All baseball fans know No. 1 starters don’t come cheap on the free agent market. The Baltimore Orioles couldn’t retain the services of ace Corbin Burnes, who went “home” to Arizona for six years and $210 million. Luke Jones and Nestor discuss what comes next for Mr. Rubenstein and Mike Elias on their path to better pitching in 2025.
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Orioles’ offseason needs, particularly the loss of Corbin Burnes to the Diamondbacks. They debated the team’s strategy, emphasizing the importance of a reliable number one starter. Jones highlighted the challenges of acquiring top-tier pitching without long-term contracts, citing the potential of players like Luis Castillo and Dylan Cease. Aparicio criticized the team’s communication and fan engagement, noting the 10,000 empty seats at the playoff game. They also discussed the importance of maintaining a strong farm system and the potential impact of injuries on the team’s performance. Luke Jones and Nestor Aparicio discuss the Baltimore Orioles’ need for pitching improvements, particularly after missing out on Corbin Burnes. They emphasize the importance of acquiring a starting pitcher before spring training begins, highlighting the success of minor league signings like Albert Suarez. Jones acknowledges the potential of Tomoyuki Sagano but notes he isn’t a replacement for Burnes. They stress the urgency of finding a dependable starter within the next month and a half. The conversation also touches on the fan base’s frustration and the need for proactive moves to address the team’s pitching needs.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Orioles offseason, Corbin Burnes, pitching needs, free agent signings, fan expectations, starting rotation, injury concerns, farm system, player development, communication strategy, fan engagement, payroll strategy, new ownership, player acquisitions, playoff performance, Orioles rotation, pitching needs, spring training, Corbin Burnes, Tomoyuki Sagano, Albert Suarez, Japanese pitcher, fan frustration, offseason moves, replacement options, minor league deals, pitching injuries, dependable starter, Ravens playoffs, WNST service
SPEAKERS
Nestor Aparicio, Luke Jones
8
Nestor Aparicio 00:02
Welcome home. We are W, N, S T am 1570 Towson, Baltimore and Baltimore positive. We encourage you to follow us out on our YouTube channel. Make sure you’re checking us out, out on social media and as always, set a spot on your dial in your car, your radio. You will hear us anywhere the beltway travels, and certainly up to Bel Air and down towards Savona Park and out toward Westminster, and certainly in Dundalk and Towson and all around downtown as well. At am 1570 26, years into doing this, we are about to move into a new year. Luke Jones is up. He’s struggling a little bit with his voice. It’s coming together. He feels better than he sounds. And I waited through the weekend. I waited through all the Ravens nonsense and Brown’s game on Saturday and all that to just take a time out from all the football conversation, all the purple madness. I have my curio wellness orange Baltimore shirt on. We’re going to talk free agents. We’re going to talk money. We’re gonna maybe this will be another little letter to Mr. Rubenstein or to Mike Elias or to Katie Griggs. But the baseball gods were awakened. And Luke, you and I, full disclosure, let’s go full shoot here. They’ll do a little backstage, you know, kitchen chatter. You and I always have to figure when we’re going to do these conversations about baseball before a weekend after a weekend before Christmas, after Christmas. And I even said to you, especially on a day when the Ravens play on Christmas day, on a Wednesday, we get up early on Thursday and work. I said, you know, we could talk some baseball, but I have a feeling that something will happen before Monday. Let’s just wait the weekend before we like talk because, like, the Orioles might sign somebody, or they might not. Um, if I were a betting man and you could bet on anything, ask big Poppy, I would have bet against them signing anybody. And I’m beginning to get the Confederate money feelings about what this is, and I don’t need them to spend stupid money. I mean, come on, man, we’ve been at this a long time, but at some point you have to have a number one starter. They went and found one last year that maybe they could or couldn’t sign. And I’m sure, I have a feeling I’ve seen your social media stack, that maybe I know where you’re headed with this, or where people are with this, that if Corbin Burns was unsignable, but the fans thought they could sign him, and they didn’t.
