Welcoming new Orioles skipper Albernaz to Camden Yaaaahdds

When it’s time to put a baseball round table together, we gather at least a hundred years worth of media and institutional insights about the Baltimore Orioles like no other group. Longtime MLB media analysts Luke Jones and Allen McCallum join Nestor at State Fare in Catonsville on the Maryland Crab Cake Tour for an Orioles offseason primer and plenty of insights on the hiring of new Birds manager Craig Albernaz and everything that needs to be on the checklist of Mike Elias in the coming weeks at Camden Yards.

Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones, and Allen McCallum discussed the Orioles’ offseason, focusing on the hiring of Craig Alvarez as manager and the team’s payroll strategy. They debated the need for significant roster changes, including potential trades of young players like Colton Cowser and Jackson Holliday. They emphasized the importance of adding a legitimate bat and improving player development, particularly in hitting. The conversation also touched on the broader organizational issues, including the role of analytics and the need for a more introspective approach to player and team performance.

• [ ] Reach out to potential free agent targets, including Zach Eflin and Cody Bellinger.
• [ ] Evaluate the team’s strength and conditioning program and make necessary adjustments.
• [ ] Consider trading some of the team’s top prospects, such as Jackson Holliday, to acquire a veteran outfielder or starting pitcher.
• [ ] Foster an environment where the team’s young players feel challenged and motivated to improve.

Maryland Crab Cake Tour and World Series Discussion

• Nestor Aparicio introduces the Maryland crab cake tour and mentions his crab and shrimp omelet.
• Nestor discusses the Ravens game and the possibility of talking about the Orioles’ new manager and players.
• Nestor shares a personal anecdote about watching the World Series game while falling asleep.
• Nestor expresses concern for Jamaica, mentioning his love for the country and its people.

World Series Game 6 Recap

• Nestor and Allen McCallum discuss their experiences watching Game 6 of the World Series.
• Nestor shares how he woke up in the middle of the night to check the score and watched the game with his wife.
• Allen McCallum talks about his girlfriend and how he gave up spending time with her to watch the game.
• Both Nestor and Allen discuss the excitement and tension of the game, including the 18th inning and the final home run by Freddie Freeman.

Orioles Offseason and Managerial Changes

• Nestor introduces the main topic of the discussion: the Orioles’ offseason and the hiring of a new manager.
• Nestor mentions the hiring of Craig Alvarez and the need to discuss the new manager and players.
• Nestor and Luke Jones discuss the importance of the new manager and the potential impact on the team.
• Nestor expresses frustration with the lack of transparency and communication from the Orioles’ management.

Craig Alvarez’s Background and Expectations

• Nestor and Luke Jones discuss Craig Alvarez’s background and his experience with Tampa Bay and Cleveland.
• Nestor and Allen McCallum talk about the importance of hiring a manager who can relate to young players and foster an environment of success.
• Nestor and Luke Jones discuss the need for the new manager to bring in fresh ideas and challenge the current management.
• Nestor expresses skepticism about the current management’s ability to make necessary changes and improvements.

Orioles’ Payroll and Market Position

• Nestor and Allen McCallum discuss the Orioles’ payroll and their position in the market.
• Nestor mentions the need for the Orioles to spend more money and make significant improvements to their roster.
• Nestor and Allen discuss the challenges of being a lower-middle payroll team and the need to find a balance between spending and efficiency.
• Nestor expresses frustration with the lack of fan engagement and the need for the team to do more to connect with their fan base.

Player Development and Performance

• Nestor and Luke Jones discuss the performance of the Orioles’ young players and the need for improvement.
• Nestor mentions the need for the new manager to evaluate players and make necessary adjustments to the coaching staff.
• Nestor and Luke Jones discuss the importance of player development and the need for the team to focus on improving their minor league system.
• Nestor expresses concern about the lack of progress from some of the team’s top prospects and the need for a more introspective approach to player development.

Offseason Moves and Trades

• Nestor and Luke Jones discuss potential offseason moves and trades for the Orioles.
• Nestor mentions the need for the team to trade some of their prospects to acquire more established players.
• Nestor and Luke Jones discuss the importance of adding a legitimate bat to the lineup and the potential impact on the team’s performance.
• Nestor expresses frustration with the lack of significant moves and the need for the team to be more aggressive in their offseason strategy.

Managerial Role and Responsibilities

• Nestor and Luke Jones discuss the role and responsibilities of the new manager.
• Nestor mentions the need for the new manager to build a strong coaching staff and evaluate players.
• Nestor and Luke Jones discuss the importance of the manager’s ability to manage people and work in step with the analytics department.
• Nestor expresses skepticism about the manager’s ability to make significant changes and the need for the team to be more introspective.

Player Performance and Health

• Nestor and Luke Jones discuss the performance and health of the Orioles’ young players.
• Nestor mentions the need for players like Colton Cowser and Adley Rutschman to improve their approach and performance.
• Nestor and Luke Jones discuss the importance of player health and the need for the team to focus on improving their conditioning programs.
• Nestor expresses frustration with the lack of progress from some of the team’s top prospects and the need for a more introspective approach to player development.

Future Outlook and Expectations

• Nestor and Luke Jones discuss the future outlook and expectations for the Orioles.
• Nestor mentions the need for the team to make significant improvements to their roster and coaching staff.
• Nestor and Luke Jones discuss the importance of adding a legitimate bat to the lineup and the potential impact on the team’s performance.
• Nestor expresses frustration with the lack of progress and the need for the team to be more aggressive in their offseason strategy.

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

Orioles offseason, Craig Alvarez, manager hiring, player development, payroll strategy, bullpen rebuild, starting rotation, trade prospects, Colton Cowser, Adley Rutschman, fan engagement, analytics philosophy, player performance, pitching injuries, roster moves.

SPEAKERS

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Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones, Allen McCallum

Nestor Aparicio  00:00

Welcome home. We are W, N, S, T, am 1570 tasks in Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive, and I am positively breaking them down. We got the Maryland lottery scratch, also from the Ravens. Got a lucky batch. Tammy won two bucks. We’re out here at State Fair. It is the Maryland crab cake tour. I did have crab and shrimp in my omelet this morning, so I have given my crab, but I have lunch mates here today. And if you are listening, before the Ravens game on Thursday night, Luke and I will have full coverage. If this appears to you after the Ravens win or lose in Miami or Lamar plays or doesn’t play in Miami on Thursday night, I invited Alan originally to come out and be my guest at State Fair, thinking like, we could talk about who the manager is going to be, and we’ll be in the middle of the World Series. It’ll be like Game four, but we really need to talk about the World Series, other than it’s the World Series. But what’s really important would be who the Orioles are going to hire to manage and what players they’re going to get. And I thought, Well, that’s good. And then I thought, Well, I wonder if Luke could come out if I don’t do this too early in the morning. And then I realized like, Well, John Harbaugh runs the ravens, and there’s only three days, and they do have to get on a plane on Wednesday, and they’re not really going to practice anyway, and they’re going to lie about whether Lamar practiced or not anyway. I wonder if I could get Luke out here. And I punted this thing a whole hour to give Alan an extra hour to sleep, because Alan never sleeps, to give Luke an extra hour of sleep, because if you listen to the station, you know he never sleeps, and I fell asleep in the third inning of game three of the World Series on make it far at all. Oh, wait. Oh, it gets better. It gets way better. My wife and I are on the love sack with the cat, and we got Redskins, or excuse me, guardians, commanders and chiefs, and the baseball game, and it was two to nothing, and then my dude hit the big home run, and it was four to two. And I looked at her, and she looked at me as like, the fourth inning, and I’m like, it’s not gonna make it. I’m not gonna make it, and I don’t want to, well, did you know? And I don’t want to fall asleep in this chat. Well, I’m way more concerned about Jamaica. And anybody knows me knows how much I love Jamaica, how much time I’ve spent in Jamaica, how many people I know and I love in Jamaica, who are. I can’t even talk about it, so it so it really bothered me. Jamaica was bothering me on Monday more than anything. And I went to bed and I woke up because I’m 57 years old. I’m having my colonoscopy later this month at GBMC, and I pee a lot because I’m 57 and I’m a dude. And I went to Yogi yesterday, and I hydrated and I woke up. And this is God’s honest truth. I woke up at 2:20am and like every good American, I reached for my phone and I reached for my glasses, and I fed the cat and I went to pee, and when I came back, I just checked my phone to set my alarm. So I wake up, and I thought, I wonder who won the game, right? And I looked down, literally peeing in the dark on my phone, and it said five, five in the 18th inning. And I looked at it was 2:28am, or whatever. And I’m like, I’m like, like, refresh, refresh. I’m trying to hit the phone. I’m like, That can’t be right. And I’m looking at the time, and I’m like, well, it might be the 18th inning. So I walked back into the into my office, put the television on, and it was the 18th inning. And then I heard out of the bedroom, I heard my wife was coughing. I wouldn’t like, Hey, you wake Well, I am now. I said the baseball games in the 18th inning. It’s five, five. You want to get up? She got up. We watch the end of the game. That’s great. Ready? Freeman hit the home run. She went

