Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the Orioles sweep of the Reds in Cincinnati and orange pitching prosperity in Birdland as the first-place squad heads to D.C. to tackle the Nationals.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
pitching, craig kimbrel, year, day, bats, point, orioles, week, talked, matteo, pitch, bullpen, sunday, baseball, game, starting, yankees, continue, play, rodriguez
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Nestor J. Aparicio
Nestor J. Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home we are W n s t tassel Baltimore and Baltimore positive. I got my Coco’s pub shirt on today because it is the crabcakes season we’re gonna be on fade Lee’s on Friday because the Orioles are home on Fridays every other Friday lately and two Fridays in a row this month. We’re going to be at fete Lee’s on Fridays to until five Luke will be there talking to baseball as the Arizona Diamondbacks come to town. And of course, we’re going to be getting the prep dates. We’re back out on the road, Costas Coco’s all of our places pappases We’re going to be in those places beginning of June put the crabcake tour together for summer. Also got a little a special oyster tour thing I’m doing with the conjunction with the Maryland lottery as well as Liberty pure solutions and Jiffy Lube. Multi care our friends at Coal roofing power me up with the Royal farms coffee in the coal roofing mug so that I can still be here still be alive when the Orioles are this good. This thumb and, and Luke Jones. I know you’re gonna say, yeah, they were really good last year. I understand that. I’m saying from like, they’ve gotten better. And anybody that thought last year was, well, they’re, they’re okay. And maybe they need some more pitching and, you know, Santander and Mullins and Hayes and he’s older guys, when I will see what I mean. Like, I have never seen anything like this. I’ve been doing this 32 years. They just made a documentary recently about how long I’ve been doing this. And I’ve never seen anything like, like this team and I keep saying this to my wife privately sitting here watching these games, watching. You know, Dean Kramer and watching Cole, Irvin and all of it, all of it. I mean, last week to kick that starting to Venezuela, okay, he’s now in the bullpen. SUAREZ We got that going on now, things have fallen into place for this baseball team. It’s may count me as a true believer. I’m a true believer.
Luke Jones 01:57
Well, I’ll say this, I believed in them last year, I’m going to continue to say that but they are getting better. And it’s evolving. And that’s why people were so excited last year. It’s why people were so excited at the end of 2022. And we’re seeing this play out. It’s not as though they’re without any issue whatsoever. We’ll get to Craig Kimbrel, I’m sure. But they go to Cincinnati, and they sweep the reds and not that the Reds are great. But they’re another team in the know it with a looking through the lens of young players and young talent and hoping to get better and kind of being in that tier of where the Orioles were a couple years ago. Right. And the Orioles are, you know, we’ve seen it come to fruition. We’ve seen it in such an emphatic way work. And obviously now it’s just a case of continuing to get better. And then once we get to October, which is so far away, and there’s still so many obstacles between now and then that could potentially go the wrong way. But
Nestor J. Aparicio 02:57
I hope Gracie Rodriguez is healthy by that. And that’s all I hope. Sure, sure. Well,
Luke Jones 03:00
he’s healthy and you hope everyone else stays healthy in the process. As we saw as we were waiting for Bradish and John means to come back. They come back and then great Grayson Rodriguez goes down. So you’re never out of the woods in that regard. But this is a heck of a baseball team and they have the best record in the American League as they finish off a three game sweep with Cincinnati. Only the Phillies, who are just what a half game better than them after they finished off a good weekend of their own. But I mean, they’re playing at a very high level and what specifically over the last week when you consider what the tone of the conversation was not, not necessarily between you and me, but how there was so much angst about losing two of three to the a’s and the way that they lost and the bullpen being overworked and Craig Kimbrel being hurt slash ineffective. Well, then
Nestor J. Aparicio 03:49
