The road ahead after Wrigley for Orioles

Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the Tampa Rays brand of baseball and road ahead for the Orioles after some Wrigley Field headaches in Chicago.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

talked, orioles, play, team, week, point, gunnar, year, ryan, aaron hicks, good, series, win, baseball, baltimore, game, mullins, big leagues, colton, bullpen

SPEAKERS

Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome back W and S T TAS Baltimore. And Baltimore positive reminding you to set a and 1570 on your dial. We’re gonna be doing the Maryland crabcake tour. This week we’re getting the south and west the spirits West in the city. Have a good time over there hear about the legendary crabcake around the corner from our Friends of St. Agnes and Mount St. Joe trying to get the Gaels people all going it’s all brought to you by our friends at the Maryland lottery in conjunction with window nation. I mean a weird week this week. If anybody if I sound High as a kite on the air, it’s a mainlining Benadryl right now for a an eye sting. And I look a little freaky deaky on our YouTube but that’s okay. I’m ugly most of the time anyway. That’s why I keep looping around and be young good looking here on the on the interwebs hey man not happy Welcome back to you or welcome back to me. A bunch of football a bunch of baseball. I want to start with baseball with you because obviously the Chicago thing wasn’t going well there for a while I had a lot of friends when at Chicago and Northside paying too much for beer taking the the train and like all that worked out better on Sunday, but certainly kind of a weird weird trip for the Orioles at Chicago.

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Luke Jones  01:10

It is and it’s just weird going to Wrigley in general, right? I mean, and if you’ve been there, it’s a great experience. Don’t get me wrong. I went many years ago with my best friend and you know Wrigleyville and that whole experience it’s cool. I mean, it really is but

Nestor Aparicio  01:22

you can see what all that corporate money did. Did you know what it looks like now? Because you saw it when it was like real? You go back now it’s like a parking garage. Yeah, I

Luke Jones  01:31

went I think it was 2008 Felix pa i remember delivered a big hit at some point it in one of the games that I saw. But it’s just weird, right? Because you play a Friday afternoon game. You’re not you don’t do that anywhere else other than if you’re playing your home opener at the beginning of the season. And then you play two more day games after that. That’s not as strange but just kind of a weird series for the Orioles. I mean, Monday or on Friday, it was a case of Middle relief really catching up with them. They didn’t swing the bats particularly well. Saturday they didn’t swing the bats. Well, Sunday, you get that weird peacock game where it starts a little bit earlier than you’d anticipate being in Chicago and Gunnar Henderson scratched not long before first pitch and you’re thinking oh, great. I mean, they’re gonna get swept. And, you know, you’re just you’re uneasy about it. And lo and behold, they scrapped together a win and just choppy some some bad defense, you know, Ryan O’Hearn Miss plays a ball and right field, they had some guys thrown out on the bases. So it wasn’t a well played crisp, nine innings for the Orioles on Sunday. But the bats came alive when they needed to and the bullpen was really, really good. So you feel way better about losing two out of three, rather than being swept mean, they still have not been swept all year, we’ve talked about their uncanny ability to minimize these laws, right, they’ll lose two in a row, but they don’t lose three or four or five in a row.

Nestor Aparicio  02:53

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We talked about the match number last week was 17. When we got together last Monday, we get together, beginning of this week 17. Still, I mean, that that they’re playing 500 ball and treading water during Dog Days and weird road trips in Chicago and, and they could play it at a 500 pace for a week or two or three. That’s better than coming back saying oh, it’s down to 11. You know, because that that would indicate some really bad weeks and you talk about how do they get to 9495 wins where that would be? Well, you know, the separation is very easy. There’s 17 games over 500 Right now, you don’t want to see him get less than 15. And certainly you get panic to get get get down to the single digits above 500. If as long as there are, where they are, and they’re not losing series or losing long stretches seven out of 10 Something like that. They’re gonna be all right.