Luke Jones  03:52

back to bed. You were refreshed. Unlike the rest of us,

Nestor Aparicio  03:54

I brewed a pot of coffee. I’ve been awake ever since. How you boys. I

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Allen McCallum  03:58

was in DC when the game started, and I was with my girlfriend, and at nine I was following the game, and at nine o’clock, I was helping her run an errand, and she said, What are you looking at? If I’m looking at the world look at the World Series game. She’s, Oh, you, you, you gave up a World Series game to spend time with me. It’s like, yeah, that’s like, I’ve given up a lot of comments to be with you. And she’s like, I’d be impressed if it were the Orioles. And like, if it were the Orioles, I would, I would be with I would not be here. But I was like, you know, I’m driving home, and I’m like, Well, I’ll see the last few innings of the game, whatever, and I’ll be completely honest when I want the Dodgers to win. And when Kirk hit the home run, I turned the game off because it’s like, because I literally turned on the radio and he hit the home run a minute later. It’s like, I need to turn this off right now, because this happens to me a lot, like it’s. The I bring bad sports superstition So, but I’m like, when I get home watching the game, and for split second I actually thought, because, you know, I’m a huge cinephile, there’s a movie I wanted to see him, like, I could catch this last bit. Is this the Late Show? This movie? It’s like, no, I really want to go and watch the game. So I get home and it’s like, the eighth, seventh or eighth inning, and the game keeps going and keeps going. And I’m like, This is unbelievable. And I looked at my phone and it’s like, well, the

Nestor Aparicio  05:31

12th inning thing was crazy too, with the bases loaded cursor all deal, right?

Allen McCallum  05:35

What wasn’t crazy about that game? I literally could have gone in the movie, gotten home and still seen the last like the

Nestor Aparicio  05:43

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whole night’s sleep. I got six hours of sleep. Woke up and, you

Allen McCallum  05:46

know, and caught the end of the game. I’m running on three, about two hours and 45

Nestor Aparicio  05:50

Luke, you look dead, like your eyes, I mean, like I’m looking thanks. I’ve never seen you look more tired. And I’ve done all night radio with you. You’re, you look tired. You tired.

Luke Jones  05:58

I’m it’s probably more from the previous night, to be honest. Okay, see, because ravens home game is a one o’clock game. I’m not saying it was, you know, prime time, and I literally got no sleep, but was up late watching the Pittsburgh Sunday night game. Was doing Raven stuff. Tried to do a Ravens,

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Nestor Aparicio  06:13

we really do Monday morning. Monday morning. Oh yeah, we started

Luke Jones  06:16

our real time, 545, I tried to re watch a couple parts of the game. I tried to, you know, and then I did all my my 12 thoughts at Baltimore positive.com I did that much earlier in the day Monday than I normally do. I rewatched the game. The Ravens were back at it on Monday with a walk through and hardball talking and open locker room. So it got to be about 915 last night, I saw the Kirk home run, and I think I fell asleep 20 minutes after that, right? Neither woke back up on and I was on the couch. At that point, I woke back up. I definitely saw Kershaw come in and strand the bases loaded. And I was so happy for that, because despite his postseason failures over the year, I’ve been a big Clayton Kershaw guy, and I knew quite possibly, that could be the last time we see him on the mound. So that was cool. And then I think I fell back asleep in the 14th I had gone to bed at that point and then woke up as Freddie Freeman was circling the base. I fell asleep multiple times and woke up and I

Nestor Aparicio  07:19

said, anybody see all six

Luke Jones  07:22

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like, it’s funny, before we started this conversation, and Alan and I were sitting over there, and he asked me, So was that a great baseball game or just a really crazy example of futility? And I said, probably a combination of both, just with the modern game, but some incredible relief stints in that game. I mean, some, some incredible plays, the Guerrero Oh, no questions. No question. Yeah. I mean, I mean, that was, I remember the Dodgers Red Sox game that went 18 innings in, what 2018 that one I watched. The entire thing speaks to the fact that was seven years younger and had more energy. But, but yeah, I mean, incredible,

Nestor Aparicio  08:00

Marathon things I’ve ever done like that. I mean, just all nighters. I remember that Braves game that played all night. I did four in the morning. The Braves are playing the Mets or something. 2530 years ago, I came in and I watched the baseball game at 420, in the morning, or whatever. You know, like I I have done that, not even West Coast games. But I must say that when I looked down on the phone and saw five, 5/18, inning on my phone, crazy at 230 in the morning, and I’m just up like in the middle of the night, and I’m like, this will never happen again. So I’m glad we led with that. But the real neat story was, I invited Alan out here to State Fair for the crappy cake tour today, thinking, like you and I would do a little breezy baseball managerial how the offseason would look, and then I wanted to invite Luke, and because of scheduling in the game this week, Luke, we made it happen, and we leave with this World Series thing. But like, in the last 48 hours, yours hired a manager, so like, I have a different conversation with both of you, and I’m blessed to have you together, because I figure I’m gonna get out of the way and let you guys argue, because you started, you did 20 minutes of radio over there before we started. We really, so I don’t really that pisses me off. Mueller were here, I would have broken you two

Luke Jones  09:06

up. But what do you want us to do? Stare at each other? Yes, talk about something else. By the way, that was the other thing that why I got no sleep on Sunday night. The Orioles, you know, news broke that they were hiring Craig Albert Nestor like, hey, you know something else to add?

Nestor Aparicio  09:18

Well, I’ll start with you, Luke, you and I’ve done 45 minutes on this bench coach from Cleveland who’s got the Boston accent. Feel like I’ve learned a lot about him in 3648 hours, whatever it is, he’ll do his own tour here. Alan, oh, you know, I’ll bring it to you. And somebody said today, who you haven’t by him? Like, well, I’m having my baseball report of the first 15 years of my career and the baseball report of the last two decades. So, like, there’s a lot of baseball going on here in institutional knowledge. I can’t imagine a conversation that the audience and not to patronize the audience or you guys, but sort of like, I am interested. We haven’t hired a manager here since they sucked the last time there’s a new ownership. There’s real questions about Mike Elias, I think, and about the operation in. General that he’s the one picking the groceries. But this is all real, and it’s all here, and they’re going to move forward and probably spend a lot of money in the next 90 days. I think right, the better they need to look.