Rodriguez getting hurt. Let’s say that because we didn’t crash it means you’re coming back. Come on now that you know, like, and certainly Cole Irvin, like this whole, like, wherever we’ve been the last couple of weeks with him. It’s, it’s astonishing. I said to my wife, I’m like, God, I know they’re gonna hit the ball. And I know they’re gonna have some slumps where they’re gonna miss the ball, right? Because they have some guys that missed the ball. But for the most part, they have more of guys that have good eyes make good contact are in control of the strike zone, all of that. But the pitching side of this, you’ve talked about and I’ve talked about it, we’re not worried about the starting pitcher. We’re worried about the ball but we’re not worried about the bullpen we’re worried about the closer we’re going to be worried we’re gonna get to that in a minute. But to get the kind of starting pitching they’ve had this week, specifically, Yankees in town and they go out on the road, see what you want about the Reds over the weekend. But you got guys that are coming back from injuries. Guys are coming back from question marks all the way around and they’d be putting up donuts as starting pitchers over the weekend. I stand very, very impressed by the Cincinnati sweep in a lot of ways on the road early in the year all of that they’re not a great team or whatever. But But I, I will look at that. It showed me their strength in pitching. And it’s answered some questions for me from Elias to say, All right, you know, it’s not like, oh, he knew all of this was going to work out. And he certainly didn’t know Bradish wasn’t gonna take a knife or not. But the stick to this of him the seeing through the process, as Ozzie Newsome would say, follow the process of all of this, that if we have enough talent, enough arms, and that trade will come if we need it, if we really do need a pitcher. Because five minutes ago, we’re ready to trade. Oh, I don’t know mayo, just pick guys just get rid of guys wholesale trade last hours to get pitching. Still might need to do that. But not this week,
Luke Jones 05:41
just not this week. Yeah. And look, I mean, it’s important never to judge a team when they’re at their absolute best, which is what we saw with the rotation this past week, nor should you do it when you’re at at your absolute worst. That’s why, you know, to your point when there was so much panic after the Oakland series, not that I think anyone’s concerns about Craig Kimbrel have lessened at all, but you look at it through a big picture lens, we know they’ve swung the bats at a very high level. I mean, they’ve led the league in homeruns are right at the top in run scored, especially especially in the American League. But the pitching has been, you know, a more of a question, relatively speaking, but this last week, I mean, the starting pitching specially amidst the concern with Grayson Rodriguez who is starting to throw again. So it’s not as though they’ve shut him down indefinitely. But obviously, they had to slow it down and play some on the Il. But, I mean, when you get what Cole Irvin is doing for you. Obviously, we’ve talked about Dean Kramer, who turned in another really good start. I mean, it’s, you know what, you’re getting that from the back end of your rotation, and then you get start to get into obviously, if Corbin burns, Kyle Bradish is back john means does what he did on Saturday night, which was that, to me, that had to be the best. That was the best thing about the weekend. I mean, if you’re really trying to look at this, for
Nestor J. Aparicio 07:03
to be forgotten about him. I mean, not for me not forgotten about completely. Not even in number two pencil did either you and I we’re not talking about they’ll get him back in July. And he’ll be John mean, no, no, no, no. It’s still a question mark. I mean, even though we saw it on Saturday, that was question mark three weeks ago, but he’s got his brains beaten in Norfolk, right. So that that part of him coming back is in x factor that I have not talked about, or you and I have not talked about, like they’ll have means in October, and he’ll be fine. We didn’t talk out loud about that. When guys are unhealthy. I don’t talk about them in the future, especially not pitchers. Well.
Luke Jones 07:42
We talked about a plan. I mean, I did maybe you weren’t listening. I talked about him a lot. The question was okay, is it going to be peak? John means we threw a no hitter for this team, literally three years ago on this past Sunday, or is it going to be a version of John means that okay, gives you some starts, but then the elbow is not feeling great. Or he looks more like a number five starter? I mean, I think that question was fair, I
Nestor J. Aparicio 08:07
think the question was always a might be it was a usability, he might pitch he might not pitch he might pitch well, he might not pitch well, it but it was certainly not. We really believe we’re getting that guy back top of the rotation guy waiting on that counting on that I at least Yeah, I’m not that way with Bradish. Or means. I don’t say I’ve written them off. But I was much more writing in ARM troubles coming back from arm troubles. Not ready in April. You know, like, I’m thinking to myself, they’re gonna have to make a trade. And, and we talked a lot more about that a lot more about like, the possibility of they need to add to the rotation then means Bradish we’ll be back and all of a sudden crane will be the number six. They need to do a six man rotation. I came up with that conclusion on Sunday. I’m like, let’s go with six guys. Luke, we’re gonna start a new rotation thing around here.
Luke Jones 08:57
We’ll see. We’ll see. I’m I’m not necessarily.
