Now just 11-15 since June, the Baltimore Orioles are dealing with the dog days of summer as a “struggling” first place team in need of more pitching and more consistency at the plate. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss options like pitcher Chayce McDermott and where Mike Elias and the franchise stand before the MLB trading deadline on a myriad of valuable minor league prospects.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
orioles, week, baseball, give, talked, year, team, prospects, play, feels, santander, deal, good, holiday, trade deadline, bat, major league roster, game, worked, struggled
SPEAKERS
Luke Jones, Nestor J. Aparicio
Nestor J. Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home we are W n s t, Towson Baltimore. Baltimore positive happy summer to everybody out there for everybody hung over from Foo Fighters and sticks and all these great concerts this week of my anniversaries this week. My mom’s birthdays this week. No crab cake tour this week we’re taking a little respite from the Maryland crab cake to ever get back after beginning on August the 13th. We’ll be at state fair with Angela also Brooks who’s running for Senator important conversations we should all be having even up in Pennsylvania we’re Luke is with the Maryland lottery sends us out on the road with the Gold Rush sevens doublers we’ll have these over at state fair on the 13th I will also be at fade Lee’s going to cheat Stroz I get to say that for like a whole month. I love that the cheat Stroz come in later on. We’ll be fadeless for that. I’m wearing my Costas shirt. We’ll get the cost that’s we’re gonna get the Coco’s we’re gonna get the Cooper’s we’re gonna get the pizza John’s in Essex, I start to gain weight or look like the chipmunks I feed. It’s because I’m eating pineapple and pepperoni and imported ham from outside Essex into Essex imported onto that pizza that pizza John’s our friends at Liberty pure solutions, keeping our water crystal clear. I’m drinking from the orange colored glass if you haven’t noticed, as well as our friends at Jiffy Lube, multi care who keep this guy out on the road. He was so active that he and I have already argued before we even did the show about why he didn’t go to the Foo Fighters show on Tuesday night. He’s like, I’m working dude. Owings Mills 87 degrees and there’s and and then the Marlins games on and I gotta watch that and didn’t even sit in there at no disrespect to Dave Johnson. Who knows I love him. But they you know, like, it’s summertime, dude. Go enjoy a beer. Go see the food. Go see sticks. No, see Sammy Hagar, go. Do something, man. I know you’re saying I ate a lot of pizza last week. I swallowed a lot of aggression and a lot of pizzas. What you’re gonna tell me?
8
Luke Jones 01:59
Well, I was gonna say it feels like that’s been the Orioles man. Tality of late and I mean, ugly, listless, lethargic. lackadaisical effort on Tuesday night are showing at the very least, base running mistakes. I thought that Colton cows are being thrown out at third play kind of felt like a pivotal moment where he beats out the ball at first. And it’s like, okay, maybe this gets them going. And then he makes the third out at third just moments later. But
Nestor J. Aparicio 02:29
run the bases until they throw us out. A little Yeah, yeah, I
Luke Jones 02:34
mean, and let’s start. I mean, Albert’s for us wasn’t good. He was very good in the first inning. So you thought okay, maybe the long layoffs not not an issue for him. And that’s always a challenge when you’re talking about the back half of your rotation with the all star break because you want to reset things you get burns and Grayson Rodriguez going right off the bat. And that worked well in Texas, they won the first two games. But then those three, four or five starters sat around a little bit longer. With the break. And but you know, Suarez looked good in the first inning, four seamer looked good and then relied on it way too much after that and got knocked around. So just ugly effort. You know, we’ve talked about this. I mean, this is a Miami team that is not good. This is a team that maybe didn’t have expectations to be in the postseason again, as they were kind of a Cinderella team last year that got swept by the Phillies, but certainly a team that expected to be better than 30 games under 500 Going into July 23. But it’s Major League Baseball, and if you don’t pitch well, and if you make mistakes, and you’re lackadaisical defensively, and on the basis, then you’re gonna get beat. I mean, it’s not that complicated. And we’ve talked about this for the Orioles going back to before the all star break. I mean, this is a team that since that Yankee series, I think they’re what 11 and 15 Now, which isn’t disastrous, but it’s bad. Like it’s not. It’s a bad month of baseball, and we’ve talked about this, when they had the first five game losing streak and you felt like okay, they’ve, they’ve rated themselves now. And then they have another five game losing streak. So doesn’t mean the sky is falling, but it does mean you need to play better baseball. And I think it’s going to start with talking about now Chase McDermott, who is going to make his major league debut and I’m fascinated to see how he’s going to look. This is a guy who strikes out a ton of batters at the triple A level. But he also walks quite a few at the triple A levels. So for me, I’m viewing him through a lens of kind of how we looked at DL haul a couple years ago. Remember that? And this was 22 and the Orioles in August, they were in wildcard contention. It felt unbelievable at the time but obviously the things that shifted for them and they had turned the corner, but they gave him a start. And then we saw DL haul kind of transition into a bullpen role for the rest of that year. Same thing happened last year although last year certainly he dealt with some health issues. But my point is not that Chase McDermott has the same exact kind of pitcher, obviously, he’s a right hander dn DL, he was a lefty. But I think he’s someone who could be a factor for them in some capacity, the rest of the way, if he shows an ability to miss bats, and if he can curtail the walks a little bit, and, you know, he has shown some progress in that at the minor league level, but at the same time, you’re still talking about someone who’s averaged just north of five walks per nine innings. So that’s high. So is he going to profile as a starter the