Luke Jones 02:18
Well, I mean, the fans think a lot of things that you can’t go off of what the fans Oh, always go off of what the fans want to do. Look, I mean, I’m not going to sit here and try to act like I ever thought Corbin burns being resigned was the end all be all. You can probably go back and find conversations going all the way back to May or June Nestor, where I expressed reservations about just signing any pitcher to that kind of contract, right? We know the history of that. They’re littered, littered with moves that look really good for maybe a year or two. In the case of Jacob deGrom going to the Rangers, didn’t even get that far.
Nestor Aparicio 02:56
But citing the day you signed, disappointing in the retrospective, sure, especially for old guys like you and me, they already gave me the Get off my lawn moment on JJ wattle Christmas. I you know when you’ve been around it this long, I go back to Matt Young. Nobody remembers him, but that was the original sunk money the Seattle Mariners 30 years ago. So like, I get it, and we all go through Chris Davis. So in the modern era, we get it, but there is a point where, like you better replace those innings. That’s where he is,
Luke Jones 03:26
8you know, no question, I hear you, and that’s where I am at this point. And look, the sense I got throughout this was that they were wanting to resign him, right? I mean, I don’t think this was make a half assed offer to make it look like you tried, but knowing you’re never going to get them, I don’t think it was that at least entirely, right? Well, we’re
Nestor Aparicio 03:48
used to that here, though. I mean, let’s no question disclosure. Mr. Ruby fine, of course we slur and Katie bridge, who none of them know their arm from their elbow about us, this place, our city, they’re never going to know. So they should really want to listen to people like me and you and people that have been around it. There is a point where the disappointments of the past are brought with the fan base. And the fan base is not insignificant. They are the customers. They’re the ones who you are asking to fund a $210 million picture as well as a $400 million shortstop. He’ll be a third baseman by the end as well, and gunner Henderson. So whatever you sign these guys for seven, 810, year deals, 15 year deals. Juan Soto, I can sit here and foam at the mouth and be a fan. I can be a journalist. I can be a cheapskate. I can be a union guy. I can play the Boris role. I can play the Curt Schilling role. I can play any of the because I’ve heard it all, all my life. At some point you haven’t won a World Series and been in a World Series since 1983 it’s 2025 you’re a new owner. You put yourself out in front of this. You talk about being money bags and all of that. Why don’t you? You know, if I. Corbin burns could be Lord, lure him or move on, you know, and I’m not right. Freaked out about Corbin burns, and I’ll even buy and again, they banned their broadcaster 15 months ago, and they promoted the guy to run the network who did it, fold it. But all that being said, the information that comes out after this, where they get Bob Knight and Gail to tweet that the Orioles were in, there was an Al East team might have been a blue jay in, and that John Heyman is going to so, I mean, it’s, it’s the same five people. And no offense, I love Ken rose with all I grew up with him. They all get used in the way Peter King got used on the football beat to sell some story to a fan base that may or may not be true, but in the end, they don’t have a number one starter right now that that I’ll keep going back to that. You could put all of that and the baseball conversation it, it always makes me shake my head, because, like, I can’t believe anything Mike Elias tells me I don’t even have press pass. You know, I mean, like they won’t even answer my questions. How do they expect me to vouch for their integrity on information after a disappointment of whatever kind there is, including one run and two games in a playoff scenario. But nonetheless, for me, just if you’re going to be honest, be honest all the time if you’re going to be forthcoming. Give an honest man a press credential. I don’t have the ability to ask. So I am, by my nature, by my nature, with any of them skeptical, I have every reason in the world to be skeptical. Every oral fan should be skeptical of anything in an organization led by Greg Bader, and that is lost for 40 years that has underperformed by ever any measurement, by any measurement, this has been an underperforming entity, and now that there is new leadership, new ownership, that the same old, tired Well, Bob Nightingale said We tried hard, dude, how about you guys just front up and be good citizens and figure out what the strategy is, and tell us what the strategy is. So we’re not all fighting amongst ourselves all Christmas weekend about a billionaire’s money and whether we could afford it or not, or what Corbin burns really wanted for his family in