Nestor J. Aparicio 09:01
I’m making that up. By the way. I don’t want burns pitch them once a week. I’m with ya. And that’s part of where we didn’t have for starters the other day now we got six Sure, sure, sure. But,
Luke Jones 09:09
again, it’s a week by week thing. It really is. I mean, you’re like we said there was excitement at the start of the week. That Okay, Kyle Bradish, GM picket pitch at some point this week, he’s gonna pitch that Thursday finale against the Yankees. John means just shoved at Norfolk on Sunday. So he’s going to pitch for the Orioles at some point, because his rehab assignment was had run out. So it can always turn quickly. For the good or for the bad. So look, up two weeks from now you and I will be talking again about them needing
Nestor J. Aparicio 09:39
to make a trade. I mean, that’s when you’re in first place. Turn for the good. Oh, my. Yeah. We
Luke Jones 09:45
had a whole lot of that around here. Exactly. So I mean, in theory,
Nestor J. Aparicio 09:49
Angelo’s isn’t here to screw it up? Neither is John.
Luke Jones 09:53
Fair enough. Fair enough.
Nestor J. Aparicio 09:54
First time in 30 years, I could say that out loud. Yeah. Well, and
Luke Jones 09:58
that’s where to me the trade deadline becomes that much more exciting because it’s not just a matter of okay trading prospects. But can you take on some salary? Well, there will there’ll be a reliever that becomes available that okay, you’ll have to trade a prospect, but you’re also going to take on some money. And David Rubenstein says no problem, you know. So that’s certainly those are the scenarios you’re hoping that play out more favorably for them at this point. So, but I mean, it’s, you know, it’s still very early, there’s still a long way to go to navigate. You know, the long long season we just pass the the 20% mark, so to speak, the 1/5 mark of the season. So still a long way to go. Still have to keep pitching healthy, still need to make sure you have enough arms. I’m even though the rest of the bullpen has pitched well, other than Craig Kimbrel. When he’s getting rest. We saw it on Friday night, he looked really good. Because he’d had a few days off at that point in time, Saturday, not so good. So but, you know, I’m still going to have some concern about the bullpen in the big picture, October sense of thinking about it. But I mean, beyond that, what do you say about this team that you’re not completely impressed about? Okay, they didn’t swing the bats all that terribly well until Sunday. But you’re gonna go through those periods of time, you’re gonna go through periods of time where you don’t swing the bats as well. And that’s when you want your pitching to pick you up. And that’s what happened on Friday and Saturday. And then you’re gonna have times where you don’t pitch as well, and the bats explode like they did Sunday, even though they pitched well on Sunday. So I mean, it’s just it’s really something that I don’t know if a baseball how often a baseball team fires truly fires on all cylinders. And yeah, you could say right now, Grayson Rodriguez is on the aisle. So that’s the one thing that’s not going well, Chris Hayes, often Hayes. But but even Austin Hays become their fourth outfielder, you know about it before he even got hurt. So who knows what that’s gonna look like. So I mean, you’re never, you’re never having everything perfect. I mean, it’s never going to be perfect. That’s why, you know, we’ve talked about this a lot with the Ravens in recent years at times where they have some injuries and, and I just sit there and say, look, the extreme examples of like, 2021, when the Ravens had a slew of injuries, yeah, that’s a little bit different. But you’re not going to sit there with a clean injury report every week. It’s the same thing. With a baseball team over 162 games, you’re gonna have something, something’s going to spring a leak, and at some point, and then you fix that, and then something else starts to leak, right. I mean, that’s just the nature of it. But by and large, I mean, things are just going really, really well for them right now. And I mean, you just look at them across the board and pitching is still the relative and stress relative weakness of this ballclub in the sense that I think if you just say Oreos versus Yankees, Yankees do have a better pitching staff. But I’ll take the Orioles position talent, the Orioles defensive ability, the Orioles speed, and athleticism. I’ll take those factors out of four games, because we just did. Sure, sure. So So you look at it through that lens. But overall, this is, you know, 23 and elevens, 23. And 11. I mean, you’re playing 676. Baseball, you know, there’s not a whole lot to pick apart there other than just October and thinking about what that means and getting to the next level and not just getting there but making a run, which got such a long way to go on that front. And, you know, even with the Craig Kimbrel conversation, where you look at this and say, Okay, you still want to look evaluate some of the arms you have internally. And look, we’ve seen Jacob Webb make some really big contributions over the last week. And you know, Albert Suarez, now it was low