rest of the way? Is he going to remain on the major league roster that remains to be seen, but I do think he’s got the stuff to factor in in some way. And that might be in a bullpen role as we get later into the season. In the same way, we talked about DL haul or in the same way that Tyler wells potentially was going to factor in. So I’m intrigued to Sam. Obviously, we’re less than a week away from the trade deadline at this point. So that’s all systems go on that as far as what’s going to happen and who are going to be buyers who are going to be sellers around the league, there’s still so much unknown as it pertains to that. And as much as there’s talk about tariffs Google, I still if you’re asking me to bet if you’re asking me to wager it’s probably not going to be that dynamic of a move. But I think it’s obvious at this point that they need a spark, whether it’s a minor league guy coming up, whether it’s McDermott, whether it’s kind of Norby who looks like he’s going to be coming up with an ugly injury with Jorge Mateo, you hope for the best for him, but kind of difficult to envision him not at least missing a little bit of time here. So we’ll see what Norby we’ve talked about Kobe Mayo Jackson holiday. So there are internal options in addition to the trade deadline, but when it comes back to it, I mean, they just need to start playing better baseball. You know, Brandon Hyde talked about it after the game. And his comments that he didn’t mince words, he thought they played pretty poorly and he said that we just need to get back to playing better baseball that we haven’t played over the last few weeks. So again, it’s late July. They’re 20. games over 500. They’re in first place. The Yankees lost again on Tuesday night, but at some point in time you get tired of of uttering the best thing about this baseball team going for this baseball team right now is that the Yankees are really struggling to because it just feels like a missed opportunity and certainly another disappointment Tuesday night.
Nestor J. Aparicio 07:21
8Luke Jones joining us here he’ll be out knowings mills in Camden Yards this weekend when the Padres get in. All of his reports brought to you by Royal farms of course and the coffee the fried chicken is chicken Palooza only to tell you that if you’re listening to the station if you’re at Baltimore positive it means tailgate season two so I mean for concerts and stuff. So you know it’s chicken palooza. Couple things I mean, I’m I’m making notes here. I mean, I never missed the opportunity to call them the first place Orioles even though you’re calling them the woods was an 11 and 711 Seven what’s 11 1511 or 15 Right now, right? 11?
Luke Jones 07:58
Yeah. 15 Since that, yep. 11
Nestor J. Aparicio 08:02
to 15 was a good month, Durn for 15 years around here that you know that that was for 20 Baseball, it wasn’t you know, 370 baseball but so I would just say this on McDermott and on anybody that profiles a certain way where you’re like, walks guys. And then you when they when they get here they do the same thing. You don’t I mean, whether it’s Fuji whoever it is, wherever you’re profiling elsewhere, I think coming into the kennel of this and the kennel of this is full ballpark vibrancy given away hats this weekend. Manny Machado is in like all that. That’s one vibe. And then there’s speaking of Mr. Miami, then there’s the vibe down in Little Havana in that. You know, I went to every ballpark before they open Atlanta and I’m gonna get to it. I’ll get to Atlanta, but I’ve been to all the ballparks in Major League Baseball, including Oakland, including Tampa. I’m trying to think of places that are perceived as not being any good Right? Or just being lousy southside of Chicago which there’s a statue of my name on it there so I that that has a special place that puts into top 10 No matter what your low tase alone, put it in the top 10 but remain with where all of this is and how bad it is. We mentioned the athletics and we see Tampa a lot. Dude Miami bass, Florida baseball pu like just in a general sense of when you were a baby and I was beginning my show back in 9192. Florida baseball, there’s Cubans. There’s Latin, there’s people who look like me. There’s Venezuelans, there’s Wade Boggs, there’s Fred McGriff. There’s Doc Gooden and Darryl Strawberry in Florida and Vero Beach and Dodger town and everybody loves baseball. Everybody plays baseball, you can play it 13 months a year. Like all of that is 30 years in, they can’t give it away. And it’s awful and it’s in a blimp, and they put it somewhere where nobody wants to put it. And like I’m watching this. And I’ll say this because my wife and I were like just talking and watching the game. And I love Ben McDonald, by the way, like, even when the game is off on the team is awful, trying to figure out Ben’s cage, and if I ran mass, and I’d be doing some sort of cage and promotion with him, but I’m watching we get to manufacture your own energy when you go down there, and more than that, it’s just that all of it as bad as the Angelo’s thing was here, the whole play putting that stadium where they did building this blimp, how awful all of it was, how dirty all of it was civically with money and all of that stuff, and it didn’t even work. You know, Derek, and then you can add on your play and the team’s listless it’s part of the vibe there right? That was you were gonna go down there hanging out on South Beach, you know, hang out at the Cleveland door and come over there and get skunked by their baseball team. Miami Marlins. Yeah, that’s all I wanted to say. But back to the pitching side, the McDonough thing and, and bringing up bringing in new guys new guy in the bullpen. You know, we’re trying to learn I’m googling these guys. These guys are they’re doing things. You know, I mean, the outfield thing, just all of these different outfielders and trying all of it not, not any of it’s really like worked outside of the summertime, there’s, I mean, O’Hearn is still this sort of project guy that’s always hitting 280. And always there, when he plays in situations, they have so much going for them. And they’re trying and I could scrutiny over the next week at a trade thing. And every new pitcher every Povich every curse that every sours having to come and be what Couser was for a month, at least that you said a spark. You know, they’re trying. I mean, they’re really trying in a situation where you have to spark yourself in Miami.