Luke Jones  03:48

Exactly. And really, I mean, we’ve talked about this throughout from the time that they had a good April against a not so great scheduled to may where they had a winning month against what really looked like a gauntlet of opponents as they went through it. And they handled it so well. They’ve given themselves some wiggle room. But you want to maintain that, right? I mean, you look at them right now. They can play roughly 500 ball the rest of the way and be a 91 team. I mean, that’s that’s kind of where they are right now. And that’s not to say that’s what they should be shooting for. They should be aiming higher than that. But it speaks to the kind of position they’re in. So yeah, you’re in

Nestor Aparicio  04:22

a position factory for a year, right? I mean, they played this kind of baseball for a year. So to say like if they took a month off and went seven and 19 You know what I mean? Something really awful. It would be so out of character for this group at any point and if that happens, and they stick and they blew it and we’ll make fun of them and talk about them like they’re the 64 Phillies or you know, whatever, but I don’t I can’t anticipate that without injury or without large slumps, some young players but I also feel like there’s going to be a cavalry here at some point for the first time. My Vibe feels like Elias is going to add not subtract to this team. This team will be Back in August, as constructed for the roster, there’ll be a better baseball team. I believe that

Luke Jones  05:07

you would certainly hope so. I mean, if nothing else, I mean, just look at the internal options. I mean, Cedric Mullins will be back at some point. Now he’s rehabbing with the groin injury. Ryan mountcastle is dealing with, you know, the vertigo which he’d really been struggling before you wonder if that was a factor. You hope he gets himself right. And you hope that he’s back to contributing at a level where we’ve seen him contribute in the past but you know, even just looking at a Jordan Westberg a Colton Couser I mean, two guys at AAA who mean, they can’t do much more than they’ve done especially in the case of Westberg he’s been there a year now going back to last June, go look at his numbers, and we don’t talk about

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Nestor Aparicio  05:44

him at all. Because it’s always about holiday, it’s always about has to curse that. I mean, there’s all these other riper fruit on the tree or a bigger ceiling I would say for a lot of these guys, but you know, their names down there that we have. We haven’t caught up. I’ve seen guys play I’ve watched the the what’s going on at Billy, what’s going on Aberdeen because I’m watching holiday watch these guys move up and the system stock. I mean, everything that belie said he was gonna do four years ago, from a system standpoint, now it’s about mountcastle. Getting out on the field. It’s about Anderson getting out on the field and rutschman maybe being a little better than he’s been, although we gave him plenty of praise. You know, we have an all star game coming up in a couple of weeks and a second place to get a first place team coming. We’re going to play them this week. So that the baseball things really percolate. Now when we’re talking about Norfolk help, right, we haven’t talked about Norfolk LP, or since since Rochester, I guess, right.

Luke Jones  06:44

Yeah, exactly. And in a perfect world, you’d have a little more pitching help at Norfolk. And we’ve talked about that. I mean, that the system, their strength is the position player talent. I mean, there’s no question about that. And that’s not to say there aren’t pitchers that will contribute at some point. And they certainly have shown an ability from a bullpen perspective to find some guys off the beaten path and fix them so to speak. But, yeah, I mean, I look at that, and you look at where they’ve been in the last few weeks, you know, leaning on the rhino horns. You know, Josh, Lester me. Aaron Hicks has been a great story, really, when you consider the Yankees literally thrilled. They literally threw away his big salary and said, hey, you know, we’ll pay you go away.

Nestor Aparicio  07:25

I mean, that that’s so unwilling to do it. Chris Davis?

Luke Jones  07:28

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Yeah. Yeah. I mean, so. I mean, it’s, it’s worked for them. However, you do ask the question. And again, you see Ryan over and Miss playable and right field, and then you give, give up a two run homer right after that. It’s an example of okay, it’s great to have these quad A or in the case of hex a guy that’s been cast off by another team that paid them to go away. It’s been great to get those contributions. How long are you going to continue to get that and at one, at what point do you want to dip into triple A, and bring up that kind of the next wave? And, look, that’s not to say Jordan Westbrook is going to come in and be better than their middle middle infield options that they’ve had to this point, or in the case of Couser, that he’s going to come in and, and automatically be one of their three best outfielders. But I think we are getting to that point where you look at that. And you’re, you’re just having a conversation, you’re talking about it right. And I think the key for them now. And we talked about this late last year, with Kyle sours. We talked about it to a lesser extent with Gunnar Henderson because I think it was Gunnar was the number one prospect in baseball at that point. So but the question you’re asking that is way different now than it was even a year ago, let alone talking two or three years ago when they were so bad, is when you’re making that promotion? Is that guy better than the guy that I have starting there every night in the major leagues right now. And I think that’s where that’s where Kyle sours ran into the problem, right. And we struggled in very limited playing time. But he struggled so immensely, that if you lacked confidence, putting him in the lineup. And look, there’s there’s always that middle ground of if you play me more, I’ll play better. And the manager says, Well, if you play better, I’ll play you more. Right? I mean,

Nestor Aparicio  09:11

there was also the thing for five or six years here didn’t really matter, right? Because you weren’t winning. Right? Right. That’s my point. Shall it’s just a completely different thing here.