leverage on Sunday, but coming out of the bullpen, you know, whether it’s him pitching two plus innings, or whether it’s him being shortened up to be an eighth inning guy for you, at some point, you want to see what that looks like. And in the meantime, Mike Elias continues to survey the market and see what’s out there and see what potential deals could be made, whether it’s now or whether it’s the third week of June or whether it’s 12 hours before the trade deadline. I mean, there are different options and there are different layers to that. But in the meantime, you are getting some bullpen contributions that you like and when you get starting pitching like the Orioles have gotten over the last week, you don’t have to work the bullpen quite as hard. And that’s part of this as well remember last year, I so flippantly said because their bullpen was being worked hard that they either needed their starters to go deeper, or they needed a few more blowouts. And you didn’t have to throw Batista and Cano every night. So, you know, Sunday was a good example of they didn’t have to work their bullpen quite as hard and you didn’t even have to go to the Craig Kimbrel well or try to pitch Cano again or whatever. So So you know, the more you can mix those kinds of performances in that that you take them for granted, but the more of those that you get, the better off you’re gonna be not just that day, but for the next few days. You know, they they were in a position where with the off day, two in DC and then another off day, you’re in a position where you put probably wanted to get a couple guys work by the end of the weekend in Cincinnati just because you know, you’re going to have kind of a lighter week just schedule wise. So you know that that all factors in that’s why anytime I see anyone you know media or fans and look, we all do this it’s baseball second guessing and sitting there you know on your couch you know what guy you bring it in? And which spot Who are they matching up against? Yeah, they’re second guessing of Brandon Hyde. But there’s also so much that goes into it that he’s trying to not just win that night’s game, but keep them in position to have a good chance to put their best foot forward the following day. And then in a big picture sense trying to keep everyone healthy and try but also not wanting anyone to sit in the bullpen and collect splinters for six, seven days and not pitch. And that’s why Mike Bauman saw that saw the ninth inning and gave up a run and I would say ruin the shutout. But it didn’t really matter. I mean, they still want 11 to one, but but that’s part of it. So you know, you’re managing all of that. But it becomes so much easier to manage all that. When you get quality starting pitching when you get the kind of hitting that they got on Sunday where the bats finally broke out after, you know, pretty quiet weekend up to that point, you know, offensively. So a three game sweep, there’s not a whole lot to pick apart. I mean, there just isn’t I mean, even even the Craig Kimbrel discussion that is ongoing and is relevant. I’m not, I’m not trying to downplay it or be dismissive of it. But at the same time, I think you also have to recognize where Craig Kimbrel was, you know, over the last four or five years, it’s been up and down. And it’s been a guy that you probably can’t work like you did when he was 28 years old. So regardless of what his salary is, I mean, he’s paid that now. Regardless, I think you need to look at it and say, if he has to save games, three out of four days, like feel it was apt to do, that’s probably not going to be a good plan. And that’s where I do look at it and say, Brandon Hyde and Mike Elias, you got to come up with a plan in that way. And that doesn’t mean you get rid of Kimbrel or you demote them to the fifth reliever or anything like that. It just means, hey, we’ve got to view this through a lens of probably not a great idea that he’s going to pitch back to back days or try to save two out of three or three out of four, we’ve got to look at it a little more judiciously, and try to keep him as fresh as
Nestor J. Aparicio 17:18
doesn’t have to have 52 saves and be gone and look good on the bubblegum card, he needs to save the games that you bring him into. And on the nights when his arm he went last night you don’t bring him back tonight, and you just have closer beat and I and when you’re playing 700 ball and you play pretty good defense. Getting three out should be something any of these guys could do any any. Any of the guys that are available, even a left hander and the right situation where you haven’t brought him in and you get a longer to start, you know, bring Perez in and then like let him if you get to two out of three left handed batters, make them pinch it and see where their bench is in the ninth inning. But those are the kinds of matchups you’re going to have. Because Luke is gonna say this following Luke Jones is here, Baltimore, Luke, and I want to give love to everybody that’s been sponsoring us. Take care of our 25th anniversary and curio wellness and foreign data and all the stuff that’s been going on around here. If you haven’t watched the doc, I hope you get a chance to go do that. We’re going to be doing the Maryland crabcake tour on Friday, come on out. But this is a weird week, right? Two days off, sort of sleep in your own bed go down to DC at least in the old days. That was sort of the way it worked. You’ll be doing that. Burns goes and then Bradish is gonna go then you get another day off. Then they come home for a while right then they get Arizona over the weekend. This is a time where like the exhale thing I don’t see by week. You know they don’t get such a thing in baseball but I was thinking about this. They haven’t had rain right? They didn’t they haven’t banged the game have they