Luke Jones 11:57
Yeah, I mean, and look when they’ve they’re cycling through internal options, and they’ve made some waiver claims and things of that nature. And look, I mean, a couple of those guys look good in the bullpen. On Tuesday night. Is that an answer? Moving forward? No, of course not. I mean, but at the same time, they acquired Jacob Webb, right around this time last year. And that’s worked out pretty well. Now. He struggled at the very end of last season, and he struggled when he pitched in October. Lots of guy struggling against the Rangers. So you can’t use that as the final judgment. But yeah, we’ll see about these guys. But I think so much is on the trade deadline. So much attention is on Okay. When is Jackson holiday coming back? You know, Connor Norby appears to be the move if Matteo is going on the IL, as was, you know, trickled out there with some reports late Tuesday night. Kobe Mayo has been talked about a lot. You know, I’ve even talked about Kobe mayo, you know, even in a scenario where you come up with some trade where maybe you trade Ryan mountcastle, I don’t know. And just talking about the creativity and the potential for all kinds of different trades. And I was just reading something on Tuesday, talking about the demand. There’s always demand for pitching every year. Right. I mean, bullpen starting pitching, of course, everyone, contenders or anyone who fancies themselves as contenders. There are very few teams out there that that view themselves as buyers that aren’t looking to add pitching. So that’s, that’s a given. But, and I’ll continue to remind of this over and over and over. And you’ve heard me say this how many different times this year, offense is so down around baseball, collectively, that there’s a lot of demand for bats out there. And look, I get it, the Orioles offensive over the last month or so has not been as good as it had been prior to that. But it is still a much deeper lineup than most lineups you find in baseball right now. So that’s where I’ve said, Is there a is there a match? Is there a partner where something like that can be done. But you
8Nestor J. Aparicio 14:01
know, there’s 15 guys that they want to play. And there’s nine spots for them to play on most nights. And some guys that are positioned lists or you don’t want to give them a glove, or you don’t want to play him against the right hand or left hand or right situationally. And then there’s some guys, you don’t want to run into the ground like Watchmen. So you have all of these pieces that you’re trying to component together. But and I wrote this down at the top of my order of things I wanted to talk to you about today. Because you know, I see some of the scuttlebutt on the internet and out on the goofball must site in regard to how many outfielders and who’s going to be involved in this trade and who’s untouchable and who’s not you and I’ve speculated people can go listen to that ad in our audio vault or anywhere we do what we do. On Monday morning, we woke up and talked about all of that, but the outfield itself and the outfielders and everything you and I talked about in April and May not that they wouldn’t be in first place and sort of slumping in July. They are right. Not that they couldn’t be a World Series team or you know, a five time champion in the next six years. They can all of that still, as Brian Billick once said, it’s still out there for you if you want that. But the things we talked about for stability for them in April and May, and the things you and I’ll talk about in November about the Ravens when they’re nine and three, or what you know, wherever and when they’re on that pathway, is to say, you’re trying to set the team up now for October, and you’ve given Mullins chances you’ve given haste chances, you’ve given Santander chances and you just went to the end, and you’ve given mountcastle good opportunities, and you’ve given O’Hearn best, his best chance to be productive, like you’ve done all of these things. And I still don’t know for you and me, as we’re like, wow, we’ll see you back Hauser and well, we’ll see about stylers we’re gonna give cursed at a chance because he’s gonna get healthy and we’re gonna give him a glove and I still don’t know who I’m betting on, you know, to your point who’s the next Jordan Westbrook, Houston next is and this is a homage to one of my first listeners. His name was Maurice and he would call in 1992 9394. We talk about Jeffrey Hammonds and Alex that show and when you were a little boy Luke, and he’d always say you always taken is over a might be and which I’m choosing is I don’t know who he is, is and to I’ve seen I had Mari brown on this week’s I’m going to promote the fact that I’ve had my mafi on this week, all my all the smartest baseball business people I know people I can really talk about stadium leases and Rubenstein and trading deadline. Eric Fisher is on this week, Todd radium came on this week, the fashionista from Philadelphia might be having a cheesesteak with him this week in Philly. But I had them all on. And you know, we’re like talking about all of these issues in and around baseball, including the awful uniforms at the All Star game, like all of these things that came up. But I had to laugh because I brought it up. I’m like, they’re talking about scruple. And this leads into that were meandering because it’s fun to meander. It’s like a barroom conversation we’re having, because it’s so much fun because they’re in first place. And they’re, they’re awful, because they’re 11 and 15. But they’re great, because, you know, in corporate burns comes out and and it’s awful to pick them when nobody’s watching them play and then they’ll come on this weekend. 150,000 people down there because there will be and that’s awesome, that shows the growth that they’re into. But the school deal, I’ve seen holiday and curse that involved in that as like, bait. And I’m thinking to myself, that is two years where you lost every conceivable game, you could lose just to get that player you finished. Awful, awful, awful. And you’re given all that away for a number one starter, if that’s what you believe you’re getting, and you’re getting him, you know, but like, I’m like, wow, you know, like, that’s like given up Ed Reed and Ray Lewis, you know, like, like, don’t do that. Um, I don’t know where the value in all this is. But this is the week we get to have a little fun and laugh a little bit about it. But I watched how bad you have to be to get the number one pick in the draft and how you value it and if you really believe in Jackson Holliday, but boy, if they dealt him, it would say they don’t believe in him as much. And that would be weird to uh, you know, I don’t we really get the cards on the table this week as to where they want to go with a lot of things, especially with new ownership.
