Trying to reason with long Orioles season ahead

It’s early and the Orioles already have big injuries to Jackson Holliday and Jordan Westburg that will affect the Opening Day roster. Allen McCallum returns for a spring training thaw and Birdland prospectus with perspective for the long MLB season ahead and the pitching it will take to contend in the American League East.

Nestor Aparicio and Allen McCallum discuss the Baltimore Orioles’ prospects for the upcoming MLB season. They highlight the team’s significant offseason moves, including the acquisition of Pete Alonso and Chris Bassitt, and the trades involving Grayson Rodriguez and Dean Kremer. They express optimism about the team’s pitching depth, particularly with Bradish and Rogers, but note concerns about the bullpen and defensive capabilities. They debate the team’s potential to contend for a playoff spot, with Allen predicting a wild card finish. They also touch on broader issues in baseball, including ownership changes and the league’s financial landscape.

• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Organize and run the Maryland crab cake tour with the Maryland Lottery and GBMC sponsors as announced on the show
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Invite and schedule Bill Cole to appear on the show again for a discussion segment
• [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Plan and schedule attending a ballgame together (summer) with Allen McCallum and confirm date/location

Orioles’ Offseason Moves and Management Changes

• Nestor Aparicio discusses the changes in management and the new ownership era, mentioning the Rubenstein and Epstein files.
• Nestor and Allen McCallum reflect on the Orioles’ past seasons, noting the team’s improvements and the impact of new acquisitions like Pete Alonso and Chris Bassitt.
• Nestor expresses concerns about the team’s sustainability and the financial aspects of running a baseball team.
• Allen highlights the importance of the Orioles’ offseason moves, including the acquisition of Chris Bassitt and the trade for Taylor Ward and Shane Baz.

Team’s Potential and Player Performance

• Allen McCallum discusses the team’s potential, noting that both optimistic and pessimistic arguments can be made about the team’s performance.
• Nestor and Allen talk about the importance of key players like Trevor Rogers, Kyle Bradish, and Adley Rutschman, and their potential impact on the team’s success.
• Allen mentions the need for depth in both pitching and offense, highlighting the importance of players like Cedric Mullins and Heston Kjerstad.
• Nestor and Allen discuss the team’s defensive capabilities and the need for a center fielder, with Allen expressing concerns about the team’s overall defense.

Bullpen and Pitching Depth

• Allen McCallum discusses the bullpen, noting the need for more depth and the potential for trades at the deadline to address this issue.
• Nestor and Allen talk about the importance of having reliable relief pitchers and the potential for acquiring them through trades.
• Allen highlights the importance of having a strong starting rotation and the potential impact of injuries on the team’s performance.
• Nestor and Allen discuss the team’s financial strategy, noting the new ownership’s approach to spending and the importance of making smart financial decisions.

Impact of New Ownership and Media Changes

• Nestor and Allen discuss the impact of the new ownership on the team, including changes in broadcasting and media strategy.
• Allen mentions the challenges of transitioning to a new ownership group and the importance of addressing these issues for the team’s success.
• Nestor expresses concerns about the team’s ability to connect with fans and the impact of past mistakes on fan loyalty.
• Allen highlights the importance of having a strong media strategy and the potential for new broadcasting partners to help the team reach a wider audience.

Future Outlook and Fan Engagement

• Nestor and Allen discuss the team’s future outlook, including the potential for playoff contention and the importance of fan engagement.
• Allen highlights the importance of having a strong team culture and the role of players like Pete Alonso in leading the team.
• Nestor and Allen talk about the potential for fan engagement initiatives, including community events and fan experiences.
• Nestor expresses hope for a positive season and the potential for the team to reconnect with fans and build a strong fan base.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Orioles, baseball, pitching, Pete Alonso, Chris Bassitt, Trevor Rogers, Kyle Bradish, bullpen, American League East, playoffs, ownership, Rubenstein, Epstein, digital stadiums.