Luke Jones 18:46
know but they had a five hour rain delay. Now
Nestor J. Aparicio 18:49
but what I’m saying they don’t have to make games up. They don’t have double slapped onto their schedule. Yeah, like well get through April without having really all of that they say that pitching part of the tax and we got to make two or three games up. We have doubleheaders all that stuff down the line. They don’t have any of that piling up on them now and the thing that felt like pitching problems all of a sudden feels like they might be okay with the starters if and look you and I could have said that January February March. If Brett you know it branches okay if means comes back if if if it was always an F with those guys, now that they’re back in here and pitching I don’t think we’re gonna get seven innings of shutout ball every fifth knife from John means but it feels like his arms not going to fall off. It feels like he’s strengthening from where he was after the Tommy John to be. And they’ve been very judicious, very conservative, very cautious with all of these guys. And I have a lot of respect for that because it doesn’t feel like the rented mule days of Matt Wieters catching 163 games a year at both ends of doubleheaders. You know we’ve come a little way from that and as far as load man management for all these guys. But boy, the pitching and the week and the schedule and the Nationals in Arizona, this sets up to be a little bit of an exhale, after whipping up on the Yankees and sweeping the reds, they’ve had a hell of a week, to be able to come home, have a little couple drinks on Cinco Demayo, take a day off, get another day off, not be on airplanes and other weird places. This is a real nice settling week for them. I think they’re a first place team. They’ve accomplished everything that you want them to accomplish. They’re as healthy as we can open them to be Rodriguez aside. You know, I don’t sit back and count the cards at this point. But I would sit back and measure the progress and literally, and look at it and say, Wow, because this is where you wanted them to be in February and March might be ahead of where you would even have projected them on your best day is given the pitching. Yeah.
Luke Jones 20:52
At the same time, I hear everything you’re saying. The New York Yankees continue to win, even though the Orioles took three out of four from them. I mean, they didn’t gain any ground on them over the weekend. So I mean, you’re really in a position where I and I’m not suggesting that that’s what you meant by the comment, but they can’t take their foot off the gas because the Yankees are right there. And by the way, Boston continues to pitch really well. So so they’re, they need to win. And they need to play consistent baseball and they need to beat the teams are supposed to beat. So I think your points well taken just from the standpoint of get a couple days off. You know, you have to quote road games that aren’t really road games, right? Because you’re so close. I mean, the fact that they flew home after Sunday’s game yeah. Which was a late start, I guess what Cincinnati had a marathon and all that. That’s why they started at four o’clock. Thank
Nestor J. Aparicio 21:41
you for telling me that because I was a strange, dude. I googled in the morning because like my wife and I were like having coffee. And I just assumed the game was one o’clock, and she didn’t have like a family meeting. And I looked down. I saw it at four o’clock. And I’m like, Alright, it’s a national game. And we actually talked about Patriots Day in Boston. I’m like, because I said something to her. And this will be fun for you because you’ve traveled a little bit but the Cincinnati trip. I remember going in there in the middle of like a German festival where the whole city was shut down. But it was it was football season. It was a Ravens game, like in October, where the entire city was like, shut down, shut down. Couldn’t get into any of the streets street fair everywhere. And I’m thinking why was football season? I don’t think it’s I bet they had some kind of festival. So it was a running festival. Good for them. Because the four o’clock thing f with me all day. I’m like, come I got to get the game going here. And then once it got started, I was like, All right, I can set a little this four o’clock baseball, but the day was over when the game ended. You know, it’s like dark when the game ended. And I’m like, yeah, like one o’clock Sunday games, even if it is 120 degrees, but but that’s a marathon. Good to know.