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Allen McCallum  10:12

I’m not going to lie. I only thing I know about Craig Alvarez is everything I’ve learned in the last 3648 hours about him, his pedigree makes sense. And he, as Luke and I were talking about over there, I mean, I all Luke said it, and I agree with him that, you know, coming from Tampa, cutting your teeth as the bench coach in Cleveland, that those are good, good places, because these are places that are not going to that don’t spend on the highest payrolls. And they play the base the play the game. Well, they play the

Nestor Aparicio  10:46

game, right? Well, more instructional organizations, right? They over achieve

Allen McCallum  10:50

Absolutely. And you know, if you’re anybody that thinks the Orioles should sign Shohei Ohtani, or should have signed Shohei Otani, I mean, that’s just ridiculous. So, but they shouldn’t be the least payroll as well. So if you are realistic enough to think, okay, they should be somewhere in the probably the lower middle, they’re gonna have to do some things differently than New York or Los Angeles

Nestor Aparicio  11:16

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or so we’re now lower middles where we think we are. That’s a far cry. Where we’re 30 years ago with the blue you know, where the first time the Blue Jays were good and we were aspiring to be that kind of franchise. And again, I’m gonna hear Katie Griggs in a couple hours. She doesn’t know it yet. Hi, Katie, and I’ll hit get to hear what they have to say. But is that what they’re gonna say? I don’t know. We’re a lower middle payroll

Allen McCallum  11:40

team. I don’t know. I don’t know if that’s where they should be. I don’t know if that’s where they’ll admit that they are, but I’m pretty sure that’s where they think they are. That’s where they aspire to be internally, in terms of the way they handle their business. Well, you

Nestor Aparicio  11:55

learn about where how they’re going to shop for their

Luke Jones  11:56

groceries, right? Yeah, and it fluctuates. I mean, I’ve used the St Louis Cardinals as a rough example the last few years. When you look at where the Cardinals have been and look they’ve been as successful as just about anyone over the last 25 years. You know, farm system payrolls have rarely been in like, the top five or the top eight, but they’ve been as high as, you know, top 10, you know, top nine, and some years they fall back in their 15th, right? I mean, I don’t think that’s terribly far off from what Alan’s saying in terms of what they could aspire to be if they are run very well, and some of that is also when you are as I’ve said for years, this isn’t about spending money just for the sake of spending money. They spent money on Tyler O’Neill last winter. That was abysmal. How that time? I always

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Nestor Aparicio  12:39

go to the other side and see how they’re going to generate the money to pay for the money. And that’s, that’s that’s about how piss poor. They’re wrong. That’s part of it. And literally, that’s where Katie Griggs comes in. That’s where losing a half a million fans last year. That’s where having no caravans or offseason things that people want to be involved in, or hiring a manager nobody’s heard of and not even bringing them into town and doing it sort of, then they sort of break the baseball rules this week by, like, announce,

Allen McCallum  13:03

yeah, you’re not supposed to do that. Like, that’s but you had demand for but they had to move because they hit one of nine teams trying to find a manager. Some

Luke Jones  13:11

other teams have announced as well. I think, I think they would say that’s why we’re having the press conference next Tuesday, as opposed to, you know, this Tuesday, this past Tuesday.

Allen McCallum  13:20

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So look, I don’t think that this is a club that I’ve never believed they needed to spend the most money. They need to handle their business. Well, sure. And the reality of the situation right now is that if you wanted them to get a veteran manager, who did you want that to be? Do you want that to be Bob Melvin or Schulte or any guys. Maybe skip Schumacher was a guy that you would have been interested in, but he was never coming here because he was in waiting in Texas. Other than that, everybody else was a retread guy who, yeah, has experience, but hasn’t really done anything, you know, one here and there. So if you, if you’re selling to me, this is the next big guy, I’ll accept that. It also plays into this narrative about Elias that he doesn’t necessarily want anyone to challenge his authority, whether that’s true or not, only the shadow knows, but ultimately, they got a guy who people in this industry seem to believe in, and I think is likely to be able to relate to young players who are trying to make their name in the game, many of whom who have a chance to be superstars, but almost all of them took a significant step back in 2025 on the on the baseball field, and need to figure some things out.

Nestor Aparicio  14:45

Yeah, when everybody in the organization took a step back this year, and we can almost agree, and Luke, you’re, you’re, I mean, I don’t know who took a step forward. I mean, maybe Jackson holiday, he’d say half a step. But that wasn’t a gigantic step. It was a step. But, yeah, I mean, so from an. Instructional stand.

Allen McCallum  15:01

Trevor Rogers, took a step forward,

Nestor Aparicio  15:02

yeah, okay, fair enough. I don’t know that you’re looking to the manager for that as much as what kind of staff he would bring together, right? Luke,

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Luke Jones  15:12

well, I mean, I think the manager is certainly a big part of that. I mean, I think

Allen McCallum  15:17

he needs to foster an environment where people can and feel like they can thrive,

Luke Jones  15:21

and this is where. And just to piggyback on what Alan was talking about, about Albornoz, and what I liked about it, and I was in a vacuum. Yes, I would have loved them to have brought in this experienced manager, but I don’t know who that was. I mean, I said it to you on the air a couple days ago. I would hope they, you know, if they found out that Joe Madden was interested in managing again, I’d hope they’d at least make a phone call. Yeah, same with Bruce, but

Nestor Aparicio  15:43

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they did not call Joe Madden. I know that for fair and I’m but I’m just saying what I have inside information. Sure. That’s fine. I asked that question, yes, and that’s fine.

Luke Jones  15:52

But to me, at least reach out to some individuals like that. Not even so much, because you expect them to come manage for you, but get some ideas like, go talk to other people. And the thing I like about this with Albert Nestor, it’s not someone that has ties to Houston, right? If they had hired, and I’m just saying this off the top of my head, I don’t even know who the individual is off the top of my head, but if they had hired the bullpen coach of the Astros back in 2017 then I’m starting to question, are you guys really being introspective and looking to change things and evolve and tweak and bring in fresh minds and fresh eyeballs on what you’re doing? Or was it all about the injuries and things that run its course with Brandon Hyde and you think, well, everyone will get healthy and we’ll be fine, right? And that’s, I think, the last thing that anyone wants to hear when you’re coming.

Nestor Aparicio  16:40

I don’t know if Elias could be introspective with a real media member to say what he really thinks. Sure. Where were the breakdowns? What went wrong? Why did you really fire Brandon Hyde, right? Was it public sentiment? Or do you think he couldn’t do it? You think he lost the room? He was your guy. You threw him under the bus and you hid for three and a half days. So Alan, I’m on the rampage. Of Elias would not have been my guy picking the groceries anymore, based on what happened here this year and his his role in it, you know, for me, but Elias, to me, is much like har ball in the football organization. He’s untouchable right now. He is clearly one over Rubenstein. He’s won the war. He’s the survivor in this. Elias is going to be running this organization for quite some time. I think,

Allen McCallum  17:25

let’s be clear about something. Okay, and there was 2025. Was a significant failure. We all know that. No doubt. I heard another host on another radio show yesterday say there’s been no success, success here. And I was like, what before 2025 they took a gigantic leap to win 83 games three years ago. And then two years ago, they won 101 games out of nowhere, out of nowhere, and hadn’t spent that much money at the time, and then last year, even completely collapsing in the second half of the season, they won 91 games. So, I mean, I understand that recency bias clouds perspective, but they won a lot of games for three years consistently, and you can’t discount that, and Mike Elias was the architect of those things. Now, can I give you reasons why I would let I might have let michaelias go? Sure, but to say every, every aspect of the organization, took a step back, and you’re blamed for that, and he was, but I’m going to discount everything that happened in your tenure before that is, is feels irresponsible to me, feels short sighted to me. And I think that one of the things that gets organizations sports, what have you in trouble is when people don’t look at the full picture of something.