Luke Jones 18:41
Yeah, and I still have a really, really difficult time believing they’re going to do Jackson Holliday, I just think you still look at where he is. And look this the season hasn’t gone to plan for him that stating the obvious in terms of just the weirdness of spring training and then sending them down and then calling him up after 10 games and then sending them down. After he struggles I’ll be it struggles mightily, and then he has that little bit of that dead elbow issue, you know, just with throwing, which isn’t unheard of, you know, I’ve still haven’t heard any, any whisper that there’s concern about his elbow structurally, I think it was just something that can happen to an infielder from time to time, especially a young infielder. But you look at his numbers, and you still remind yourself that he’s 20 years old, and he’s still one of the absolute best players at triple A at age 20. Even with what he’s gone through this year, and you remind yourself and say, Are we really going to make a sweeping swiping judgment on him after? What was it 30 Some plate appearances over 10 games, I mean, that’s nothing. That’s nothing in terms of a sample. And in the same way that after 30 Plus plate appearances, you’re not putting them in the Hall of Fame either. You know if he hits 500 Over that time, so I still have a very, very difficult time believing they’re going to do him. I still think They really really don’t want to deal Kobe mayo or Samuel besides. And after that, I mean, there’s lots on the table. And there’s, by the way, lots of really good prospects still on the table there.
Nestor J. Aparicio 20:11
And by the way, when you say you don’t want to deal those guys, I want to point out I just want to be interrupted and say, that’s an economic issue for your market team. That’s an economic issue. That isn’t we love Jackson holiday and he’s going into the Hall of Fame. It’s we’re getting him on the cheap for five years, not that he’s just a great player, because so Scoble, and he’s going to he’s gonna start opening day for you, he’s gonna be starting Game Two for you. Like, you know, like, you’re gonna go into the playoffs, nasty if you have him, like really, like really, for real, like, Frontline, we’re not be Essen. But you have to give to get and that’s part of the history of baseball on both sides of the deal. And not just for holiday for Mayo for current staff, for staff for any of these names that are are in the in the words of my research, I still hope is with us. I mean, it was 32 years ago, it’s been 25 years since I’ve heard from Maurice but if anybody knew him, he was a blind listener who called in and used to come in the studio with me all the time and talk sports with me. But you always taken is over might be holiday still might be scribbles in is and I like and I know we know about prospects and this organization pimps this and baseball America penciled in anybody in my baseball mafia would say the Orioles are, you know, I don’t say far and away, but they have the most to give. And they have the most to earn and they have the most at stake and the stakeholders us and Katie Griggs coming in to run this with Greg Bader and TJ Brightman and all the people that have been waiting and waiting and waiting. They feel like they deserve a tear, scruple too, and, or whatever whoever it is, but I would say much like you and I, you know, I’ve dipstick the community I was at Sammy Hagar the other night, went down to DC The Pretenders I’ve been out I’ve read things I talked to people, people’s expectations aren’t high. Because I think they would think that if giving up holiday would be too much to probably giving up Mayo given you know, what mountcastle has been and so that bat that power bat, gotta get it 3035 homeruns I think they would be more inclined to stand pat and say, well, this pitch team Kramer or whatever they do, whatever the Wiles, you know, we’ve gone through this Gibson, you know, whatever that middling, I hope it’s not Jack Flaherty. But I think we’re not expecting. That would be blockbuster ish for me. Sure. Right. I mean, in any way, but just getting him is going to cost something. And I think that’s been the argument on the internet, say, Wow, cost us a lot to get holiday and curse that. And they’re there. They’re on the cusp of us giving them that chance to be Jordan Westberg. Look at Ortiz, we can go through all of this. But it’s fun to talk about this. It really is. Well,
Luke Jones 23:14
8no question about it. And, you know, to your proposition, and you talked about this and look, I don’t disagree with the prospect, all prospects or suspects kind of mindset. At the same time. Jackson Holliday is not a typical prospect. He’s not even a typical top prospect in a team system. This is the kind of prospect who has a profile. I’m not saying he’s going to be this, but he has the profile of someone who becomes a multi time all star, someone who becomes another Gunnar Henderson, quite frankly,
Nestor J. Aparicio 23:45
untouchable, untouchable? Organization. Yes, it’s
Luke Jones 23:49
tough. It’s tough. And that doesn’t mean those guys are never dealt. But it’s very rare when those when that magnitude of a prospect is down. And that’s what I point out and look, one of the points that I think has been brought up even going back to last year with the whole deal and CCE thing at this time last year and ultimately the White Sox held on to him and dealt him in the offseason but there was there was a sentiment out there that because the Orioles have such a deep system that is very top heavy but that you know they have those three elite of elite prospects and then let’s face it the Orioles second and third tier prospects are other teams first tier prospects you know in their system so you don’t want to artificially give up too much but at the same time all these teams are trying to get more from the Orioles because they know they have it right I mean it’s kind of it’s you know it’s going to a casino and you know the guy with with the hi chip stack blocks to the table and you’re you know, you think he’s a sucker playing cards.