Luke Jones 22:46
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, because I did the same thing. I looked at my app. I guess it was early Sunday morning before I go to church and at first I thought it was Wait, did this update? Like I was really confused and then I looked to see if they moved it back because there was bad weather or something like that. But no, it was a race in Cincinnati on Sunday morning. So they
Nestor J. Aparicio 23:03
did not have it on their website. You’re teaching me Monday morning about this by the way. Well, they
Luke Jones 23:09
Kevin Brown mentioned it I mentioned Yeah, he did mention it. What I guess even jokingly asked Ben McDonald if he had run in the race and Ben kind of just gave awkward pause like I’ve not run into that so but but we saw that and worked out because the Orioles travel wise they’re coming home they didn’t play on Monday anyway so so it was definitely strange. But hey, just worth the wait. I mean Dean Kramer pitch the way that he did and the bats exploded. It was nice to see Anthony Santander breakout we’ve been talking about how he is scuffled and save for a couple three, four games stretches all year hadn’t really swung the bat all that well. So that was nice to see
Nestor J. Aparicio 23:46
on March got to go out and find five grand now before when you know before he comes on on Wednesday, giving money away I bet people just turn the game off and the bases got loaded. I’m a little weird with the lottery thing. I’m like, can you imagine being the lottery constructs contest into the day every at bat that comes up? You got a chance to win 500 bucks. Like it’s like a spin. And then the bases get loaded. You’re like net boom, gone. I’m like, All right, you know, grand slams, they’re fun. Especially if you’re even with seventh one.
Luke Jones 24:13
Especially if you were out celebrating having a margarita for Cinco de Mayo and then that happens. I mean, that wouldn’t be a that’d be a nice little way to finish five
Nestor J. Aparicio 24:20
grand on on five five. How about that?
Luke Jones 24:23
I’m gonna exactly Absolutely. So you know, it was good to see them swing the bat and break out the way they did already concerns Friday and Saturday, but it just it was more of a grind. I mean, you know what to one and then when the other game you know, you score three runs. So I mean, it was very much a quieter weekend offensively until Sunday and then boy they broke out and Ryan McKenna hits another home run and Jordan Westberg gets another home run and I mean just up and down the lineup looks
Nestor J. Aparicio 24:50
good. So it’s almost like 1970 all over again.
Luke Jones 24:54
I mean, look at you know, look, I saw you made mentioned about McKenna on social media but how About Jorge Mateo. I mean, how about Matteo swinging the bat the way he has I mean, it’s, it’s kind of becoming, even though Maria started and ended up getting a couple of hits on Sunday, you’re kind of seeing Matteo, it’s looking more and more like, he’s kind of sort of becoming the everyday second baseman for the time being, because he’s swinging the bat. He’s swinging the bat, and Aris really hasn’t swung the bat. So
Nestor J. Aparicio 25:21
Jackson holidays coming. I mean, whenever that happens, unless there’s an injury or a real set sure that he won’t be playing second base in the playoffs, you know, what I mean? So get, I tell you what, from a tale, and you realize that’s the hardest role in the world, right, you know, that sort of, you know, I mean, even for Austin, Hays to some degree, you have some of these guys, you know, the bell tolls for the and that was for Patrick Queen last year, or for any of these guys. And when Patrick when he’s this, he’s playing, you know, with Matteo least he’s playing right now. But there is a point where some of these guys know, guys are coming, and guys are coming to take your job, and they’re going to take your job. And now, if you get your opportunity, this is where you get to play and get a chance to continue to play elsewhere or in this system. But what valuable pieces, they are Swiss Army Knife pieces, that this team will absolutely need speed, defense, bench, all of that stuff. Because to your point, the notion that curse that’s going to be a bench player, or the Couser was ever going to be a bench player, these sorts of blue chip tools, guys that you bring them up, you want to see him play five days a week. I mean, they have a limited amount of at bats. So that’s why Metallian ureas even playing a month and a half ago, we might have question that. Well,
Luke Jones 26:40
and look, I’m not gonna sit here and say that I love the idea of one or the other playing every day, which is their format right now. But that’s where they are with Jackson holiday. And that’s just, you know, holidays working on stuff that trip away. And I’ve seen some video, it looks like he has the leg kicks not quite as exaggerated as it was, as I told you, it wasn’t about him just going there and putting up numbers, they’re going to make some adjustments, they identified some adjustments that he needs to make that isn’t about triple A pitching. It’s about hitting Major League pitching. So you know, that’s where that failure was constructive in a way of okay, here’s what you need to do in the meantime, or hey, Matteo and aureus. Luck, you do the roster math, or both those guys going to be on the roster the entire year. You know, that’s a big question mark right now, one
Nestor J. Aparicio 27:26
or the other. Yeah. Ken as part of this as well. Yeah.