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Nestor Aparicio  19:04

And I don’t know that David Rubenstein can grasp the whole picture of this, and certainly the Angelos family was in no position. No one’s ever grasped all this. We spend more time grasping all of this and talking about all of it from an institutional standpoint, because I’ve been grasping it and speaking about it every day of my life for 35 years, which puts me way ahead of Katie Griggs, way ahead of David Rubenstein, who doesn’t even like baseball. So the Elias thing to me, keeping him there institutionally was the easiest thing in the world to do. And just like keeping da Costa and har ball, it makes the shot his job easier, because the minute that he throws horrible and the cost out, he’s now got to come in, unless he’s gonna let Sashi brown pick the next football guy and do it right. So the same thing is true for the baseball side. Is that Rubenstein wanted to be in front of this, have his own bobblehead, make commercials, be famous, all of that stuff, right? He doesn’t really want to make it the. Decision about anything baseball oriented, because he’s not, he’s not of any expertise to do that. Well, I think when he came, somebody’s gonna have to hire the next Mike Elias, that’s going to be the owner, and that’s been part of the problem with Peter up until the point where, where McPhail came in and really knew what he was doing.

Luke Jones  20:17

And I would even say, and look, I have no fond memories of the Angelos family and the Angelos regime. They hired michaelias. And to Alan’s point, we can talk all we want about the last 18 months, and I’ll even go back to the trade deadline in 23 John with that, but I would say they hired someone who knew what this organization needed in terms of analytics, in terms of building an academy in the Dominican, in terms of player development, in terms modernizing it, modernizing it, and streamlining everything, after years and years of single day doing different things, from double A and then getting a triple A. So there was a lot that needed to be done there. But to Alan’s point, and I’ve talked about this a lot with you, you, and I’ve talked about this a lot the last few years, you do get to a point when you were rebuilding, building to something, you established something that was very successful, beginning second half of 2022 into 23 through the first half of 24 and now you hit whatever, whatever metaphor you want to use, a roadblock, whatever you however you want to categorize. And this year, or it was a train skids, right? I mean, it was very bad this year. However, how are you going to adjust? Are you going to look at this and continue to do the same things and not be introspective and have, frankly, an arrogance to what you do and think, oh, okay, it was just injuries. It was just this. Was just that. This certain player didn’t do this, this coach didn’t do that. Or are you going to say, hey, we need to pivot here. We need to revisit things. It doesn’t mean all is bad to Alan’s point, and I wholeheartedly agree with his sentiment, but you need to make some changes here, and you need to adjust, and you need to tweak what you’re doing from the top on down, right. Even the minor leagues, there were guys, there were success stories, but there were other guys who took steps back. I mean, their first round pick from last year, which might just be, I mean, he was woeful in Aberdeen, right? So, and they knew he was gonna strike, and he was a late first round pick. Like, you know, he’s not a top five pick, but that’s why I do like this higher from the standpoint of you have brought someone in who doesn’t have any apparent ties to Mike Elias. I mean, again, if I’m really missing something that I plead ignorance on it, and I’m haven’t slept the last couple days. But why everyone

Nestor Aparicio  22:27

went and got Lee Mozilla brought him in completely from the outside, or Mike Hargrove completely. And, you know, like oil and water, just in a general sense, I don’t know you’d like to think that they did a lot of praying here. And Elias just fired a manager and just fired another manager, right? Fired his assistant in manzalino too. Right? He’s really fire managers that he would look at this and say he needs to do things differently too. Because if you’re going to bring somebody in that’s going to say black, when you say white, East, when you say West, you better be ready to handle that. Yes, my vibe is that Hyde was much more of a lieutenant and really worked to Elias to the point where it cost him his job too, you know? I mean,

Luke Jones  23:08

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and I would say this in any sphere, you’re not going to necessarily hire someone that’s going to completely 100% be the opposite of what you are, right? But you want someone that does have ideas. I would have loved to have loved to have been a fly on the wall during their interview, or whether it was zoom what however they did it and said, What do you think about what we’re doing here? What do you think about our players? What do you think about our process based on what you’ve gathered? Because I’m sure you’ve done your homework talking to people around the league. What do you think’s wrong with Rush what’s wrong with us? Right, right? Well, hey, how about that? No, seriously, this guy’s a long time catcher. It is kind of funny, since you mentioned rutsman, and I just bring it brought up, and being a catcher, there are elements to his background that remind you of Brandon Hyde. I mean, quite

Nestor Aparicio  23:50

frankly. So I would also say, hey,

Luke Jones  23:53

Brandon Hyde, until this thing wasn’t working anymore, was the right guy at his flaws. But how could you argue with how he did over the first five years of his time.

Nestor Aparicio  24:02

Here, could you fire him on a Saturday morning, Tuesday night, in the middle of a losing streak, and make him

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Allen McCallum  24:09

this game when you’re in a free fall? You right? People want to see something happen. And he was, he

Luke Jones  24:13

was and as I said at the time, the way they came out of the gate last year was a very poor reflection of their coaching staff, yeah, in terms of how sloppy the player and that was something. Look, it’s not as and we were talking about this. I mean, Cleveland, they defend. Well, I’m hoping Craig Albert has has some elements to some ideas that could get this team playing better defense more consistently. They have the athletes to be better defenders than what they’ve been so but that’s a perfect example. But to go back to Hyde, and while I certainly didn’t blame him, and I don’t know if I’d even have him in the top three or top four of their problems, last year, he wasn’t providing solutions. Clearly, there was no longer a response for whatever reason, whether it was him, whether it was the players, maybe Albert Nestor and this underdog kind of guy is going to come in and be like, I. Don’t care if you guys are top 100 players, like, let it’s go time, like you saw what we did in Cleveland. Like we won games with, okay, Jose Ramirez is a future Hall of Famer, but, like, you don’t recognize half those names, so I’m hoping there’s some of that at work here. But I love that he comes from Tampa Bay and Cleveland, two classic overachieving franchises that have found successfully without spending money. Now I’m hoping this ownership group will find a happy medium there that okay, it’s not going to be the Dodgers payroll or the Yankees, but it can certainly be more than it’s been, and if you can marry that with tweaking some things, improving some things, in terms of your process, I’m hoping you’re on your way to being

Allen McCallum  25:40

better. So let’s talk about process for a second, because of all the things that we can identify across the seasons, and this is an analytics philosophy, the idea that that batting average doesn’t matter anymore as much as on base percentage and ops. I believe that that’s ridiculous. I believe that the game is fundamentally about guys that can hit. Yes, you want a complete player who can get on base and work account and have a good at bat, but I believe that the Orioles have spent too much time built building a team around the idea of ops with guys who

Luke Jones  26:29

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chasing slug, chasing slug. I mean, I really, and I think

Allen McCallum  26:32

you can identify that even in the seasons where they were winning in the last four years, that that was an issue. And I think that we are what seeing the game slowly come to the realization that, Oh, guys actually do need to be able

Nestor Aparicio  26:47

to hit the Blue Jays if our team’s gonna strike out 12 to 16 times a game, that’s just in a general sense across the board, you’re not gonna get a lot done because you’re not gonna hit that many home runs.

Allen McCallum  26:58

I believe that that there are got players on the Orioles right now who are capable of being good hitters. I’m not talking about everybody hitting 300 but, but getting to a place where batting averages is a larger factor, but that’s going to require having better at bats. In a general sense, better bats change in philosophy, a change of philosophy and approach is something that I think this organization dearly needs to shift to, and I’m hoping that in the self evaluation of the last 10 months that has been something that they’ve had, they’ve they’ve come to realize and Need to when bring putting together a coaching staff when teaching in the minor leagues that this is something that they will incorporate, because that is something that dearly needs to change. I know Colton cows there has a section and he can do to raw I mean, people love to move and all this Colton cows are, can’t hit, can’t hit.

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Luke Jones  28:01

I brought that up, which is the contrast of what he was supposed to be coming out of college. I get it no college, but his profile changed a lot.