Luke Jones  09:20

Right, exactly. So you’re trying to figure that out. And you look at that and say, Okay, well, you know, we’d love Colton Couser or, and we’ll be talking about that with Heston curse dad who’s a trip away now and hitting homeruns and would not be shocked to see him in Baltimore before the season’s out in some capacity. But that’s the big question. Now before it was a case of all right, replacing a placeholder with at least a maybe kind of a prospect if not better than that. Now. It’s a case of well, we’ve got a bonafide second place team here that would be first place and just about any other division. I mean, look at how the Al East is separated right now. The Orioles heading into this series with Tampa Five out, but everyone else’s 10 Plus out. So

Nestor Aparicio  10:03

go back to Manford make a case tough to put the schedule back to unbalanced. So these, these teams can beat each other up instead of everybody else. Right?

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Luke Jones  10:10

Yeah, something like that. But, but but the point is with that, I mean, they’ve been such a good club with what they’ve done. How much do you want to change that up? Obviously, you’re trying to get better, obviously, you want to be better. And we’ll talk about that with the trade deadline, certainly as we get closer and closer to that and try to figure out who were the buyers and sellers around baseball. But in the case of the Orioles, I can also understand I don’t think that trepidation. But I think there is some reluctance to not rock the boat too much and change things up too much. Because you are playing so well overall. So there is that balance there that they’re trying to strike with the guys that they have, and especially talking about guys that might not have minor league options, or guys that you’re not going to have room for and you might have to move on from someone. You want to be really careful that if you’re going to do something like that, then that Jordan Westberg or Colton Couser or Heston Karstadt later in the year, whoever it is, you want them to be upgrades, right? You don’t want to be in a position where they struggle as rookies often do. And then you’re kind of stock. So Watching Erin

Nestor Aparicio  11:13

hits play right now with 100 million in the bank. Right? And what for better or worse, right? He’s playing. They’re on a bus in Norfolk, their clock hasn’t started. They haven’t gotten there first week, Major League pay, which changes your life as I’ve heard Ryan Ripken speak about recently, you know, for any of these guys, and, you know, Mullins is coming back anyway gonna sit in that seat. And then, you know, you talked about guys, just like stout. I mean, I’m not sure Mullins belonged in the big leagues to three years ago. Certainly they had him up, they set him way down, he made his way back up. But he was one of those guys that at this in this place in time, he wouldn’t make the team he he wouldn’t be here, he wouldn’t be given a chance. So there’s where the stones and these other guys are like, hey, at some point, I gotta get a chance again, even if you screw it up. But this is the pennant race is not the time for that. And we haven’t. We’ve never had young players coming up and I say never dude been doing this 31 years professionally here in front of everybody. I don’t know that I’ve ever sat here on June 19 and talked about a log jam at AAA and a washed up retread playing every day because the injured 3030 All Star outfielder is making his way back into a second place team like that 17 games over 500. And we’re trying to boohoo and that they lost a series to the clubs over the weekend. So like it, the nasty Nester of 1993 would love to have these problems, you know, throughout all of my career, right. But but it is a different kind of year and that this isn’t a test to baby anymore, right like this. And we talked so much in the offseason about whether this was going to be a stumbling or whatever, the April has made it real. All of these decisions, all of these bottom of the roster moves, whether it’s pitching or position players. Everything’s under a microscope at this point, because the bats are going to start to matter at some point. And it matters even more if they can make hay this week against Tampa.

Luke Jones  13:10

Absolutely. A weird two game set. Very brief. You got this off day two to game series off day then back home for a nice long homestand. But it was like a day on the beach in Florida to me. Exactly, exactly. And I’m sure they’ll be or playing some golf. I’m sure there’ll be some of that going on as well. But But yeah, that’s where I think it’s so tough. I mean, you know, not to belabor the point. But you look at the infield right now. I mean, Adam Frazier has hit for more power than you thought. I mean, you look at the overall numbers. They’re not fantastic. But by and large, he’s been about what you would anticipate. We’ve talked a lot about Matteo. I mean, he had a big hit on Sunday, but I mean, he’s hitting 231 is on base percentages. 271. You know, going into their future there even though I fell in love with him in April, right.

