet stadium where you got front and center.

Nestor Aparicio 43:07
At least I didn’t have a fan yell behind me. You’re a media member. Act like it. I’m like I’m not. I’m acting like it. Hey, Shine is here, and I love him to pieces. Notice is his website. He didn’t. Did you notice that he did not go to Machu Picchu.

Dave Sheinin 43:21
Yeah, I know, and I, I have to go do a phone interview to be honest with you. Okay, bye. All right, you got

Nestor Aparicio 43:26
to go. Yeah, I’m out. I was about to ask him a really good question too. That’s fine. I love you. Get your phone interview. He’s got important. I’m by Z. I would love your best. All right, and we talk. I’m gonna take a break, and you and I’ll come back and we’ll do your six stuff. Okay, I got to catch up with you. All right. Okay, great. We got to catch up with democracy. Back for more. We’re Koco. Stay with us.