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SPEAKERS

Allen McCallum, Nestor Aparicio

Nestor Aparicio  00:01

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive, positively rocking our way here through a winter of discontent and changes in management in different ways. We’re going to be doing the Maryland crab cake tour, brought to you by the Maryland lottery in conjunction with GBMC, as we get it out on the road, we have some new sponsors too. I’m wearing my planet fitness gear here because I was gearing up for Sarasota, Florida with Luke. But credentialing matters kind of got in the way, and we’re landlocked here, but certainly thinking about baseball, talking about baseball. This dude here has been my dude for baseball for 31 years now. Dude, it’ll be Jeffrey mayor. Will be 30 years this October, right? 96 right? October. 96

Allen McCallum  00:57

I mean, you’re right, but I just heard you say 31 years and I just saw the vast majority of my life flash before my eyes.

Nestor Aparicio  01:04

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And a lot of bad baseball. Alan McCallum, a lot of bad baseball, I may say, right?

Allen McCallum  01:08

Some good, but mostly bad. Yes, there’s no doubt about that. For those

Nestor Aparicio  01:12

of you new to the party, Alan was my ballpark reporter 30 years ago. Some people aren’t even 30 years old. You know, dude, I don’t know where to begin another year with another year of ownership, and the Rubenstein era, Rubenstein and the Epstein files, of all things, and John Harbaugh’s boss is going to lose his gig over that. I guess maybe I don’t I have no idea, but the baseball thing, and Luke and I did an hour earlier in the week, just on the labor part of is this the last season for a while. It certainly feels like the last season under the old world of whatever money, digital stadia, club seats, big contracts, big markets, small markets, that we’re on the cusp of some kind of change that’s brought about by media, by the game, by the whiteness of the game, by the age of the game. And these guys who bought in, I don’t know where they are. They’re certainly not citizens of this town, but the notion that they’ve made the team better, I’m in Pete Alonso better. They spent almost $19 million on a number four starter, maybe three, whatever. But like, things are different without angelos, without question. I don’t know where the real plan with the stadium and the money and the digital and the 99 bucks for the mass and thing and like all of that, I’m into that era of, how is this sustainable? I’ll buy that they’re a playoff caliber team as opening day kicks off, I’ll buy that. I’ll sell that. I’ll talk about that. Hopefully we’re going to be talking about an above 500 team. 100 team all year. But I’m just trying to get the plan, and I don’t two years into this, I think they’ve done a really poor job the local guys of just sort of like re recruiting people,

Allen McCallum  03:13

messaging to the public, it’s good to talk to you. There’s certainly a lot of talk about, certainly the from a sort of global baseball standpoint, the news that Tony Clark is expected to step down as the MLB pa directors of that’s huge news, with an impending work stoppage at the end of the season, certainly talk about that. But I certainly in terms of the Orioles, yeah, on paper, they’re better than they were last year. I know this time last year, in my head, what I thought was, if literally everything goes right, they’ll be fine. And nobody believed that everything was going to be was going to go, go well, this year is different. They have spent money. They brought in pieces. We can debate How, how strong those pieces are. I would have liked to have seen Ron Harris. Suarez here. You know my feelings about Boba shett, I will say virtually every pitching move the Red Sox have made in the last two seasons. Garrett crochet, Sonny Gray, Ron Harris, Suarez and the like. Are moves that I absolutely believe the Orioles should have made, and if they had, we’d be, we’d be having a celebratory conversation.

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Nestor Aparicio  04:35

But the Orient, as opposed to feed Alonso, you’re saying from a money stamp? Ah, you

Allen McCallum  04:41

know, they certainly needed. They still, I think we all would have said they still need a better offensive piece in the lineup, and whether that was Alonzo or Bachelor,

Nestor Aparicio  04:51

they think holiday in rushman and westburg and maybe cows or, I don’t know, they think these are more pieces, right? I mean. They bet they better be pieces or Tyler Ward and Tyler O’Neill and the Taylor ward. You know, like I get all the Taylors and the Tylers and the 30 home run guys until they do it, but they didn’t waste money on Santander. They didn’t get lost in the weeds with burns, with the injuries, right? And they feels like they’ve nursed Bradish back and that they got Rogers in a place where it feels like they’re an improved version of last year, but they were a last placed outfit, and we are counting on these bats in the way we were counting on them last year, and that’s really the part that let everybody down. And I do think that they’re gonna, they’re not gonna Wow anybody with a glove this year anywhere, right? So that’s going to be a deficiency for them.