Nestor Aparicio  13:54

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He’s not but that’s but that’s what’s tough, because your team in October see on their playoff roster. I bet he’s one of the guys. I don’t know. I mean, he might be one of the guys that they that they move things around, move furniture around. Well, I

Luke Jones  14:07

think that’s what’s fascinating. I mean, someone like him, and I thought this last year, and you know, I don’t want to get too much into Matteo, specifically, you know, based on you know what my general point was, but I think he’s on the roster. My question is, is he still your everyday shortstop, or has he become more of a utility guy? Obviously a pinch runner, obviously a late defensive replacement. And I think that’s what’s been interesting to see here recently with Gunnar Henderson having the surge that he’s had, we’ve seen him start a couple more games at shortstop, and for now it’s been a recent third base and obviously he won the Cold glove there last year so you know you get that defense, but could it look later on this season?

Nestor Aparicio  14:47

I don’t know. Could it be Gunnar Anderson at shortstop and you have Westberg a third I don’t know I mean, you have these different to me that might sound like an October the eighth lineup that sounds a lot different than a June the eighth lineup. Wow. And

Luke Jones  15:00

here’s the perfect example. I mean, Manny Machado was caught up in August in 2012. And no one was at this point in time in 2012. No one was talking about Machado playing shortstop. It was still JJ Hardy. And Manny was a double way. And, you know, you thought, Okay, next year, you know, but but no one thought that at the time, the Orioles kind of thought, well, we’ve had a deficiency at third base, I think at the time Wilson betemit or someone like that was their third baseman. And the idea was, we don’t know how Machado is going to hit as a 22 as a 20 year old in the big leagues, but we think he can defend at a high level. And he did that from day one. And obviously, he even hit it as a 20 year old at a respectable level. So, you know, they’re, they’re having those kinds of conversations right now. Not that I mean, Jordan Westbrook is not 20 years old. He’s, he’s a, he’s a average triple A guy from an age standpoint. So. But you’re asking all these questions, because Mateo doesn’t have minor league options. You know, you don’t have that that flexibility with an aureus or with, you know, in an atom Frazier, certainly. So you only have so much room. I mean, we’ve seen Joey Ortiz, who has defended really well, at the big league level, maybe not, not hitting at the at the level you’d expect. Yeah, but he hasn’t had a lot of experience. So you’re trying to balance this, because as we always say, and we talked about this a lot with Grayson Rodriguez, just because someone might be ready for a promotion to the big leagues. That doesn’t mean that their development that they’ve graduated, and they’ve learned everything there is to learn, and they’re not going to struggle. So that’s where you’re trying to balance this. Because, look, right now, if you’re going to tell me who’s more likely to be their long term solution at shortstop, Jorge Mateo is not going to be at the top of the list. However, you also don’t want to just assume that you’re gonna call up and play Joey Ortiz, they’re more or you’re gonna move gunner there and play Westberg at third or play Westberg. at second. That’s your, you also just can’t make the assumption that a young guy is not going to struggle, and at least initially being caught up to the big leagues. So that’s the deal. We saw that with Rodriguez pretty pretty quickly, right? We saw it with Gunnar Henderson. I mean, he got off to a hot start last year, struggled a little bit more late in the season. And we saw how he got off to a slow start this year. And since then, I mean, the last month he’s played at an all star kind of level. That’s how great he’s been at the plate. So you always have to, that’s part of it. And again, that’s the difference. And you brought this up. And that was the point I was making is the difference now is you even if some of these guys are imperfect, they’re still doing good things for you. And you’re still winning with what you have. So yeah, you want to get better. And yes, I don’t want to see this team be in a position where they stand pat at the trade deadline or anything like that. However, what’s gotten them to this point? It’s pretty good, right? I mean, 17 games over 500. At the end of this cup series, they’re in great position. So yeah, you want to get better? Yes. You don’t want to be in a position where you get complacent or too satisfied with where you are. And yes, you have these guys at the triple A level that on paper look like upside, certainly upgrade. But are they going to play at a high level right away? That’s, that’s part of the unknown. And that’s what you’re trying to figure out. That’s part of the math here that you’re looking at and saying, okay, if I’m going to bring up Colton Couser, maybe he becomes my everyday right fielder once once Mullins is back, you know, and using that assumption, okay, what are you doing with Santander, then? Are you putting him at first base, which we’ve seen him play some first base? And you’re Are you saying the mountcastle? Hey, you’re not gonna play every day? If you have a 270 on base percentage, like you have? These questions are more complicated. And look, I want to see the young guys too, because I think the young guys are still, that’s the future. That’s still the upside to me that we’re talking about this team, not just in, hey, they’ve got a great chance to make the playoffs. But hey, this is a team that could play deep in October and win a World Series at some point in the next few years. So you know that you’re making short term decisions, but you also are always keeping the long term in mind that that’s still part of this. And yeah, the thing that we haven’t even mentioned when we’re talking about a Couser talking about a Westberg are talking about anyone that’s on the major league roster right now is trade deadline. To get something you’re going to have to part with something so some of these guys that we talked about, may not be here come August and the reason why is they’re traded for another pitcher or another bad or whatever it might be would