Allen McCallum  28:07

Adley rutschman was a player who, at his best wasn’t necessarily a power hit, he could hit home runs, but was hitting the ball the opposite field, getting on base. Feels

Nestor Aparicio  28:19

like all the enthusiasm has gone out of his game. And I don’t talk about that much with baseball players, as far as like, getting out of bed, having confidence, showing up, feels like we got a different dude here two years later. And I don’t know whether Brandon Hyde or Tony mancilino or Mike Elias, but Luke, I put it by the way. Luke Jones is here. Alan is here. We’re at State Fair. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery, and our friends at GBMC, I do have scratch. Also the Maryland lottery. Will be at Coco’s next Wednesday. Craig Albert, Nestor will have his press conference by then. I will also be at Pizza John’s next Friday in Essex. Look, I did want to ask you this from I don’t have a press pass anymore. I know you guys don’t, don’t know that, but I don’t get talked to these guys. But whenever I’ve talked to modern coaches or modern baseball people, even minor league managers, people that I know well and intimately, they all tell me how much this has changed. What is his job? What’s you know like as the modern I always see the manager in that Johnny Oates, Davey Johnson, kind of way, and I remember the way it used to be. I know they’ve been to some degree, minimize the ball. You’ve called it middle management, middle management, but middle management, that wouldn’t be John Harbaugh situation on the football side. But I do know this about John Harbaugh, everything in his fiefdom outside of Chad steel, who runs the company, are his employees. That means the training staff. That means the knucklehead from Pennsylvania that got them all covid. That means the mayor, who’s the kicking Mayor of New Jersey, who you know, Randy Brett, like all of those guys, they all work under John. Yet John works under Eric, but not really, because in football, John’s really. Holden is Eric’s daddy. Eric would lose the job before John in football, and once Eric loses the job, he never gets a job again, because that’s football, once you lose a I mean, so it’s a weird industry. The baseball things change so dramatically because of analytics, which makes Buck Showalter like Trump hiring a liberal because he doesn’t speak analytics, like literally, a different side of a political fence to say we can’t have Joe Madden because he and Mike Elias would be oil and water, even though they’re both good baseball men.

Allen McCallum  30:34

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Madden has a huge personality

Nestor Aparicio  30:36

that you don’t want that, right? Okay, fair enough that you don’t want to sell tickets here. So you don’t want a face for

Allen McCallum  30:42

your tell you why they wouldn’t have called it because,

Luke Jones  30:46

how many managers sell

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Nestor Aparicio  30:47

tickets? But anyway, but selling the confidence fair enough of what we would have messaging. Here’s where I am, I am, I am, ignorant to all of this is probably the 1057 hosts are, as well as to what is really if I’m sitting with the new manager for three hours and saying, What is your job? What do you have to do right now? Build a staff, get instructors, evaluate players. I’m going from the top, but I still have a weird time with we’re going to pimp him as the manager. And oh, it’s a big deal. It’s a big dude doesn’t even make out the lineup card. Dude doesn’t even decide who’s coming into the game or going out. All of that is as predetermined as me sitting at a Vegas blackjack table and just playing the book, literally just playing the book, right? Like, I know there’s not a book, but I know the job has changed since Brandon Hyde was hired, certainly since Buck Showalter was hired, that job has changed dramatically. I want you to set what that job is, yeah,

Luke Jones  31:52

oh, it’s easier said than done. You do today, literally, I think you know you’re evaluating players. I mean, a big part of this is you’re managing people, right? I mean, as much as you talk about your analytics department, as much as you talk about sabermetrics, computers, everything that is driven by data, you still have the human element here, and

Allen McCallum  32:14

talking about Richmond and sure, all the things physically that he hasn’t done, we don’t know what the mental side is, and a manager has to so

Luke Jones  32:21

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a manager and the coaching staff worth its salt is working in step with an analytics department. You’re trying to filter what’s noise or not going to be helpful for players and and this is also which players can process the most information. You have some guys that, and you guys can attest to this. This applied 30 years ago. Earl Weaver was an analytics guy. It just wasn’t called that, right? But you have some players and who can process a whole lot of information. They love data. They love numbers. They love knowing what, what the probability is that a pitcher is going to throw this pitch in a three to count, with two, with men on base. And I would think some of the angle, and some don’t care, and some guys are sea ball hit ball, and that’s changed. Like, I don’t think it’s that’s kind of an extreme way of putting it, but you guys want, okay, what’s the most important thing that I need to know that’s going to truly help me and the rest of it, I can’t be thinking about.

Allen McCallum  33:18

You’ve got to know that there are guys playing the game that are hearing all this stuff and confused about what they’re supposed to do. I

Luke Jones  33:27

so I think the coaches, the manager and by extension, the coaches, they’re doing a lot of that work. They’re managing people. They’re trying. They should know their players better than anyone, in a way that you might have tracking data that, yeah, we can measure someone’s sprint speed. We can measure their release point and say, okay, something’s off here. Are they tired? Is there a potential injury? So that there is, there are tools that help to inform you there, but it’s still you watch these guys every single day. You should know how they move better than anyone. I can tell you just from my I’m a nobody. I can tell you from having watched ravens players over the years and seeing them practice and being at training camp day after day after day, I can tell you a lot of times he’s limping a little bit, or he seems a little out of sorts. And that’s just on a very simplistic level, a manager should be able to do that kind of stuff, right? And so I think you know, to answer your question, how much leeway is Albert has gonna have to hire a coaching staff? Is it going to be a collaborative approach? I mean, I’m

Nestor Aparicio  34:33

you generally, I would think if you turn down Miami in Chicago because he stunk last year, and you’re taking this gig, you’re coming with some you know, this is the way I’m going to do it. And I don’t know where the where Elias, where his job lets off, or the managers job lets on. And I don’t know what the managers do anymore. They’ve been so de balled in the way we talk about them as middle management. They don’t make decisions. So I. I can’t Gage. A, the importance, although I know it’s important, yeah. B, because I’m watching the World Series right now. But B, where that, that thing that we want him to get out of rushman, get out of Kobe mayo, put into westburg, instill into holiday Yeah,

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Allen McCallum  35:19

I don’t think they need to put anything to West bra. They need to keep him in a coffin. That was some oxygen so we stay healthy. That was

Luke Jones  35:26

one of my big things, like, what are you doing from a strength and conditioning standpoint this offseason? Is that the manager is that, Michael, that I don’t know, manager plays a part in that, but that’s your you have strength coaches, you have conditioning programs, you have a wait

Nestor Aparicio  35:41

room, what the manager plays a part in if he’s not going to pick any of the groceries, because he’s not, he’s not picking the free Elias is going to sign in

Luke Jones  35:49

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1975 Earl Weaver would tell Hank Peters who he wants on his bench. No, that we’re that’s we’re so far beyond.