Luke Jones 27:29
I mean, I think I think it’s tougher to to look at McKenna and say he’s gonna hold on to a roster spot. Once Austin Hayes’s healthy. I mean, I just, you know, Austin Hayes had kind of become the new Ryan McKenna, so to speak. And we’ll see how that works out. I mean, Colton Couser, in fairness, he’s cooled off, you know, and that’s not to say that he’s, you know, going to lose a starting job. I’m not suggesting that, but he’s cooled off, guys come back to Earth. There’s ebbs and flows to this. I mean, we know that. But in the case of Matteo, I’m gonna reassess an opportunity for both of them right now, where they know that you do the roster math come September. Is there a job for one of them? Absolutely. Is there a job for both of them? That’s a big question mark, you know, depending on how the roster is constructed, so you better take advantage and we’ve seen Matteo do a better job of that than he is to this point. So yeah, he’s even had a couple of homeruns here recently. So it we’ll see how it plays out, you know, Jorge Mateo look like, go back and look at his numbers last April, I looked like an MVP candidate, and then didn’t hit it all the rest of the year. So I mean, there’s there’s some of that that’s always at work as well. But for all these guys, all these guys other than Gunnar Henderson and Adley, rutschman, right. I mean, really, they all know that there’s someone at triple A, that’s gunning for them, you know, no pun intended there. I mean, there’s someone at triple A, that’s eyeing a roster spot or eyeing more at bats or saying hey, I can come in and be better than that guy. And, you know, not saying that the roster is going to turn over that much, you know, that dramatically that quickly. But you know, it’s already credential
Nestor J. Aparicio 29:02
by the way if I had a press credential and I were talking to Mike allies, that’d be something I’d asked him about. I’d ask him about that that that good energy for jobs you don’t I mean, the backup quarterback for the Ravens knows he’s not playing the Maurice got the job, right? Like the backup catcher here knows he’s only going to play twice a week in McCann or whatever. But to your point, the rest of these sometimes they’re hitting a Grand Slam late at night. Molins plan for a job he’s playing for a job mountcastle has been playing for a job from the very since the time when when? Before they trade away, man seni you know, so like, all of these government, Matteo, get give me second base third, play wherever you sent me. Just give me give me some at bats. Let me get into the game. And you know, we weren’t that far away from Westberg. Just being half a rookie last year. My wife was looking at Le Dela Cruz. She’s like, When did he come up? What’s his story? Whatever. I’m like, kind of came up like about this time last year. I said I bet he hasn’t even been up a year yet. And The same thing is true for Couser. I mean, we go through all these guys, it feels like they’ve home with the laundry. And a lot of these guys are Grayson Rodriguez, we’re talking about missing anyone, even here this time last year. So it is amazing how quickly the furniture does change, but also the fact that there’s real in some organizations, that would be tension, right i and who knows with jobs in this, but only one guy can play the position most days. They they have a really crowded, competitive situation that needs to be managed the right way. Because everybody that’s on the bench once at bats and feels like they’ve earned them feel like they’re big league players.