Arizona, which is a nice way of saying you’re a bridesmaid. At some point, somebody’s got to take the ball on opening day, and they need that kind of performance. Doesn’t have to be now. They didn’t get burns until January. And to your point, we now move into the wolf. You want a number one starter, you better start thinking about giving up holiday or like a whatever, to be get a scuba or to get a whatever, because it’s like quarterbacks, and we spend an hour talking about that, it’s just really hard to do to get great pitching, and it’s really expensive and it’s very fleeting in all of sports because of the injuries in the shoulders. It is the it’s can be fool’s gold. And I understand that, you and I understand that more than anybody. But what’s the plan for? What? What’s the plan for this year? That’s if it’s because it’s not that, and it never was going to be that, apparently. Well,
Luke Jones 08:10
I mean, that’s, that’s the big question right now. And look, you know me, Nestor. I’m especially in a sport like baseball, there’s no equivalent to a franchise quarterback in baseball, every batter has to wait their turn to bat, right? You can’t, you can’t bat 20 times in a game. In the way, only 11% of the thing, whether you want to be or not, right, even when you’re a starting pitcher. I mean, you go once every five days, and that’s even the very best, right? I mean, the very best, some guys go every six or seven days at this point in time, and, you know, with off days and six man rotations and all that. So I’m always going going to view things through the aggregate, right? I’m always going to view things through, okay, to your point, and you made this point, and I agree. Where are those 32 starts going to come from? Where are those 196 innings, or whatever it was going to come from? I mean, as more time goes on, and I don’t know this for certain by any stretch of the imagination, but as more time goes on here, if you want my cynical viewpoint and outlook on where they stand right now, it’s I really wonder if they ever acquire Corbin burns. Had Kyle Bradish his elbow not started barking in January. That’s That’s my cynical, doubting, half empty, and that’s
Nestor Aparicio 09:28
not, um, that’s not you being a jerk. That’s just being reality, just,
8Luke Jones 09:34
and I don’t know that, let me be clear. I don’t know that, but I’m just saying, as time has gone on and and piecing together, they acquired burns on February 1, when they reported in mid February that Bradish had had a PRP injection and wasn’t going to be ready for the start of the season. Everything at that time was said that Bradish told them at some point in mid to late January that his elbow was bothering him so and. Anyway, that’s last year. How are you going to go about doing this? Because for me, it’s not, it’s not even about, okay, he signed for six years, two ten million there was deferred money. There’s an opt out after two years. I mean, you mentioned it, the Bob nightingales and John Heymans of the world have already said, and they didn’t say specifically the Orioles, but they said that there were offers out there that were better than the the offer that Arizona gave burns. And Burns is a Scottsdale resident. His wife just gave birth to twins over the summer. We remember that he was on paternity leave by all accounts. And this wasn’t new. It wasn’t specifically the Diamondbacks, but it was said by a number of credible industry, industry sources and media types that burns preferred to be on the West Coast. I mean, that was talked about a lot multiple times. So if we’re to take all of that at face value, and it truly was a case that he valued being closer to home. He valued the tax situation in Arizona compared to other places, you know, Baltimore, wherever. All of that, my question would be, if you weren’t going to offer something to really blow them out of the water in terms of besting what he was looking for from the Arizona Diamondbacks, or if it ended up being the San Francisco Giants or whoever, and that’s fine. If you don’t want to do that, that’s fine, then you need to pivot right and you look at where they stand right now, most of the free agent market has been picked clean. There’s still Jack Flaherty, which, you know, we saw that worked two years ago. I’m not sure either side is enthusiastic about that possibility. You have 40 something versions of Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer. You have some other guys out there that are good arms, guys that would slot somewhere into their rotation, like an Andrew Haney, for example, but he’s certainly not a number one. You know, you’re not talking about someone like that. So you look at the free agent market and you say, Okay, well, you know, they already signed the Japanese pitcher, Tomoyuki Sagano, who, as I said to you a while back when we talked about it in passing, in a vacuum, I like that move. I think he’s got a profile that he could be, he could end up being a really good number