Allen McCallum  05:45

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Look, Nestor, if you’re a naysayer, you can make strong arguments about this team not being good enough, and if you’re an optimistic person, you can make pretty good arguments about this team being good enough. And the truth is, you can say that about virtually any team in sports period. Here’s here’s what’s Trevor Rogers was probably the biggest and best story for the Orioles last season. I think we all believe Kyle brads, when he’s healthy, is a top tier pitcher. I don’t know if you say a top 10 or or a bonafide number one, but he’s a top tier pitch. Top tier pitcher when he’s healthy. I like what I’ve seen, what I like, what the numbers say about Shane boss and and how his maturation should go. And you know, for all the people that are saying that the Toronto Blue Jays are the best team in in the American League East, you know, they replaced Chris Bassett with a guy who is supposed to be a top tier pitcher, but while his taking the ball and eaten a lot of innings has consistently been less than he was expected to be, starting with his time in the White Sox and Anthony Santander is on the shelf again. So and they lost boba shed so well, that’s

Nestor Aparicio  07:02

the one thing. Elias hasn’t wasted money, little bit on Gary Sanchez, little bit of the bullpen two years ago,

Allen McCallum  07:10

but, like, some money on Tyler O’Neill so far. But, but he, you’re right. I mean, look, he has highly rated players, and if they if, if some of them had followed the positive, upward track that we expected last year, this team would have finished not in the playoffs, but probably over 500 virtually all of their offensive players regret regressed last season. It is unlikely that that will happen again this year. So if you put Pete Alonso right in the middle of that, and take some of the pressure off of the players, the other players around him exponentially, if they can still stay healthy, it is reasonable to assume that they will have a bounce back season. At least some of them, you would expect that from gunner if, if Jordan Westberg, and he’s already hurt, can can give you 130 140 games you would expect that. It’s hard to say what you would expect from Jackson holiday right now, having a surgery on on the handmade and coming back. I think it’s, I think that the expectations have to be subsided a little bit. And I don’t know if any of us believe in Colton cows are at this point, but point, but you know, Adley Richmond was a one one, so you would like to believe at some point he’s going to find that, find some version of that form. Again. The point is, they have enough talent in this lineup that while not expecting all of them to take a leap forward, you certainly expect three or four of them. And that’s you put that with Alonzo and Ward and the other pieces they have that’s pretty good. Yeah, defensively, this team makes me a little nervous. I like the pitch. I like the starting pitching. Is it, does it match up with a fully restored New York Yankees rotation? No, does it? Were they fully ready to Go Red Sox rotation? Probably not, but when you put all the pieces together, I think they can compete in the American League East. I would have liked to see them do more in the bullpen. I would have liked to seen them get a real center fielder. And one of the things about bringing in pub Alonso was that they had first b based DH guys in abundance, and now they have to figure out what they have to do with some of them. Now maybe that will bring you back some of the pitching that we think this team could could benefit from. But I would like to see Kobe mayo in an Orioles uniform, find his form. I think we’re all sort of hoping that Heston Kirsten re emerges in his career in an Orioles uniform. All those, those are all wild cards that this

Nestor Aparicio  09:47

is the time of the year for the at bats. There Alan for that stuff, right for the first dads and the Mayos to step up and take the at bats, this Blaze guy that they dealt for. And everybody’s like, why are you dealing for him? Oh, ha. Holidays after the all star break, okay, it hasn’t been good fortune for the westburg holiday news. I don’t like that. I don’t like that. That’s 1000 at bats. I need this year to be really premium. Step it up, all star caliber at bats that like I’m that that already makes me nervous for the offense and whatever they feel like they’ve added with Alonzo and Ward.