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Nestor Aparicio  19:29

really say something to me if they traded any of the big names that they have for anything in in regard to how they would feel about that player, you know, whether it’s cows or holiday, any name any of these curse that was for any of these young guys, if they deal them away, it speaks more about how they felt about that player.

Luke Jones  19:51

Yeah, or I think I think what’s also interesting though, is, do you and not that this is going to be the centerpiece of a trade but dependent You know how this works in terms of salaries? I mean, all all teams do it as far as what payroll is going to look like what’s coming in what’s going out all those questions. Is there someone that’s been part of the major league team for a while that gets moved as part of a deal? I’ve mentioned them. Look, Ryan mountcastle The way that he’s profiling and I don’t want to pile on on the guy, because you know, he’s had vertigo, and I don’t know how long that maybe that was affecting him. But it’s been a rough year for him. The home runs and RBIs look okay, right. But you start to dig deeper. He’s kind of profiled like Tony Batista. And that’s not a compliment, because he’s the Dave Kingman at one point. So yes, but he doesn’t, he doesn’t draw any walk. So it’s so tough. If he’s not going to rake and be on fire just hitting for power. It’s really tough. Unlike Matteo, who, yeah, you lament his lack of on base, but he gives a great defense, he gives you speed, right? mountcastle doesn’t give you those same elements. So I’m just spitballing here again, this is just one example of what I was trying to talk about. I wouldn’t be shocked if you make a move for a starting pitcher. And, you know, you’re trying to balance out payroll, salary, whatever it might be. Could Ryan now Castle be included in a deal? along with two other prospects, let’s say and you get a starting pitcher? I don’t know. Again, it’s just me thinking I said

Nestor Aparicio  21:19

Matteo, just because they hit their head with him right that when they had these positions where they have somebody coming right it’s it’s not far fetched to think a veteran player like that would be worthwhile somewhere else on a salary basis or whatever. So I I do see changes. Yeah, I’m not in love with any of these guys beyond rutschman I guess, right? Like everybody else is gonna be a chess piece and allies didn’t these people didn’t have any feelings down in Houston, as

Luke Jones  21:50

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well, I would also add include Gunnar Gunnar Henderson there too. I mean, 21. And you’re seeing what he’s starting to do. And I mean, obviously, down below Jackson Holliday is the one guy where I say no, I mean, when you see what he’s doing as a 19 year old at Hiei, I’m not trading that guy. I mean, I don’t know what you could possibly get that, that you’re moving that guy. I mean, that’s, that’s just reality. But the point is, and I’m in agreement with you, it’s gonna be fascinating to see how this plays out. Between now and in the coming weeks. You know, Mullins will be back at some point. I mean, he’s progressing. They’re not putting a timetable on it yet. You know, my gut tells me it’s probably going to be closer to the All Star break around them, which isn’t that far away at this point. You know, you want to be careful with him, especially that you’ve been able to hold down the fort with Aaron Hicks and and you know, leading off with Austin Hays or Gunnar Henderson and doing some different things that way, and it’s been able to work out for the most part, but it’s gonna be fascinating to see what happens with this team. I mean, we haven’t even you know, you mentioned them in passing. But you know, Grayson Rodriguez at some point, it’s gonna be back up here. No, I mean, he’s pitching well at triple A and stays healthy. What’s gonna happen with DL Hall? You know, that’s been a weird scenario as far as trying to, you know, he had the the offseason back issue and they’re trying to build up his strength, and they sent him to Sarasota and, you know, doesn’t sound like an injury situation. But how’s that going to evolve is he, for me, it feels like at least this year, his best chance to contribute is probably going to be in a relief role later in the season. And look, he’s got the kind of arm that he could be another weapon for you that you’re deploying, besides just leaning on Felix Batista and yen year kynos. So now, that’s the bullpens an area where we’ve seen middle relief and that really, you know, that was creeping up on Friday, big time, they absolutely could add to their bullpen. And that would really benefit, you know, just to give them a little more depth. And, you know, you’re hoping Dylan Tate comes back and you’re hoping Michael Givens comes back a much better version than what we saw. But,