Nestor Aparicio  35:56

So I guess my real understanding is, if I really were having a beer that’s in the game is saying, like, you took the job on Sunday. What are the first 10 things you need to do? Pitching coach, hitting coach, minor leagues. You know, who’s my manager here? Where? Who are the instructors there? What relief pitchers am I going to have understanding all these guys they just traded for this summer. Of some of that’s going to be trade bait. And I think the real story moving off the managers onto Elias, because he’s front and center. Now manager ain’t doing anything. We’ll see the manager Valentine’s Day down in Florida, right? This is now upper management. It’s about the pocket of erigetti and Rubenstein and whatever philosophical recruiting and needs that Elias feels like they have bullpen, outfield, young players. They feel like they want to deal maybe they want to deal westburg. Maybe they want to deal rush. I mean, let me say I would hope that you are sending me text. Luke W NST, text brought to you by Cole roofing and Gordian energy that shocked the hell out of me, that I look down and see trades and be like, Whoa. Now I feel like I need that, and I’m not buying a Birdland membership, right? But I don’t know what the fan base here is that. Are we coming back 90 days from now and saying, Mayo, you’re gonna get 400 at bats, holiday, your second base gunner, your your shortstop westburger. We’re giving away all the jobs, right? I mean to me, if I’m Abernathy, Aberdeen has taken this gig. Albert Nestor, I don’t know how many jobs I even have on the roster, because we have so many prospects and potential that I don’t know where Tyler O’Neal

Allen McCallum  37:42

for completely move off the manager and what he’s gonna Sure? I’m sorry. I hope the at least in the top three things he does is that he calls or goes to visit his players, and he gets to know them, sure and as intimate away as it can be allowed by law, so that he knows, you know, emotionally, mentally, who they are. Their wives are, right? So that when they get to spring training, he’s got sort of a road map for what happens on the field. I hope that he’s doing that and beyond that. Yeah, there’s no question. Elias has a ton of work to do. Has to completely rebuild the bullpen. He has to figure out his starting rotation. You’re right this. I mean, I guess one of the blessings and the curse of this team for the last three years is that, look to me, even before we got to 25 the biggest indictment I had of Elias is that I feel like he made mistakes in terms of the transition from his veteran, particularly outfield, to bringing in the young guys. I’m not telling you it was going to be easy, but it didn’t work. I’ll say it.

Nestor Aparicio  38:48

We had all of these great players. We had Mullins, we had all these guys. And now we look up and it’s like we don’t have any outfielders that we get. Who are you counting on next year? It to 65 and hit 20 home runs, the Gary 80. I’m just talking about a nick Mart, a case here, right? Who? I don’t know. I don’t know what I’m getting out of any of these guys. I

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Allen McCallum  39:07

think the most I was impressed by Dylan beavers. I’ll say, I’ll say that, if I’m the Orioles, I hope someone said to Jeremiah Jackson, I would like you to take ground balls at first base in the offseason. It’s interesting to see, to see what what he looks like, because I’d liked, I liked the bats that he took. He started hit a couple of home runs, and after that he dropped off. And also, he’d been around the league, and I’m sure they developed a book on him, but I really liked the bats he took and his approach at the plate for a good portion of the second half. That can be deceptive. Sometimes not a big sample size. I get it. Lot of

Nestor Aparicio  39:40

our fans ever saw him play because he turned it off before he even he even got here. Well, they missed they missed him because same thing with Trevor Rogers. He was out pitching, and he was a lot of stadiums empty, and people were out to lunch, and football had started, and whatever they did have some bright spots in August and September, is all I’m saying. Yeah, the

Allen McCallum  39:55

approach is, is a huge part of what I liked about both of the players I just mentioned. Um. And results were varied at different times, but I liked their approach at the plate. I look, I know what I think they should do, at least from an offensive standpoint. I doubt if they’ll do it, but I have an idea in my head what I think they should do, but I think there are a couple of things. I mean, I think they’re going to give the best to Kobe mayo. I think Ryan mountcastle is likely gone. I look, if it were me, I would include Colton cows are in a package. I don’t I actually don’t doubt that he could figure it out. I think he needs to be somewhere else to figure it out.

Nestor Aparicio  40:39

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We use somewhere else to figure it out.

Luke Jones  40:42

They got a new manager. And I mean, a big part of this, I and, but you he has,

Allen McCallum  40:48

Elias has been wedded to his players in a way that is

Nestor Aparicio  40:55

maybe unhealthy. I don’t know. I don’t agree with that, because he sours, or they made deal. He didn’t have any

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Luke Jones  41:02

problem going to get but Stowers was in one never had a run. They believe, and that’s what she was,

Nestor Aparicio  41:12

a fourth outfielder at the photo, man, they’ve cursed at a chance. They’ve given Mayo two chances. Cowsers is on his chance. I mean, all of these guys have had at bats, and had 100 at bats to come up and play out of need or out of necessity or out of want. Some of them got blocked a little bit early on. Cows are being one of them by but Mullins and those guys, so all the blockings out of the way. Now that that’s why I’m saying about the edge of the roster in saying, Are there going to be no surprise moves? You’re dealing cows, or I’m dealing cows, or so here’s what I think they need. They have to deal somebody to get something, otherwise they’re going to play these guys the Orioles

Allen McCallum  41:55

need. In my estimation, they need guys who can lead and who can hit period they I think they need a a young veteran, right handed, hitting, center fielder, who has some leadership qualities. I have looked everywhere I can find, and I don’t think that guy exists out here. So here’s what I think they should do. I think they should sign Bob I think they should go hard after boba

Luke Jones  42:20

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shed really, I do who I was not expecting that name. I think,

Allen McCallum  42:24

I think that they should put him at second base and do one of two things, either move Jackson holiday to the outfield, which means he would need to start learning that now, or trade him for something they need to reach Google’s name has been out there. I’m not sure. Why do you want to get rid of holiday you don’t like him as second base. I like Jackson holiday fine, but they have to find a way to get pieces. The deal they should have made last year was Garrett crochet, and he’s gone, right? And there’s, there’s no, I can’t, I don’t think there’s a Garrett crochet out there, which means they’re probably gonna end up signing. It wouldn’t surprise me if Dylan cease ends up here, because he had a down year, and he he throws innings, and that’s useful, although he’s not what his pedigree said he was going to be three years ago. I think resigning Zach Eflin is makes a lot of sense, because he had fiscal issues. But everywhere else he’s been, he’s been solid, is he not? Is he top of the rotation for

Nestor Aparicio  43:20

and they can’t sell me on that. No, they can’t sell me on.

Luke Jones  43:24

Hold on. Yeah, hold on. I have viewed it through the lens of their rotation right now, because I feel very good about Trevor Rogers, right? I feel very good about what I saw from Kyle Bradish, right? They need another guy to go with him, preferably above those guys. But if they can get another guy to slide in and you tell me those your top three, Zac EFL would be the guy that I’m acquiring for the back end of my he’s your

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Nestor Aparicio  43:45

Gibson at the end. And let’s be

Allen McCallum  43:46

clear about this, gotta be healthy. Dean Kramer is gonna be on the list for the rotation, and should be, but the forearm thing that happened to him at the end of the year that he came back from scares the living daylights out of me, and it would not shock me if three starts into the season he’s lost for a year and a half. So I think that they need to be on the forefront of that kind of thing. And as we know, pitching injuries just happen.

Luke Jones  44:14

I mean, that’s the thing. Nothing would surprise me with pitch so at your health. So then, how do

Allen McCallum  44:18

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you invest? They need to. So they need to overload, what with, with arms, some veteran and, you know, obviously there’s some God, I hope Grayson Rodriguez can actually throw 120

Nestor Aparicio  44:29

Well, the Corbin burns thing is the cautionary tale of right? Cautionary tales, because they, you know, I don’t want to say he was signable last year, because I don’t think he wanted to play here for whatever reason, family, Arizona, whatever. But if he had been amenable, they would have signed him. They would have the new owner would have been okay with that. I think Elias issues that right. Like Elias fundamentally, even given a blank check with Mr. Money Bags, would still tend to me being a Dundalk I would operate on. Discount platform more than shopping top shelf. Well,

Allen McCallum  45:03

let’s be honest, they have a ton of people they need sign in the particularly out of the bullpen, and they need to sign pitching. So, I mean, they need to spread their money out. Yeah, and Zach Eflin is affordable, and I think he’s a guy that is that has a better upside than what we saw in 2025 just trying to be practical and realistic

Luke Jones  45:24

guy you could get on a one year deal. I mean, I given how this past year went for

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Nestor Aparicio  45:30

that’s who they’ve been the one year deal. Thing is the way that they want to do business, right? They would sign three guys, right?