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Allen McCallum  10:26

So the reality of any any team in sports is that not everybody’s going to stay healthy, and you have to be able to weather that storm. That’s why you want depth. Certainly from a pitching standpoint, you want that, but also offensively. Now mount Castle mayo, I was a fan of Jeremiah, Jackson, Dylan, beaver’s Heston kirstad. If you have those players around, in theory, they should be able to fill some of those gaps, at least offensively. Again, I don’t know how the defensive match fits with all those players, but they have enough pieces in theory to weather injuries right now, that’s a big roster to manage, and they have a rookie manager in Craig Albernaz, who’s going to have to show what he can do. Mike Elias, has to be diligent and flexible to be able to maneuver a roster like that. They have pieces. They, in theory, have talent. Now they have to all come together to show what they can do. But again, I mean, you’ve got other teams that are that are having injuries, that are going that are going to impact what happens in baseball as well. So it’s not just the Orioles. Everyone has to figure that out. The Orioles are our hometown team, so we’re the ones we’re focused on, and it’s important that they show that they’re a professional organization that knows how to how to maneuver around these things.

Nestor Aparicio  11:51

Anybody late to the party? Alan McCallum is here, back visiting with us, talking to baseball, alright? So you didn’t love the Alonso deal, I haven’t given you oxygen on Bassett Boz, you’re up on the brace and Rodriguez deal for Ward, which we’ll see. I mean, you know, time will tell on that I hate giving pitching away. But if they didn’t believe in him anymore, didn’t believe in his shoulder, just didn’t believe in him, get me here. Get me a now, I got to win games this year. You’re not, you’re not doing me any good as a maybe they’ve eliminated some maybes right? And we go back to Charlie Morton and Sagano last year and Kyle Gibson after that. And look, Suarez throw any of the guys that are just guys gay, Povich, any of that. What’s real, Dean Kramer or better is real for me. And 2830 starts, and adding Bassett and the fact that they spent $19 million Valentine’s Day week to buy pitching. You know, John angelos, Peter angelos, aren’t around here anymore. Mr. Eric Getty, whoever you are, but they’re doing things in a different way financially, for sure.

Allen McCallum  13:05

So I feel like the Orioles did a delayed three team trade. They got Taylor Ward and Shane Boz for Grayson, Rodriguez going to the angels and a mess of prospects going to the Tampa Bay Rays. Man, that’s to me, that’s basically what they did. And Rodriguez and boss sort of see as a one, one swap talent within with injury histories, but high, high ceiling potential. So yeah, it would have liked, I would have liked to seen Grayson Rodriguez reach his potential as an Oriole. But if it wasn’t to be, it wasn’t to be, I think boss fills that role fairly well. Again, the hope is that Bradish and Rogers show themselves to be top tier pitchers that can handle the top of a rotation. I think if you look at Chris Bassett, I thought for years that he’s highly underrated pitcher in baseball to be able to pitch in the American League East to an era of at or under four while throwing a ton of innings and answering the bell consistently. That’s a pretty good resume for a 21st Century starting pitcher. I don’t feel like he’s Charlie Morton at the end of his career, even though he is, he’s in the back half of his 30s, and I think that he’s a really good fit for this club right now. And then you look at Dean Kramer, who, as I said, as I’ve said to you before, his injury at the end of the season, where he missed a couple of starts, makes me a little nervous, but has entered the bell and has been short of the first month, month of the year, a pretty solid bottom the rotation pitcher. And then, you know, they have some other pieces. One of the things that I don’t quite understand about Mike Elias is, you know, there are so many guys out there that have been start, starting pitchers that were brought into other teams on minor league deals, whether it Walker, Buehler or couple. The lefties that have been out there. I don’t understand why he doesn’t take a flyer on those guys just to have depth. I understand that they have Zach Eflin and that he’s he’s going to be guided. I think if he’s healthy, will can help this rotation. But it couldn’t have hurt the Baltimore orals to have a couple of guys in queue that were willing to accept minor league deals and prove that they’re ready to make the team, and if they don’t, then you can, you know, move them or let them go at the end of spring training. I would have liked to have seen some of that happen. I assume that means he’s making way for his young whether it’s Kay Povich or McDermott. What have you there. There are plenty of young guys, but having some veteran arms would have been helpful. Same thing for the bullpen, this club is in a far better position than they were this time last year, and what is required for them to succeed, the way we want them to, is for some of these guys that are on the fringe, on the periphery, both the young guys in Mayo and cursed dad. I’m sure at some point during this year we’ll see a Kate Povich all take a step forward, and then a guy like Tyler O’Neill, who in a lot of ways has been lost to this has two more years on a contract, and just two years ago, hit 30 home runs for the Boston Red Sox for him to actually play some games and show up. I mean, there, they have much more balance right, right to left, right now, at least on paper. And when you look at the left handed pitchers in this division, from probe shade to Suarez to max freed Carlos Rodon, that’s going to matter to be there were way too many left handed bats from the young talent, and they needed some balance. And now and now, they have it that puts them in a much better position than a lot of other teams. And I did, I can’t swear that I was aware of it until this offseason, but there’s a dearth of right handed hitting, particularly right handed with power in baseball right now, and having a stockpile of some of those players is an advantage, particularly in the American League East right now, so especially when you move the fence in again, right? So we’ll see how that plays out. But I wouldn’t tell you that. I say give michaelias an a plus for the offseason, but it’s hard not to look at it and say he doesn’t. He’s not worthy of a b plus or an a given where they were coming from, which, after they traded away the bulk of their bullpen last year at the end of the season, was pretty far away to go. He had a lot to do, and he did. He did a decent job. He did a decent job this offseason.