Nestor J. Aparicio 24:53
Stingy right. You found that last year Sure. Um, but they also came up short with clarity, right? I mean, they chose I’m sure in a general sense, not just because of that, but it was a contributing factor that if that that deal would have been hoarse that effect dia would have been Corbin burns, you know, in the middle of that and would have come in and look like Corbin burns for two months and pitch like Corbin burns in October. Maybe they’re out there fate would have been different if they forced the game. You know what I mean? Like that. That’s that’s the that’s the part of it. That’s so subjective. And then objective once October turns around, and you’re like, where are we then? Not? Where are we? July? 26? Sure,
8Luke Jones 25:36
sure. And I mean, you look at that. I mean, the Orioles get Jack Flaherty the Rangers got Jordan Montgomery, and look at how that paid dividends for them. So I mean, so much of it’s just so difficult to predict. I want to go back to something you said. Because this is where I think some of the Orioles plight rests right now. You made the comment about someone who is in is compared to someone who is a might be and I think the Orioles internally are dealing with some of that specifically in the outfield right now. Because you have other than Anthony Santander who is a pending free agent, mind you, so there’s that factor. But he’s
Nestor J. Aparicio 26:15
he’s this close to being it used to be here, right? Oh, Pam. And then you’re gonna go to market and say, well, we read this put curse that out there. Whomever. Right? Sure.
Luke Jones 26:23
Sure. Which, which, and look, I’m not sitting here banging the table saying you must resign Santander. At the same time, you’re talking about someone who might hit 40 Plus home runs this year. So how easily do you replace that? It’s the same thing with the ravens, right? I mean, okay. You didn’t want to pay Davey on clowny. What he got fine. I don’t disagree with that. But you still need to replace that production somehow. So that’s that’s part of the issue. This
Nestor J. Aparicio 26:46
8is the economic part for me. When you deal Mayo you deal holiday you deal any of these guys. When you’re paying Gunnar 43 million and you’re paying rutschman 38,000,020 2728. You need these guys to be producing the way Gunnar is now and all star level and you’re paying him nothing. That’s how this has to work. That’s why it’s working for the Ravens. And I know you’re out there, while Marlon Humphrey stinks, for the most part. Now say that because he doesn’t have to look at me anymore. And Ronnie Stanley’s over some kind of hill and took a pay cut. And we’re questioning Derrick Henry, but Kyle Hamilton is giving them that kind of productivity that Lamar Jackson gave them for a couple of years. The Orioles are getting into that phase in a different kind of economic model, where this week is a game changer. If you start to deal those guys off into two and three and four years when your teases, and three and four more of those aren’t there anymore? And Santander says yeah, you know, I’ll hit 40 home runs for you. It’s gonna cost you 20 million next year, you know, sort of that Nelson Cruz thing where he was so good. He priced himself out.