Luke Jones  45:37

The they’re gonna need to sign some people to multi year deals. That doesn’t mean the one year deal is going to go out of vogue for them, nor should it. Quite frankly, they’ve, they’ve had some one year deals that have worked very well, others that haven’t worked well. And a lot of people would tell you, in any sport, there’s really no such thing as a bad one. Well, the

Nestor Aparicio  45:52

Japanese, 35 years old, he did

Luke Jones  45:56

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okay. I mean, in a vacuum, if they hadn’t had all their other issues with the pitching. Had been the number five starter. It would have been, I would have called that fine, right? It wasn’t. He didn’t wow me, but he wasn’t terrible. Was a $15

Nestor Aparicio  46:08

million number five start. He

Allen McCallum  46:10

had a run from May to the All Star break, where he was he was pitching to an era, era under four. The beginning of his career in Baltimore, and the last six weeks in Baltimore, not so good, right? But he had a significant chunk of the just, maybe just short of half the season where he was okay due to what you expected, yeah, but yes, he gave it to me, home runs, and he was behind the eight ball a lot. Would I bring him back? Probably not, but it’s, it’s, I wouldn’t call that one you’re signing a failure,

Nestor Aparicio  46:42

but it was a bit of a cop out.

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Allen McCallum  46:45

That is an acceptable description of, well, you won’t

Nestor Aparicio  46:49

if you’re looking for not having cop outs this offseason. That’s why I’m throwing all of this or this menorah against the wall, because, I mean, I keep thinking, to not have a cop out, You better start dealing some of these prospects and doing and deciding which one you want which

Allen McCallum  47:03

so instead of half playing all of So then let me tell you why I believe Bob, she’s the right guy for the Orioles. Because, first of all, he’s as quality hitters you’re gonna find on the market. He’s a young veteran. He has experience in playing in the American League East.

Nestor Aparicio  47:19

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Can you pay him more than Toronto is willing to pay him, or is Toronto not

Allen McCallum  47:22

willing? Toronto? Toronto has a big payroll, and they’ve and they’re spent out. They the Guerrero is was a huge contract, and I don’t know that they can, they can pay him what he’s what he’s worth.

Nestor Aparicio  47:34

Well, this is the real story for where this franchise is, is some outsider might come in and get gunner Henderson’s money before he gets it here, because he’s not willing to get it. And to a man, all three of us would look and say, Well, I don’t know. You feel good about 400 million for him right now. I

Allen McCallum  47:48

don’t know. The other piece is that I don’t necessarily want to deal Jackson holiday. That’s not but you need to free up some guys that you can move them to get other pieces that you need, whether that’s moving holiday to the outfield, as I suggested, which I don’t know whether it work or not. It work or not, or or moving him in a deal, it’s something to get a big piece that you’re going to need, and I’m thinking probably starting rotation, you need to give up something that somebody wants Jackson, and

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Luke Jones  48:15

just to use it as an example. And then I’m going to give you another reason why. And I’m not even talking about holiday, but just in a general sense, holiday, I mean, you would get an absolute haul for him, yes. I mean, I don’t even know, because it’s not something that was necessarily what I was thinking about. But I mean, that would be an absolute haul. I mean, when there, when there was talk about Tarek skoubal Two trade deadlines ago. I mean, he was a guy would have given him up. I mean, and

Allen McCallum  48:45

let’s be they. I also would go after, I would go after Kyle Tucker. Kyle Tucker is not coming here. Yeah, so I see what, whether Cody Bellinger would be able or not.

Luke Jones  48:55

It’s funny because he’s a guy that I brought up. And look, he’s, it’s another lefty bat. I would like to have another right handed bat in this lineup. You know, this isn’t a direct comp. What would Harrison Vader cost? I know he’s had some injuries early in his career. He’s played 140 plus games last two years. He’s probably not I mean, and his stats are up and down, but he had a good, great defender. Yes, he hits left handed pitching. I mean, the Phillies loved him. I mean, he just he tweaked his groin right at the start of the postseason, and it was a bummer for them. And you mentioned Bellinger. The thing I like about Bellinger, I mean, he could play all three outfield spots, first base, I I think I’m in agreement with you. I tend to think that they’re going to give that to Mayo, primarily with the idea that the Scio is going to be in the mix there as well. It’s not going to be a full 160

Nestor Aparicio  49:46

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Well, this would be speak to where they are going to spend money or not. You know, you got to spend a big money on a second baseman, right? I mean, these are unorthodox. This is what I wanted to do. They need an outfit talking about something other than we’re going to come back with all of our players. Years and buy one pitcher and two relief pitchers and some washed up outfield. And I don’t want

Allen McCallum  50:05

to wash the battlefield or which is why I think it makes sense to get a piece that really

Nestor Aparicio  50:10

washed up outfielder last year

Luke Jones  50:12

turned it to be the best fight. And look I throw. I mean literally, I’m spitballing more than anything with talking about HARRISON BADER, because I’m thinking he would not cost a ton, like it’s not going to be a six year contract.

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Allen McCallum  50:22

And if you look out there for right handed hitting quality outfielders who can play center field, they’re just it doesn’t exist. So

Nestor Aparicio  50:29

who’s at bats go away if you sign him, then

Luke Jones  50:33

who are the bats going to right? I don’t know. You tell me. Well, they have a need there. You can’t pencil in Tyler O’Neill to be 150

Nestor Aparicio  50:42

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even though you own 60 million, right?

Luke Jones  50:45

If they were trying out a team right now? Okay, sure, cool. That’s one more reason to fire Elias, then beavers,

Allen McCallum  50:50

cowser O’Neal, Jeremiah Jackson. Who might Who am I forgetting for the outfield

Luke Jones  50:57

right now? You know Jeremiah Jackson first? That’s not a thing. I need to see more of him. And I mean, cursed dad is a thing, but, but, yeah, cursed dad we need. Is he a good thing? Okay, you have three guys right now that if you’re not trading anyone, yes, Colton cows is going to be on the roster. He’s going to play, whether he should play every day, whether he should only play against right? Anders, that’s up for debate. Dylan beavers, unless he has a miserable spring. There’s no reason that

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Nestor Aparicio  51:22

you think he’s 450 at bats next year. Sure. I mean, I thought that he’s gonna hit what and do what? How am I supposed to know Nestor, what? Boy, the expectation if you’re gonna give 450 at bats, he’s gonna be a 260

Allen McCallum  51:34

I want Dylan beavers to get on base. He’s gonna get on base. Has an on base percentage of somewhere between 320 and 330 I think that’s a good year. More realistically, probably around 310 but I want him. I said the same thing about Ali rutsman, and I’d say it to him, I would say to both of them, I want you to get on base. Yeah, I don’t care how you get on base and but, but find, find a way to get on