Nestor Aparicio  17:39

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Alan McCallum is here. He’s our longtime baseball voice. So you know, whether it’s sale, crochet soir, pick any of these guys, if their arms fall off, we’ve all got problems. We’re looking at Bradish as an is and as a resurrection project, and Rogers, based on what we saw the last nine weeks of last year, awesome, the import of bars Bassett paying him. You know, I’m I’m I’m on all I like efflin. I’m on all of these deals. I’m good. I’m good with the plethora of arms. I’m good with what they’ve done. I’m good that they didn’t spend a lot of money. But the industry and where money is, and the Red Sox spending it, and the Blue Jays now being a big market again, none of that plays into the Orioles advantage, except that they don’t see them 26 times a year anymore, right? Like they used to just it used to be every other weekend you had the Red Sox or the Yankees coming in and beating your brains in right? And Toronto and Tampa felt the same way being in the division. At some point this sports got to fix itself. This feels like the year that might be happening. I don’t want to lead you down that road of temptation of talking labor for at least another five minutes till we get through the team, but I think that that sits on the backdrop of it financially in some franchises. And I don’t even know if these guys even know what they’ve signed up for, because they signed up for this gravy train ride where the state was giving them all this money in the city, and Angelos is dead, and here we are and and we have gunner Henderson and Bradley rushman and a genius G like all of that. And then now we have last place, and the fans don’t care. They’ve pissed everybody off, and Katie Griggs has highly offended me. And as you know, that’s usually for life. Alan, she might not know that, but I, I don’t walk the streets here, and people are like, I can’t wait for opening day. Pete, I got majority like, they have $38,000 seats that they ripped a Henneman press box out for that they can’t sell. I would have told him that, yeah, like, they’ve done a lot wrong here the first two years. And if they can buy their way into your heart by winning games, that’s great. But then there’s going to be, do you go down there with your sister and spend money the way you used to? And does it mean anything to you? Does it mean anything to people younger than you? Luke’s taking his niece for the first time. She’s four. Yeah, this year. So he’s really, he’s talked to me about that five times, and it’s not even March. He’s excited about it, and that’s awesome. Now, we hope she gets excited about it. And I’m like, well, I’ll put the crab cake in at fayettely’s. But I do think, you know, I don’t want to be the old Hispanic guy, or make you the old African American guy out on the lawn waving the flag for Brady Anderson and Cal Ripken and, you know, to come back or whatever. I don’t know what it’s going to be, but this is, like, the turning point where, like, the Angelo’s boys are gone. They took their bags of money. These guys have come in with bags of money. It feels to me like they don’t know their head from their ass. But the baseball side is they’ve given Elias money. He knows what he’s doing, and he’s going to put a representative product in the field. But you know, their injuries away in the holiday in the westburg away from us saying, well, they just didn’t get up the mountain this year because they didn’t spend X on Y. But the pitching part of this, and all of the pitchers I’ve named, and all of the big contracts are involve a level of risk that even if you have a lot of money, you have a lot of money because you weren’t willing to take on some of that kind of bad, dumb risk. But the baseball thing, as you’ve said from the beginning, when you and I used to fight about this stuff 20 years ago, with Peter angelos, it’s just it’s all funny money to these clowns when they roll off with $4 billion anyway, while they’re here, are they really here to make it good, or are they here to make bobble heads of themselves? I don’t know. These dudes don’t strike me as anything that’s that has any authenticity at all to it. Now, will the team win this year? Yeah, maybe. But that’s not going to stop the sport from shutting down at the end of the year, which is a bigger concern when you when you’re putting this contracts together and a real strategy to try to really own the team for 10 or 15 years and make a difference in the city, as opposed to being a transactional owner.