Luke Jones 30:40
Yeah, on some of what you just said. Let’s also remember, guys struggle. And just because something looks a certain way, I mean, Grayson Rodriguez was in the Orioles rotation. Last year at this time he wasn’t doing well. You know, it wasn’t going well for him. Colton Couser got caught up what right around the Fourth of July last summer. He was awful. I mean, to the point where they had to send them back down. So that’s excellent. It was awful was another projection holiday. Jordan Westberg was never awful last year. But go look at his numbers. They were pretty pedestrian. They were pretty. I don’t know if underwhelming is the right term. Because why are you here? You know, you’re right. That it was just it was more so if you watched him play, it was like okay, is this really going to be a long term guy or is this guy just fine for right now? That’s
Nestor J. Aparicio 31:25
why Adam Frazier and Matteo and that’s why those guys were in the lineup last year. Right, literally. Well,
Luke Jones 31:31
I mean, that’s, you know, I, you know, we could have debated when Jordan Westbrook could have been there. I mean, I still didn’t quite fully understand the Adam Fraser signing when they signed up, but hey, it was fine. It wasn’t it wasn’t a negative. But you don’t always know how guys are going to respond for every guy that comes up and is a star right away. You’ll have some other guys that scuffled for I mean, Adly, rushman, scuffled for three or four weeks and athlete was beyond ready for the major leagues? I mean, you’re talking about a kid who could have been in the major leagues a year earlier. But we know the Orioles weren’t rushing, because they were still really bad. And why do you want to start a service clock at that point? You know, Gunnar Henderson, struggled at this time last year, you know, he was hitting under 200. But he was drawing walks and doing enough to say, Okay, this is looking not great, but there’s enough to like, just to continue to try them out there every day. Whereas, you know, Jackson holiday a couple of weeks ago, there was so much swing and miss so much striking out where it’s just like, I think he needs to, you know, he needs to reset and make some adjustments here. So there are varying degrees of this. That’s why I always say, player development does not end does not culminate with a call up to the major leagues, it continues there. So and that’s the challenge, because the jump from triple A to the majors is so immense. And some people have even opined that, because of all the pitching health concerns we’re seeing at the major league level, you’re maybe even seeing more triple A pitchers promote being promoted more quickly than they normally would be even so, you know, it’s a theory. I’m not gonna sit here and say that that’s absolutely the truth. But, you know, it’s challenging. It’s challenging. So that’s where When Jackson holiday gets sent down gets disappointing in the moment. Yeah, I thought they handled the whole thing. We It was weird, in how that was handled going back to the offseason, even with how they talked about it. But there’s no reason to be discouraged in a big picture sense because you see what Couser is doing. You see what Gunnar Henderson a year later looks like the MVP of the American League other than maybe Juan Soto, you know, he’s he’s in that tier, though. He’s right there in that discussion. And West serves a Major League Baseball. Yeah, and Colton Couser looks like he’s gonna be Rookie of the Year and you know, so. And Grayson Rodriguez, until the shoulder issue, you know, had been one of the better pitchers in the American League gone back to the All Star break last year. So, you know, it takes some time, it’s really difficult to do this. And I don’t say that to make excuses for guys. But when you’re around it, and you see the work that’s put in, you see the preparation required, you see the work the entire organization has done to develop talent, you it’s a reminder of just because it, it’s been really successful, doesn’t mean that it’s easy all the time, and everyone’s going to get it right away. So I think there are enough success stories to say, all right, Jackson holiday has to go down. It stinks for the moment. It’s disappointing for the kid right now. I’m sure he’s down in the dumps a little bit. This is the first time he’s really failed at any level of baseball. But considering how these other guys have handled it, and how they’ve pulled themselves up off the floor, up off the dirt and gotten turned themselves around. You have every bit of confidence that he’s going to do it whether it’s going to be in June, or whether it’s going to be in July or August or whether it’s going to be next year maybe you know, I mean, who knows you never really know for certain. But, you know, with all those stories, this team continues to just roll and when you’re talking about a team that is is winning two thirds of its games a little over two thirds of its games as consistently as they are. And, you know, Oakland series was a hiccup and then they go six in one and pitch the way they did over the last week. You know, it’s tough to be too concerned about anything, even if we’ll continue to talk about some of the pitching in a big picture sense and maybe a closer being acquired at some point between now and the trade deadline.
Nestor J. Aparicio 35:23
All right, burns and Brad is show a couple days off around this we orals will be home on Friday against the Arizona Diamondbacks. We go see the Royals play Tuesday or Wednesday I get just go down to DC and pay a lot to park and Gucci little neighborhood down there and pay your tolls have some fun go down there and hate on the Washington Nationals in the great Peter Angelo style of give us back our Masson he is Luke he’s Baltimore Luke I am Nestor the 25th anniversary documentary no one listens. everyone hears is available. Luke and I will be at fade Lee’s at 2pm on Friday, get ready for the Arizona Diamondbacks. All of that brought to you by the Maryland lottery. I will have Pac Man scratch offs to give away also our friends Jiffy Lube, multi care and liberty pure solutions, bringing it all home for us. It’s May, birds are in first place. Ravens are out running around do a little mini camp stuff. Luke will be on all that stuff as well. And we have a an election this week here in Baltimore, Maryland. Make sure you’re voting and voting responsible. We’ll be talking to some more political candidates before the week is over. I am Nestor we are wn st am 1570, Towson Baltimore. And we never stop talking Baltimore positive