four, number five, back half of the rotation, starter, right? And, I mean, we saw them do this with Albert Suarez to to a different you know, that was a minor league deal, but it’s the same. It’s the same idea. You’re off the beaten path here. So I, I’m fine with that. I think that move is fine in isolation. I’m fine with signing Tyler O’Neill in isolation. But when you look at where they stand right now, and you made the point and you took the words right out of my mouth, they’re three months away from playing a game that champ that counts, you know, Ozzy Newsome, famously and Eric da Costa to this day, constantly talk in the off season, when they’re asked about, you know, what’s going on in free agency, or losing Player A or Player B, or trading away this guy, or having to release this guy because of the salary cap to play till September exactly, and and there’s merit to that. To your point, they acquired Corbin burns on February 1. So I guess where my concern is, and this is where we’re looking at things, in the aggregate and in the big picture is, if
13:21
you don’t want to spend big money on a free agent starter, fine. Look, there’s a lot of evidence that suggests that’s not, especially for a team that’s not going to have an unlimited payroll, relatively speaking, that’s not the best way to go out business. But okay, how are you going to do it? You’ve already acquired Corbin burns, which, hey, for a one year rental. It worked great. I don’t think Joey Ortiz is going to be a 10 time all star. I don’t think DL Hall is going to become an all star, left handed starter, let alone whether he’s even going to be an all star caliber closer. So that deal, I still sign off on that money’s worth exactly, regardless of signing him or not. No, I’m just talking in terms of it only be in one year? Yeah, you keeping him was going to be 200 million. People knew that that was gonna be tough, right? I mean, his arm fell off and he stunk. Well, sure, sure. The other part of it look that’s always a possibility with these guys. I mean, everyone’s durable until they’re not anymore, or they’re
Nestor Aparicio 14:12
Hadley rutschman, and they just stink for a while, and then you have to reevaluate. I mean, 150 million in rushman this time last year would have made Steve Martin look like a hero and handing out hats, and he signed the young guy. And now it’s likely, I mean, I’ve been doing this for 40 years, so, like, I don’t want to say something here that’s going to be utterly stupid, although I try. I’m, I’m going to do a comparison with your Japanese picture in a minute, but continue. So, so
Luke Jones 14:41
8you look at this and we’ve seen them go the route of one year deals, right? This sort of started with Jordan Lyles a few years ago. And look, that was a good deal. Kyle Gibson, good deal, right? Gave them exactly what they bark, what they bargained for, right? Exactly what they envisioned. Uh, Corbin burns, you know, they make a trade, albeit a one year rental. But you look at how they operate. And again, this isn’t about Corbin burns for me. This isn’t even about a number one starter per se, but it’s about, how are you going to maintain enough pitching over time if you’re not going to spend big money on multi year contracts, which, hey, again, if that’s your philosophy, fine, I can respect that there are other ways to spend money that will probably have, you know, a better return on your investment, safer investments, all that. So if you’re not going to do that, fine. We have talked about this for years now. They do not draft pictures early, right? They have very much Gone With the exception of Jackson holiday, they have very much gone the route of with their earliest picks, draft college hitters. And look, that’s worked out well for them, right? And they’ve even, even the high schoolers that they’ve drafted, the
Nestor Aparicio 15:49
SIG Nidal thing about whether you play blackjack or whether you play roulette, right? Sure. So actually, you can actually win if you play blackjack. You can’t win a roulette so
Luke Jones 15:56
you have so you have that. And you know, it’s not like they haven’t drafted any pitchers, and the last year or two, they’ve started to invest a little more draft capital in that way, but they’re still not drafting first round pitchers, right until we see them start doing that. Then you look at the draft and say, Okay, well, you’re not really doing that. So then what do you have to fall off on? Or what do you have to fall back on? Well, it’s another Corbin burns kind of deal. Can they go out there and get Dylan cease, and could Dylan cease pitch as well as Corbin burns this year? Absolutely. Dylan cease had a really good year for the Padres this past year, but he’s another rental, so and you’re gonna have to give up. You’re not gonna have to give up Jackson holiday for him, but you’re gonna have to give
Nestor Aparicio 16:35