Allen McCallum  21:50

Wow. So there’s a lot there, Nestor, I will, I’ll start by saying this.

Nestor Aparicio  21:56

Well, do you believe is what you know? That’s I guess I’m asking right now, look,

Allen McCallum  22:01

our entire society is in a transition point of built on many layers. And in baseball, we’re seeing a ton of teams that have broadcasting issues. We all know that social media and the Internet has changed the way people consume their entertainment. Baseball, and every sport in America has to contend with that. You have the whole gambling aspect of things. And yeah, if you’re if you’re David Rubenstein and his his group, and you take over the team, and you think, Hey, this is what could be better. We’ve got our own broadcast network, we’ve got a team of young, budding stars, and we’re going to win for the next decade. What could go wrong?

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Nestor Aparicio  22:43

Sleeping Giant theory is what it was here, right?

Allen McCallum  22:46

And you, I mean, it’s impossible to have missed the whole Washington Nationals wanting to leave the network, and how their existence impedes you from where the real money in the region is being in DC, in Virginia, that Madison, as an entity, while it exists, is not going to be as valuable without them, and having to figure out the social media aspect of all of it, and streaming, God, we didn’t mean to not mention streaming, that is maybe the biggest piece of this whole thing. So there are, there are tons of layers before you ever even get to the baseball team. That here’s what I would assume, that David Rubenstein made his money by being able to see things that were coming in the future. So I have to believe, even if he wasn’t ready for it in the way it has come, that they had to be aware of these issues on the horizon, and that getting ready for it and being able to address it in a positive way, not just for their own pocketbooks, but for the fans and the people who consume the product, is really essential. And I’m certainly not going to disagree with you that there haven’t been mistakes made or mistakes made along the way here in the last couple of seasons for the Baltimore Orioles. But you know, maybe more than you I allow for rookie mistakes. You know, there’s a lot to do when you take over a team like this, particularly in this moment in time. The money is it costs so much to do things now, I think people are less willing to take a take a chance on the team being good. I think people were excited two years ago after they won 103 games, 101 games coming into the season you had Corbin burns. I think everyone was geared up for that, and then to see that they flamed out in the postseason again, and then I think, I don’t think anybody that was a fan of the team believed last year that they were set up to win, so there was a wait and see, and that didn’t work out, and it certainly didn’t help them sell any pre tickets for the games, and it didn’t help them sell tickets on the day of throughout the season. Uh, Pete Alonso coming in, and I said this to you before there was in the last couple of decades, it would have been rare for a star New York player to come to Baltimore. That’s just something that wouldn’t have happened in the last couple of decades, and to have it is a good sign that he is playing the good soldier and doing everything they could ask for him to promote the team and to be to be leader, and to sort of have the troops gather around him is a really good thing. Chris bassett’s reputation is a really good thing in terms of being a veteran who can galvanize a staff and have people listen to him and respect him and hopefully show up, have that show up on the mound as well. That kind of came