Nestor Aparicio  23:46

you know, there are scenes update means I mean,

Luke Jones  23:49

he remember he had the he had the upper back kind of a muscle strain wasn’t related to throwing it. In fact, it was just, you know, it was an A, I think he was doing some different agility drills, some three

Nestor Aparicio  24:01

weeks ago that Elias talked about that. That was, what was that? That was about three weeks ago. I

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Luke Jones  24:05

mean, best case scenario for him is August, meaning pitching in the major leagues, I’m guessing it’s, you know, you’re not gonna have to count on that. Now. That doesn’t say he can’t contribute that doesn’t say, you know, maybe he maybe he’s a guy who pitches in relief for you a little bit, you know, but

Nestor Aparicio  24:21

I guess all along with him. I sort of saw him as starting a game September 8, you were hoping, you know, I sort of felt like, they didn’t need him in June or July. I didn’t think about him. But now we’re in June and July, I started to think, is it? Is it coming? Or is it is it not gonna happen? Yeah. And I

Luke Jones  24:37

think it’s too I think it’s too, too soon to say that. I don’t want to dismiss that. Because I mean, you know, John means has been around, you know, whether he’s rehabbing away from the ballpark or, you know, times where he’ll come in for a series or two. I mean, he’s working hard and keep in mind, you know, he had Tommy John surgery last April. So we’re in the 14 month range. That’s, that’s not out of the ordinary. It’s Typically, you know, 12 to 16 months depending on, you know, a specific timeline and how it aligns with a baseball season. So I don’t want to dismiss that. My point is, I don’t think you should expect that necessarily. So that’s where, to me from the moment that they found out that, you know, that means had that issue that was going to slow him down a little bit. To me, that’s where you start to look a little more closely at the trade deadline and say, Okay, what teams are gonna be out of it? What, what pitchers are gonna be out there? Who’s a rental, who’s someone who is at least under contract through next year? Let’s say that certainly would benefit them for 2024 as well. And is there a potential move to be made that can fortify the rotation? And you hope to couple that with a better version of Grayson Rodriguez coming back? Which I’m not dismissing that either, but yeah, these are these are questions that these aren’t, we’re not saying this to be negative. These are good questions. These are fun conversations to have. If you’re sitting there and you’re 10 games below 500. Right now, yeah, you’re talking about calling up prospects later this season. But it’s not consequential to the win loss record and to playing in October, everything we’ve talked about is in that, that’s it. You’re trying to figure out what you want to do, that’s going to fortify your chances to one get into the playoffs, which they’re in good position right now. But also to not just get there, but have a chance to make some noise. So there’s a lot that could happen between now and then. And to your point. I don’t think this team is going to look exactly the same come September. And it’s gonna be fascinating to see how this plays out. In the meantime, they figured out ways to win games with Aaron Hicks and Ryan O’Hearn and Josh Lester and, you know, guys that you would not have anticipated helping them out even back in March. So, but that’s also part of it, too. You know, I recently I was even talking with someone I mean, Ryan O’Hearn miscue in the outfield not withstanding on Sunday that cost them a couple runs, ultimately. But I think back to 2014, you know, one of my favorites, Steve Pierce, I mean, he was a guy that was was on and off the roster and df aid, and he was one of their absolute best players that year, but by seasons, and I’m not saying rhino horn is gonna do that all year. But the point is, you need at least a couple unexpected contributors to lend a hand along the way because such a long season and we’ve seen that here recently with with Mullens going down with mountcastle Going down, you’re going to have some injuries here and there, you’re not going to have your full starting lineup all year long. So you better have some depth. And we’ve seen the Orioles with some of their quad a depth, so to speak, help them out a little bit. But I’m still looking forward to seeing at some point here, hopefully in the not too distant future, seeing Jordan Westberg or Colton Couser. Or, hopefully both get a chance because I think they both have that potential that could make this team better