Luke Jones 27:55
Right, right. So so you have Santander who’s in that category? And again, we’ll have time to talk about that. Whether that’s going to happen or not. I’m more open to something that’s sensible with him. I’m not. Let’s be clear. I’m not giving them a Chris Davis six or seven year contract. I mean, I’m not doing anything close to that. But Cedric Mullins couple years ago was an is right. I mean, made the all star team 30/31 time in Oreos history. Look at where he’s been over the last year. Plus, he’s not really in his anymore. I mean, he is because he is 30. Guys, he would have walked into free agency at that point in his career. What would he have gotten in the market? I mean, he would have more years 80 million. I mean, he would have gotten a big cotton. Now he didn’t have a long existing pre existing track record prior to that, but he would have gotten paid. Sure, sure. But you have him Austin Hayes, who was an all star a year ago. Look where he is. So even if you’re holding on to Jackson holiday, Kobe mayo and besides, so you know, those are the big three, those are the top three prospects in their system who’ve, you know, holiday other than his cup of coffee. Those three guys haven’t seen extensive action in the major leagues, of course. So you even if you’re moving beyond them, you know, you look at someone like Colton Couser and you sound right, you know, Colton cows or hasn’t really figured it out just yet. He’s hits for some power has played good defense, you know, I think that’s something that has very much improved from where he was last year when he got caught up. But you know, still a lot of swinging Miss, you know, that’s still a part of his game that is problematic, a lot of swing and miss, and just not being consistent enough. But you look at him, you look at Mullins. And you know, they’re not the exact same profile, but they’re a similar profile in terms of, you know, you’re really not wanting to play them a whole lot against left handed starting pitchers. But, you know, Couser has shown he can actually play centerfield and oh, yeah, he has, how many more years of club control after this one, five. Cedric Mullins has won. And you know it, you know, so you look at that. There’s just one example. I mean, we’ve talked about it with Austin Hays. Ryan mountcastle has done very very little with the bat since about Memorial Day, you know, go look at the numbers since then he’s actually been one of their worst hitters. So
Nestor J. Aparicio 30:07
you know, these days Qinglin when it goes bad? Yeah,
Luke Jones 30:10
I mean, you love him when he’s got those. I mean, he’s got kind of bat who is capable of absolutely carrying you for three weeks. And we’ve seen that, you know, I mean, go back to earlier this year. I mean, last year, he had what that nine RBI came against Oakland, I think it was last April or last May, whenever it was. But we’ve also seen him struggle and really struggle for weeks at a time. So you look at him and in contrast to Kobe mayo, who is an unknown, but he’s put up way bigger numbers, and Ryan mountcastle did a trip away. So and you look at him profit, probably I know, he still plays a lot of third base, but I still think probably profiles best as a first baseman long term. You know, I don’t know that for certain, but I think Mike Elias would probably he’ll do that and acknowledge that so. So you have this this conflicting dynamic of your major league roster that yeah, you want to augment and add pitching, but at the same time, you have all these guys which by the way, it doesn’t mean that the prospects just because they haven’t popped just yet are failures, and it doesn’t mean that the veterans who have scuffled are completely over the hill. But if you’re Mike Lai’s, you don’t want to deal the wrong guy, right? You don’t want to be in a position where suddenly you deal a Colton Couser. And then you’re looking for a centerfielder because Cedric Mullins finishes off the year on a sour note. And you know, he’s a non tender candidate, probably if he finishes the year, the way he’s hitting right now,
8Nestor J. Aparicio 31:37
but because watch guys leave here and succeed eriacta You know, Gasman, I mean, there have been gotten that now. They’re not outfielders. Right? But we’ve seen guys leave here and Excel. In certain ways. This has just been a different class of players, I think, from the hearts of the fans here to have these players be here. It’s sort of the way that I don’t know what JJ Hardy and Anna Anna Cruz could be imported 10 years ago, but I think the feeling was it even Adam Jones was imported from a minor league standpoint. But you know, these were homegrown guys and guys are out there scuffling and doing well in the case of Mullins, and then Hayes, that, you know, who are you married to here and these young guys, to your point, like Colton Couser feels like we’ve waited a long time on him. No, do they have him for five years? Like he’s, he’s a blue chip prospect, do what the Royals did stick them all out there and let them all play. And maybe it’ll turn into Lorenzo Cain and turn into stockists and turn into Hosmer. Because we would have been talking not so good about those is probably in the way right now that when I talk trade deadline with everybody, they talk about Vladimir Guerrero, and they talk about the giving a kid to the Rockies kid up shacks in Toronto. They’re a failure there in the way that if next year gunner Henderson’s hitting to 10 and can’t figure it out, and Richmond gets injured, he can’t do this. You can’t do that. Like it all falls apart quickly as the Cubs as the Royals ask any of them. And this is this is really sensitive this week, because I don’t do it. I’ve been doing this a long time. They’ve never had this problem of having either hyper inflated feelings about their own prospects. But why wouldn’t they