Nestor Aparicio  25:46

from nowhere, right? I mean that to me, you know, whatever the war says. And I said this to Luke, I mean, I thought they were upper 80s win team. The number was between 85 and a half and 89 and a half. It’s not like you can gamble on it. Alan, you know what? I mean, it’s not like you can gamble on it. But I saw that number and I thought, you know, I thought about our old friend, who used to work here, would go out to Vegas on the weekends and walk up and down the strip trying to get better value on the end that he liked, which was, if you’re going to bet the under or the over, you know, at 89 and a half, and you think that they’re less than that, bet the under, if you like, the over, get them at 85 and think they’re going to be a good team this year, right? I thought that that would move the line. I thought like they got a guy that’s going to make 30 starts for them. They’re going to be decent kind of starts for the most part. And if the notion is they’re going to hit the ball, and they better hit the ball, and they didn’t hit the ball last year, but they better hit the ball this year. They have potential to hit the ball. They have potential to be lethal from hitting the ball. Yeah, if it’s working. I mean, you know they do. So for that, that’s different than having Ryan Flaherty around here and trying to talk me into Mark Reynolds and trying to talk me into, you know, whatever, Ryan mountcastle, even you’re not trying to talk me into that. You’re trying to talk me into SAM beside Oh, and you’re trying to talk me into maybe Colton cowser, because he was a first round pick and a lottery guy. And you’re trying to talk me into Heston Kirsch that may have healed himself or whatever his issues were, that he has the tools that all these guys have, the tools. That’s the argument for holiday, for Westberg, for Richmond, for all the guys that we’re waiting on and but the pitching way more important, as you’ve pointed out. And I don’t know that I’d like to have. I think about Bassett, and I think about what I think I’m going to get out of him, what the floor and the ceiling is with him. I like that better than even Bradish or Rogers for what the floor would be, which they’re not going to take the ball they get hurt.

Allen McCallum  27:50

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Look, I think, I think a couple things. One, I think it’s much more likely, on a regular basis, that Chris Bassett will be pitching in the sixth inning then Trevor Rogers or Kyle Bradish. Now, whether he’s given up three runs or four, I think there are a lot of nights where Kyle Bradish will probably come off the mound throwing five innings, giving up two runs, striking out eight and and walking a couple, but putting them in the position to win. And then you have to hope the bullpen can get you through the next four innings. And you

Nestor Aparicio  28:20

also have to hit the ball lately, like when they’ve been good around here, they’ve hit the ball seventh, eighth, ninth inning, and being down four, two in the sixth isn’t isn’t a crime. You know, even

Allen McCallum  28:30

when they won 101 games, a lot of nights, what happened was they sort of survived the starting pitcher, and they scored two or three runs, and they were either tied or down a run or two, and then they beat up on bullpens a lot during that season. There should be 15 nights during this season where the Orioles win games 12 to three. Unfortunately, I could also see some nights where they lose 12 to 11. The goal is to it this. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know this to score more runs than you give up.

Nestor Aparicio  29:08

And you don’t like the bullpen, do you?

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Allen McCallum  29:13

I like Helsley. I like the idea of Tyler wells being in the bullpen. I don’t know what to expect from Kittredge, I really don’t. I’m not sure what to expect from their left handed relievers in the bullpen. Aiken’s fine. I would have loved to seen them bring back a Danny Coulomb. I know there were some rumors about them being interested in JoJo Romero from the Cardinals. I think that would have been a really good move, that they have more work to do in the bullpen. And I I’ve come to believe that if you stay in the race long enough, a lot of teams that win go get the rest of the bullpen they need at trade deadline time, that way, you can pick from the guys who’ve had the best seasons, because it’s true. It I mean. Expecting the same bullpen to be good for three or four straight years is just not realistic in Major League Baseball. So if you build a team and you say their deficiency is the bullpen, but you get yourself into July to a point where, hey, we’re in this race. We’re either, you know, leading the division or a couple of games out, and we can trade to get the bullpen pieces we need. I mean, that’s not a bad system.

Nestor Aparicio  30:24

I felt that way. I keep saying that to Luke. Like, opening day, they they have more starters than they need. They have a little bit of a Calvary coming in, efflin that, you know, down the line, they’re banged up with holiday in Westberg, and that’s a reality. It’s not even March, right? So, like, let’s get square on that. That you where expectations are with that. But pitching wise, I’m, I’m, you know, I don’t want them doing off seasons of spending tons of money on three relief pitchers that may or may not work with multi year deals or at all of that. You know what I like about relief pitching guys that can do it right now, and you can find that with some chump team like the A’s who are going to have somebody in July that’s worth a damn, that you can then go and deal Colton cows or Kobe may or whatever you want, and get somebody who’s doing it right now, not somebody who did it last year. Because to me, that’s not no good, no bueno. I would

Allen McCallum  31:23

not tell you that I think the bullpen is bad. I’ll tell you that I think it’s incomplete. And as we’re both saying, going out and finish completing it in July is fine, but you have to do it. And I think we’ve all been concerned about michaelias not following through on things, either in the off season or the trade deadline. If you know you need the pieces, you have to be willing to give something up to get them.