Nestor Aparicio  27:53

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practice from wells this week against the best team and they get the measure themselves. If there’s anything I remember about 89 with the Blue Jays in the Orioles, or even 96 and 97 with the Indians in the Yankees, it’s sort of the positioning and you don’t not see in these teams 25 times a year like it used to, you get a couple of games here. This is a nice little measuring stick here this week. And to your point, you’re not seeing them unrested tightened up, it’s quiet down there, nobody will be there, nobody’s ever there, right. And there’s a point where they’re gonna get out and play a little baseball that that it’s going to have a little bit of meaning this week, and front and back end to get a little rest for some pitching. So this is I don’t want to call it an all star kind of week, but kind of an interesting little fly through into Hey, fellas, if you’re going to want to go to the World Series, we’re gonna have to come down here a couple of times in October and place might be a little bit more on fire. At that point. We might be taking nasty road trips down to Tampa with Orioles fans at that point. I don’t know. But they’ll all be in London at Tottenham. But I would say that this is a little bit of a measurement that we haven’t had. Dare I say a big series? Maybe it can I say that in June.

Luke Jones  29:09

As big as it can be as big as a two game set at the trop can be I mean, you have a night game and then what the second game I think is a 1210 first pitch or whatever it is.

Nestor Aparicio  29:18

Yeah, 12 says a lot of beach time built in

Luke Jones  29:21

there. Yeah, it’s definitely odd. But hey, I mean, this is you got to take advantage here. I mean, you only have you have these very limited. It’s two series in two series away, you know, when it’s talking about your division, so this is an opportunity, I’ll be at only a two game one. But it’s an opportunity to take advantage and try to you know, you’re you played so well. And yet you look at the standings and your five games out. I mean, they’d be in first place in almost every other division. I mean, it just speaks to how well the Orioles have played but it’s a chance to make up a little bit of ground. And you know if you look at Tampa, I mean they lost the series to San Diego over the weekend. I mean they you know They haven’t been at it sounds hilarious saying this

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Nestor Aparicio  30:04

50 Ball dude, how long do you want to play that? But but but

Luke Jones  30:07

my point is they’ve come back at least here recently, they’ve come back to Earth just a little bit. So you want to keep that going here. I’ll be at only a two game set. So but you’re right. And one thing has been nice. And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention this because we joked about it. Either our last conversation or a time before that, hey, on that last homestand the Orioles even had a couple blowout wins that they could stay away from Batista and Cano. So hey, you get these couple of days off during the week and rest your bullpen up. Get the mariners in here this week and let’s beat him up. There you go. There you go. So I mean, it’s, this is a, again, not something that you’re gonna make too much out of because it’s two games, but every game counts when you’re talking about chasing a team like the rays who have been so good from opening day on I mean, it’s the let’s face it, the Orioles have been in an uphill battle here as as well as they played. You are five games out going into the series. And that’s that’s frustrating, right? Because you’ve been so good, but they’ve got some they’ve got some room to make up here and they’ve got a chance this week.

Nestor Aparicio  31:06

Well, at least two people got some decent sausage and some cold beer on the north side of Chicago. Even if they go so well on the field. Luca was out on the fields in Owings Mills all last week as well chronicling all things ravens because they don’t let me in anymore. Interestingly enough, I’m working on some some sound for wn st about that about the part where they don’t let me in, and why. So we’ll be doing that all summer long. Our 25th anniversary is August the third we’ll be celebrating a Costas as well as a drug city doing a whole bunch of radio. We’re gonna be at spirits West this week, on Thursday afternoon, celebrating Southwest Baltimore. And it’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery in conjunction with our friends at window nation, hoping to get my eye a little better and get back out on the playing field. And still trying to figure out my peacocks and my apple pluses these, these baseball people really keeping me on my toes these days, and listening to sometimes bad, really, really bad play by play on radio. So I will. I’ll go back and forth and I’ll break out my into honor. I had a dream about Phil Jackman the other day to honor my TV radio repairman days. Maybe I love revive a TV repairman in a reading time two minutes I don’t know what I’m going to do but either way back to writing Peter principles are up. Luke’s running around we got baseball we got the football Luke’s got vacation coming up. It is some some summertime in a pennant race in Baltimore. I’m Nestor he’s Luke. We are wn St. am 1570, Towson Baltimore. We never stop talking Baltimore. Positive