win their lottery picks why anyone would feel good about Colton cows or anyone would feel good about testing. They all felt good about them, that when they drafted them, they’re on the cusp of the major leagues. They all have all of these plus assets, even if you don’t like their glove, or you like the way they hit a left hander or he can’t figure out what the first baseman or third baseman, they are all going to hit the ball. They’re all going to show up. They all know the Oriole way the new Oriole way, they’ve all been integrated into analytics and growth mindset and all of that. You know, they would be an asset to your organization in most cases, and probably really tough on the Orioles to give up on any of these guys. Because it and I’m not around this is you know, again, we can talk to Jennifer Grondahl and but if I knew more about these guys and how they all felt and how I have no idea how internally, they really feel about these guys maturity, how they’re handling things, why they send them down to the minors, what they’re working on, you know what the internal skinny is on players. And sometimes we found that out from John Harbaugh and off the records and this and that how he feels about a certain alignment or certain safety or certain whatever. But in the organization for the Orioles. It feels like all of these young men have come through the system and have tinkered and have earned an opportunity at least come up and get some major league at bats. And now they have to like figure out stigma Know their hand. Yeah. And this is the week to figure that out and say, who’s a pile diver? And who’s the guy that? Yeah, I mean, we like him. He’s a good guy. And we wouldn’t be shocked if he’s a good ballplayer. But we need that other guy. We need that. Yeah, that relief pitcher, we need that other guy right now, because we’re in first place. And I don’t care if his name is Jackson holiday or may or whatever, if he’s not helping us win in October, we need to win in October. And there’s more urgency in my mind and probably in the mind of Elias. Maybe not in Rubenstein? I don’t know, you know, for all of them to say, let’s give it our best opportunity this year instead of going in with Jack Flaherty. Yeah. But
Luke Jones 35:44
and I still think some of this cuz you just, you rattled off some names. I noticed one name you didn’t even mention was Kyle sours. And I think there’s and this goes back to what I was saying a few minutes ago, that you have such a deep system. And specifically you have those three top prospects right now. You know, and holiday mayo, besides you know, whatever order you want to put them holiday first and the other to rank them, you know, one wanting to however you want, but everyone’s gunning for those guys, you know, everyone wants those guys, everyone covets those guys, it’s like seeing $100 bill on the street, you know, across the street, lying on the ground. And but there’s a $20 bill right there at your feet that set hours and some of these other guys absolutely can be I mean, Kyle sours, I still think has a chance to be a good everyday Major League outfielder. He’s been blocked here. Now he’s been in a position where he hasn’t gotten extensive opportunities. Now he’s struggled when he’s had some chances, I’ll be at limited ones. But my point is, all these teams are looking across the street and they see these $100 bills that the Orioles have, and they want those right, even if there are 20s or 50s that they might be able to obtain much more easily. And I just think there’s I think there’s some of that going on. I think there’s some perception. And there was probably a little bit of this that went on even with Joe your teas, right. I mean, Joey Ortiz was a fringe at least top 100 prospect didn’t play much for the Orioles last year, of course, but
Nestor J. Aparicio 37:17
clearly blocked clip me know. And that’s where besides to is clearly blocked, Mayo not blocked. But please take some of these outfielders. I’m just not sure which ones.
Luke Jones 37:28
8Yeah. So yeah, I would I would disagree a little bit about the SEO because two years from now, I mean, Adley rutschman, for one thing is not going to be as far away from free agency. But we’re also seeing the kind of split, James McCann plays quite a bit. I see that much more as an opportunity where you have to premium bats at the catcher position where you know, rutschman could DH besides coca DH, either one of them could play first base. So I hear what you’re saying on that, though. And he’s
Nestor J. Aparicio 37:57
the piece in the school deal, it wouldn’t shine. That one shocked me because they would step forward to say, look, we already have a catcher, and we’re trying to win the World Series right now. He’s a great player. He’s gonna go out there and you’ll catch a Detroit for the next five. And he’ll be he’ll be joining with rutschman for an ostrich and we know that, but we’re we want to win the World Series.
Luke Jones 38:16
Sure. Short well, but again, I’ll keep going back to with, you know, even getting texts Google’s not guaranteeing you Other World Series. I mean, I’ll continue to to keep throwing out there. Look at the postseason,
Nestor J. Aparicio 38:30
the World Series this week. Come on, Lucas, you know it? Of
8Luke Jones 38:33
course they can’t. But but I’m with you on that. And you know, besides 19? Still, there’s still some development to be done there. He’s at buoy luck. He’s not that far away from the majors, but
38:46
the Tigers would be able to crawl around and say we’re gonna have a starting catcher when he’s 21. Sure, right. Sure. Sure. So and again, if if there is a screwball deal to be made, I think that feels like that would be the most plausible pathway that the Orioles would probably be willing to do right now. fielder
Nestor J. Aparicio 39:03
pick anything out? Sure. Sure. Yeah.