Nestor Aparicio  31:47

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Well, I’ll tell you what Luke. Luke puts it back to the minute the Batista got hurt. The minute that he got hurt in has never, ever really been good since then.

Allen McCallum  31:57

Yeah, yeah. Look. What was that, September of 23 is that right? Yeah, they haven’t been right since. And you know, another piece in all this,

Nestor Aparicio  32:08

but they’ve been trying to buy it, is my point, right? Because you can’t grow it

Allen McCallum  32:13

near Cano had, has had one great season, and he’s, he’s been searching for that ever since he’s still here. I didn’t realize how old he was until about a year ago, but you know, there’s, there’s talent in there. He just needs to find it again. They have pieces. They have pieces. The defense is another story. I like. Gunner really matured defensively at shortstop during last season, and I think they need a center fielder, Colton, I guess can hand can can hold it down, but I don’t think he’s a real I think his best position is left field. He needs to hit. So there are things about the team that that give me pause, but they’re, they’re a better team than they were this time last year. That that’s what I’m willing to say.

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Nestor Aparicio  33:04

You bet in the over the under, let’s get, let’s get square on this right now. Let’s go over under, not they’re gonna be a playoff team.

Allen McCallum  33:10

Alan, yeah, I think they’re going to be a playoff team. I wouldn’t pick them to win the division, but I can see them winning wild card spot.

Nestor Aparicio  33:18

Yes, I do too. Yeah. So I’m thumbs up

Allen McCallum  33:23

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particularly because I think the central is really down. I know the Tigers, on paper, their pitching staff is pretty good, but I think Cleveland and Minnesota, Minnesota just lost their top pitcher sounds like for the year. So I think the central is really down. I think the Astros are down. So I think the majority of the of the wild card teams are going to come out of the American League East. You know, one of the things about the starting pitching is that sometimes it’s not how good you are, your team is, it’s how much how do they stack up well against their competition. And if you match them up from from a one to five rotation against the Yankees and the in the Red Sox in the second half of the season. They might not look great, but as you mentioned earlier, thanks to there no longer being a completely unbalanced schedule, the Orioles have have more non American League East opponents where they can build their record. So I think that they’re I think they’re in good position to contend. And as we all know, getting into the playoffs is really the thing you need to do. And if you don’t win the division, you need to start winning right away, because there’s no room for error in those moments. And the Orioles have had some error, and they’ve been to the playoffs two last three years, and they they didn’t show up. So that’s a whole other piece of the story. But as I said to you before, and I fully believe this, and I think a lot of people don’t take this into account, that right now, at this moment, it is easier to get into the playoffs in Major League Baseball than at any time previous to this in history. And that said, once you get in, it is harder to win the World Series once you get in, because you have more teams to compete with, and you can’t have any missteps. So to assume, even with the Dodgers, that a team is going to win the World Series right now is a foolish thing, because you have more obstacles to get past once you’re in.

Nestor Aparicio  35:23

All right, it’s my goal to go to a ball game with you this summer. I don’t know. Might be in Frederick, might be in Baltimore, might be in Aberdeen, might be in Philadelphia. I don’t know. We’re going to figure something out. All right, let’s do it. All right, let’s play ball. Let’s Play two. He’s Allen McCallum. Our long time baseball Insider. I am Nestor. We’re going to be doing baseball here all summer long. Was any breaking news? You get it first on the wnst tech service. It’s all brought to you by Cole roofing and Gordian energy. And I’ll even get my dude, Bill Cole back on so we can yell at each other about democracy and things like that. I am Nestor. We are wnst. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We never stop talking Baltimore positive. Stay with us. You.