up to give somebody $200 million or you’re gonna have to play the game, or you’re just gonna deplete your farm system, right? And then we’re gonna have to piece it together and figure out how we get one year Jack Flaherty’s and, yeah,
8Luke Jones 16:48
do it with 35 year old Well, and that’s where, and that’s where. And I brought his name up to you a couple couple weeks ago. I look at someone, and this is just one example there. I’m sure there are a few other pictures that you could put into this category. Look at someone like Luis Castillo, the mariners right. Just turned 32 years old. He, I believe, is signed through 2027 if you look at the breakdown of his deal, he is owed $24 million next year. He’s owed $24 million the following year, and he’s owed 24 in 2027 so that takes him through his age 34 season. Uh, he does have a vesting option for 2028 that I think has to do with innings pitched or time lost, injuries, whatever it is. Point is
Nestor Aparicio 17:32
why the mariners want to give him up. They gotta sign because they can’t hit hitters. It’s signed Santander and go play well,
Luke Jones 17:41
okay, I’m not talking about the strategy of the Seattle Mariners, though, but the mariners don’t spend a lot of money. You know that? I mean, when was the last time the mariners had a top five payroll? Never. So my point is, you can go the Corbin burns route again with Dylan cease, and it might work out really well for 2025 and Dylan sees could pitch well. And you can have designs on maybe resigning them, maybe not. Or you can go the route of someone like a Luis Castillo who, and this would be more in the Zach Eflin mindset, right? I mean, Zach Eflin was acquired with not just the rest of 24 in mind, but 2025 as well. But the point is, with doing this, you go, if you go down the road long enough and understanding that the Orioles aren’t picking in the top five anymore because they’re good, it puts a lot of pressure on your ability to continue to draft and develop and have a pipeline that’s robust enough that you’re going to be able to continue to make trades, right? So I think a lot of this boils down to, and again, I’m put putting aside everything you mentioned about the history of the organization, and that’s all true. Let me be clear, that’s all true in terms of the fans have endured that. So I understand that, 10,000 I understand that, but, but they’re asking the fans to fund it, right? So the fans have to believe in it, to fund it. Sure, I know I do, sure. At the same time, Mike Elias would also say, well, we’ve won 101 games without Corbin burns the year before, and we won 91 games with losing half of our starting rotation and losing our All Star third baseman over the last three months. Yeah. So I hear what you’re saying. At the same time fans don’t run the front office. They just, they can’t. They can’t. And if someone’s offended by that, go to go to an Ivy League school and get your degree and in sports economics and become a general manager. I mean, it’s just, but again, going back to the big picture question here, how are you going to proceed to have that kind of a starting rotation that is going to get you over the hump, because I don’t know if it’s sustainable to just say you’re going to keep trading prospects for pitchers that you have for a year or maybe two, and then they move on. So that’s where you know, and you know you made a point about you. Are going out there and telling people what the plan is. I mean, no teams are going out there and telling you what the plan is, right? I mean, because they’re going to say that that puts them at a competitive disadvantage. However, actions speak louder than words, and when you look at where they are right now in the off season, Corbin burns or not, Anthony Santander or not, Tyler O’Neill or not. Sogano go down the list of guys that they have signed. Yeah, there’s no one who could say right now that they’re better right now than they were at the end of last year, and this is a chance
Nestor Aparicio 20:27
8for them to communicate under new ownership in a different way with the fan base that includes Elias at the top of this. Because Elias,
Luke Jones 20:36
I just don’t know what what team does that though, Nestor, like I hear what you’re saying. And don’t get me wrong, are there ways that they could communicate better? Absolutely, but, I mean, Eric Takashi, don’t even take
Nestor Aparicio 20:47