Luke Jones 39:06
8I mean, you know, I’m not saying that’s all it’s going to be. But again, beside was a pretty, pretty special prospect. I mean, he’s not Adley rutschman great in terms of perception as a prospect, but he’s not far off of that. And probably some more intriguing upside, because of how young he is. I mean, Adley rutschman, was, you know, out of college. I mean, this is a young kid. So, you know, there’s so many possibilities, but want to go back to what you were kind of talking about the major league roster and one point I hear a lot of fans make on social media and look, it is a fair sentiment. It’s a fair comment to make, but I hear fans say, I just want Brandon Hyde to put his best nine out there every night. To which my reply is, what is their best nine right now? And that’s where I’m a little look. First base you know, mountcastle and O’Hearn mountcastle hasn’t played hasn’t hit the ball much at all over the last six weeks. I feel great about Gunnar Henderson no da right MVP candidate Adley rutschman is in the lineup every day. So there’s two, Jordan Westbrook, there’s three Anthony Santander, there’s four. I mean, you start to move beyond Brian O’Hearn. If it’s a right handed starter, he’s in the lineup. Right? And he’s been consistent. And you know, he’s one of the few guys who had a good night on Tuesday night. But you know, Colton Couser I like his defense. His bat sometimes is good. And other times he strikes out way too much. And, you know, Austin Hays, Cedric Mullins, I mean, Heston cursed as of late. Yeah, one has to Heston Karstadt in there. But it’s not because of a proven track record. It’s because some of these other guys aren’t performing good. He wasn’t even on the team a month ago. Right. Right. Right. So and this, you know, this kind of brings us and we haven’t talked too much about this, you know, I mentioned it in passing, but Jorge Mateo, kind of an ugly looking injury there, the initial x rays negative, that doesn’t mean that there’s not a legit injury there. Cuz he’s going to have an MRI, they’re gonna go through tests. But look, Mateo, from the time he went on the concussion list, remember, we were talking about how well he had played over the first two months how that had been such a saving grace with holiday struggles. He hasn’t hit since he’s come back. And I’m, you know, I’m just stating the facts there. I mean, he just hasn’t hit the numbers speak them for themselves. So I hate to see him go down with an injury. And certainly don’t want to see a long term injury because I think even if Matteo moves much more into a bench role, when and if Jackson Holliday or Kobe male are up here, you still want him in that role as a pinch runner as a backup shortstop, because who’s their backup shortstop, if he goes on the aisle? Yeah, Jordan Westbrook can play there. But you know, that’s not Gunnar Henderson there. So, you know, you hope that there’s not a long term absence there. But part of me does wonder if that forces the Oreos hand here then to mix things up here a little bit, you know, it’s Norby for right now. But I assume if Jorge Mateo is out for the next six weeks, and again, that’s just a hypothetical, then we’re gonna see Jackson holiday very soon, you know, I’m assuming that’s going to happen, because he is playing second base, again, for Norfolk and all that. So, you know, I do wonder if, and that’s why I kept going back to chase McDermott, that at the beginning of our conversation, you know, you’re hoping you’re looking for someone to give you a spark, you know, you’re looking for a couple guys to give you a spark, and obviously, the trade deadline, you’re hoping you’re gonna get more than a spark you’re open, some fireworks are gonna be made. And you’re gonna be excited about, you know, bringing in another starting pitcher, bringing in another high leverage reliever, if you can do it. So, you know, we’ll see how it plays out. All the acts we just expressed, and all the uncertainty we just expressed, I’ll continue to remind this team 60 and 40, this team’s tied for the best record and in not baseball, but in the American League, they’re still in first place. They’re still a team that a lot of other teams and fan bases around baseball envy, they are not a perfect outfit by any stretch of the imagination. And yes, they need some more pitching, but the sky is not falling. And this is not push the panic button time, either even after an 11 and 15, stretch 11 and 15 Not six and 22 you know that it’s not that dire straits, so they’ve got to start playing better. And I want to see the energy and focus look a little bit better. I think Brandon Hyde that you could tell he didn’t like how they played Tuesday night, not just because they lost but just it looked inferior in terms of just the way they played. So they gotta get back to that but this is also a team now that has a two year track record worth of playing baseball at a high level, you know, July of 2022 they were playing really good baseball from that point on. So I still I’m still going to give them the benefit of the doubt that they’re going to climb out of it in that way. And we’re gonna see what the trade deadline looks like we’re gonna see who gets recalled and it’s going to be interesting because I definitely think what this roster looks like now come a week from now and certainly a month or two from now has the potential to look very different than it does right now. And and that’s saying something for a team that’s been as successful as they have been playing 600 ball this year, even after the last month where they’ve struggled Oh,
Nestor J. Aparicio 44:25
I remember you and I driving around Sarasota and the big argument was who was going to be the last guy on the roster on opening day and you know the roster changes and the headline to this gonna be Orioles need a spark say a loop Jones. He is Baltimore Luke out on the interwebs you can follow him anywhere social media happens. You follow him out to Owings Mills onto the back fields where I’m hoping the temperature stay under 90 degrees out there for him chase and John Harbaugh and those guys around you’ll hear a bunch of sound all the brought to you by our friends at Royal farms as well as wise markets. Bringing all these Wise conversations your way. A lot of baseball this week a lot of my baseball mafia coming on. Got a lot of things sort of percolating here in regard to our oyster tour in Maryland crab cakes were presented by the Maryland lottery of the Gold Rush sevens doublers to give away on the 13th of August when we return to State Fair in the Ville will also be at a fade these when the cheats rose come to town next month but a whole bunch more crabcake towards a Coco’s a Costas a pizza John’s we’re gonna be down at Cooper’s for the oyster of a festival in September. So we’re really excited about a lot of things we’re doing around here. I am Nestor, he is Luke. One thing we’re really doing around here is covering baseball and football like nobody else. We’re Baltimore positive.com