Luke Jones  51:58

base. So, so to continue what I was saying, you add another outfield for that mix, then you’re not completely forced to play Colton cows are every day. Let him earn that. You’re not forced to play Dylan beavers every day. If Tyler, Tyler O’Neal is kind of like Grayson Rodriguez at this point. Yeah, right. If he’s healthy, he’s gonna be in the lineup guy, guy has power. Go. He hit, hit for power. This year. He just only played 50 games, right? But go look at how many home runs he hit, like you can see what they liked in a vacuum about it. But so you absolutely need a another regular outfielder every day implies 162 games. To me, the idea would be, who’s a quality. You add a fourth guy into that mix, and Jeremiah Jackson come in there too. But to me, Jeremiah Jackson, I kind of in my perfect world for him. He becomes a new Ramon Arias, right? You know, probably more outfield, you know. But I’m hoping he can play second play short, but I’m hoping he can play some third base, maybe play a little bit of sex. Start two days a week, get a couple hands, and you’re gonna need that, you know, especially if Jordan westburg can’t stay healthy for 150 games, which he hasn’t the last two years, but I want to go back to something you mentioned, and then we’ll wrap up, because you got to get them. No, no, it’s fine, because he mentioned about a trade. There’s also another element to trading. Yes, they have traded Joey Ortiz, they traded DL Hall, they got Corbin burns there. Yes, they traded Kyle Stowers and Connor Norby. But we know who the young Corps is. Like the guys that have played the most. You know, kirstad was on his way to being part of that this year, and then all of his issues, so I’m putting him to the side. To me, there is also a psychological element to me of shaking this thing up a little bit. Yep, and let’s be clear, I’m not trading Colton kauser Out of anger. I’m not trading any of these guys out of anger that I’m mad at them, or I’m mad at our position, if I’m the general manager. But to me, and I talked about this a lot with when we were talking about the new manager, I want these guys to get uncomfortable a little bit. Yep, I think there. There’s been this long term. I mean, from the moment Adley rutschman was drafted, anointed. I mean, anointed, the face of the franchise. Go down the list of these guys, their lineup. You know, I I always think back to baseball America, how they would always put in the lineup. They project what your lineup is going to be four years from now. And these guys have been on that list. We’re on that list for such a long time. There’s something to be said to me of rattling some cages a little bit here, and this is part of what I said about the manager, like whoever their manager was going to be. I wanted them to come in, and doesn’t mean that they have to be an a hole, but to come in and be like Guys, you were a top 100 prospect. So what Colton cows are just see what you hit this past year. Did you see what your strikeout rate was? You’re striking out like late career Chris Davis, like, and obviously you’re not gonna say it in those quite harsh terms, right?

Nestor Aparicio  54:50

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But, but you’re no longer the fourth pick in the draft, and my father hitting two if these guys are, they too comfortable the other there was, there was some conjecture. About that

Allen McCallum  55:00

there was nobody chasing any of these guys. So this was the shaking things up a

Luke Jones  55:04

little bit as well.

Allen McCallum  55:06

When we were talking about Elias, this was the thing that I was going to mean. It’s the ultimate sports metaphor. You’re the top draft pick. Everybody loves you, from from high school to college to the draft, you’ve never been challenged, and then you get to the place that you’re supposed to be, and you you struggle. I’ve said to you for 25 years, I believe in apprenticeship, because apprenticeship teaches you a lot, and sometimes failing is part of it. And I don’t know if anybody knows this, but baseball is a game of failure, and I think a lot of these guys hit. I mean, two years ago, when holiday and mayo and cursed dad were blowing up triple blowing up the minor leagues. I mean, just blowing guys away for the first two months of the season and baseball teams winning 700% Why aren’t these guys up here? They should be in the lineup right now. The same thing about the side and he struggled. Jackson holiday should be, it should have been an open day lineup. And these guys have come up in like, do they know that they’re playing baseball? Because sometimes I can’t tell, and I think from Alliance to the assistant GMs to the players here at the major league level, all these people are in the middle of a wake up call where this is harder than it looked. This is harder than it was when you were when you were a non professional player, and at this moment, you need to figure out how much you want this and what is the best approach for you to achieve what you want. That’s for everybody. And as you’ve been talking about, I’m glad that they brought someone from the outside who hopefully can tell some truth to power, and that the players, after experience, you know, Gunner Henderson was like, I want to, I want to be in a place where I can win. Well, you need to do better, people to tell all your guys, need to do better, and then maybe you win.

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Luke Jones  56:59

And I’ll add to that, the same applies for everyone within the organization, your analytic your analysts, your player development, people at every level where it’s like guys, we kind of had this thing going, and it felt like a well oiled machine back in 2020 when I say 2021, 22 I’m talking about more so the farm system, but we clearly have hit some major bumps. You know, that’s that’s that’s the nicest way to put it, get our manager. So, yeah, we we need to adjust what you thought was what we need to do from a hitting standpoint, we need to adjust. It doesn’t mean we necessarily need to throw it out 100% but we need to adjust here. I mean, you talked about batting average. I just want to piggyback how getting the walk rate up, yeah. I mean, for all, all it’s been chasing. I mean, Colton cows are not making other pictures work. A little bit philosophical. You know, Colton cows has been the case study that you and I have used a lot, but go look and I understand his first year. I mean, when he first got called up, it was, you know, he had, what, 60 plate appearances in 2023 struggled mightily. However, just looking at the peripherals, his strikeout rate was 28% which not saying that’s good. He had a 16.9% walk rate. Now that was noisy, but the following year, strikeout rate, 30.7% walk rate fell to 9.3% this year, 35.6% strikeout rate, walk rate, 7.5% so in this process of chasing slug and chasing slug and chasing slug, he’s swinging and missing more, which not a big shock, right? Not saying it’s good, but you can at least see that. But it’s also resulted in his walk rate

Nestor Aparicio  58:35

crater, or whatever they say, with rushman two years ago, too. Sure where you know, yeah, trying to

Luke Jones  58:42

as much as that. First half of 24 went well for him. I think that put him on the path to what ended up happening. I really do. And obviously now there’s health concerns this past year. I mean, it’s got to get better shape. You know, you had two oblique in years. You got to get better shape. I’m not saying that means he’s fat or, you know, I’m not doing anything like that. But when you have soft tissue injuries, and that’s why there’s

Allen McCallum  59:02

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a median, to me that Richmond’s on one side, Tyler O’Neill’s on the other. And they need to meet sure Richmond is in better shape and Tyler O’Neill

Luke Jones  59:10

is not pumps. You know, 100 fewer

Nestor Aparicio  59:13

do a little more Yoga, you know, like if do it with me, if you want body fitness, but,

Luke Jones  59:18

you know, but, but you know. Again, we’re using these examples, these are things they need to tweak and change. And I hope pitching is obvious. I really hope there’s a concerted effort to go add at least one very legitimate bat to this lineup. I think that would, I think that would do worlds for these guys as well where it’s like, hey, they’ve invested, and they brought in a grown up, an anchor, you know, a grown up, they needed more so than Tyler O’Neill, right? What Nelson Cruz did 11 years ago. I’m not saying that guy specifically. You know, although Nelson Cruz, I feel like he could still hit, probably today, but someone along those lines that could be added to the mix, I think, outfield, but like, like he said, Bob a shed, not that he’s like, this. Chris. His old bet, but he’s better. So I pitching is obvious. I looked at a top 50 list, or probably 30 pitchers on there that the Orioles are one of the eight teams listed as a potential, no dove. Of course, they need pitching. I’d really, I really want to see them add a legit at least

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Nestor Aparicio  1:00:17

one, see if they actually get whoever their target is, and we will never know that, but right now, as they sit and say, here’s the pitcher, here’s the outfielder, here’s where we’re gonna get it, here’s who’s expendable, and then how they get that map between here and, let’s say Super Bowl. Yeah, you make that happen. Luke Jones is Baltimore, Luke, he will be in Owings Mills. We will be covering the Miami game on Thursday night. And Allen, of course, always on the beat with baseball with baseball with us. Good seeing you guys, good seeing you together. Glad we made the effort. I know it was a little bit of a morning thing, especially after eight and a half hours of baseball on on Monday night, there will be a World Series winner before the week is over. And when we gather next Wednesday at Cocos, we will have that I have a raven scratch offs giveaway. We’re going to give them away to everybody here at State Fair in Catonsville. My thanks to Evan and everybody, Tammy and the whole crew, for making it happen for us here. My thanks also to city Atkinson for stopping by. We had Dr Sunil does Gupta join us here from UMBC, talking some poli sci. We did a whole political thing the first hour, politics, community, baseball. I’m done for a while. I’m gonna watch Thursday night football, sit around on Sunday as the weather changes, and pray for Jamaica. We are W NSD am 1570 Towson, Baltimore, the Maryland crab cakes tour, signing off from State Fair in Catonsville. Stay with us.