questions from me. So like that. Let’s start with just the fact that, like, are my questions dirtier than your questions? Are they more Hispanic? Are they more right wing left? What’s wrong with my questions? What’s wrong with questions in general, what’s wrong with front facing on all of this for Katie Griggs and Rubenstein, I just really believed, and call me Pollyanna, and I’ve had some other serious people that I know behind the scenes that believe this as well. So I wasn’t the only one. I didn’t think we were really going back to local street ownership and where David Modell was, versus what Sasha, whatever Sashi Brown is, whoever he is, standing out in front of the locker room like he’s a, you know, a former tight end. Um, that’s all I see with the leadership. And unfortunately, you know, the Baltimore sun’s going out of business. I had the guy from the band banner is eight sports writers in their whole department. So, like, there’s not a you’re in the locker room. You know who’s there? I mean, like, that’s the football locker room. You’re in the baseball locker room too. And that is way more sort of sanitized and homogenized on the baseball side, especially with the 162 games every single day there were 10,000 empty seats at the playoff game. Somebody should address that, and somebody should say, who are the 10,000 people that are going to be there next year? And how do we get them there? And how do we make this better? Not run away from it, not have Friday afternoon press conferences when you’re going to move the fan the stands back. Not go through a holiday season without having a holiday event of some kind, like, like, and signing the Japanese pitcher, but like, there’s no presence to it. And you’ve already said you think he’s a fourth or fifth starter. I’m gonna get to the baseball side of that, but I’m just trying to you’re like, the action speak Latin dude, they had an empty stadium. They got their ass kicked. They all ran away, and they’ve been running for 90 days now. It’s almost next year, like by the time you and I get together, it’ll be another year. So since October, 3, fourth, fifth, whenever they got eliminated, whatever that day was, There hadn’t been much, and that’s not good, that that’s not good business. That’s not good local business, that’s not good. We’re something new and fresh and different, embedded that, you know, maroon came out and did an hour with me. I haven’t done an hour with Cal. I haven’t done an hour with anybody. And if they want to live in the Ryan Ripken sphere, and they want to live in whatever. I mean, 90 a rock doesn’t care about them. Bal, I mean, they’re doing all football. They’re all we’re all purpled up. One of five sevens all purpled up, except when lock and four is trying to shoot bullets at at Mike Elias, because I’m wearing an orange shirt, I had to go to the back of my closet. It’s only been 90 days. But like, do they still play, and what are their odds next year, and who are their pitchers, and what’s up with the Richmond kid, and when spring training, and where do you train? Oh, Sarasota, should we go down? There are the games on what’s going on with NASA? Oh, here Greg baders running, and I’m sure he’ll be real quick to get out in front of it. I mean, like, the football team is trying to win the Super Bowl, so much so that they played on Christmas, which I didn’t approve of, but that’s neither here nor there, and they’re going to play Saturday afternoon. Told everybody a minute ago that they’re playing Saturday instead of Sunday, almost like the baseball people. I’m just trying to get to the point where I’m going to get excited and want Oriole earrings under the tree this week, or whether I’m going to want to give them the Birdland thing that Robbie Leonard came on my air and talked about two weeks ago, who gives him 1200 bucks and figures out what lawyer buddies he’s going to take to the games, and he gets the 25% off the beer, but not anymore, and they’ve taken this away. And that all I hear from fans, and I’m not one of them. Apparently I’m not a real fan. Because ask anybody on Facebook, all I hear from the real fans, and to some degree, they’re right. The real fans are the ones that pull the credit card out and buy things, book trips, make plans, opening day, buy bird land. This are really vested in this. I stand in front of Mike Elias, and these people are stand outside. It to ask questions for them, because they don’t really have answers. And when I see the internet and the social media and the fighting, the infighting amongst the fan base, which we’re a part of, and Jason lafora likes to you know, is throwing the hand grenades at the team that has been in the playoffs the last two years. I mean, for crying out loud, I’m not anti Mike Elias or anti sigma. I’m not anti David Rubenstein. I’m not anti Chris Ullman. I like I’m certainly not anti Katie Griggs. I haven’t met her, but I’m going to be real anti them when they deny me a press credential and act like my questions don’t matter, when they have 10,000 empty seats in the upper deck and everybody on a holiday weekend is scattered on this Corbin burns thing, and I don’t think they’ve communicated well. And if they want to communicate through John Heyman and Bob Nightingale little tweets that we tried real hard, that’s the Angelos way, dude. Do it differently. Just do it differently. I don’t even know what that means. Show me somebody difference running it even when you are disappointed that you didn’t keep retain your number one starter at any cost, because his family wanted to be there. And I’ll buy all of that. But the instant Bucha I call on that is they all live in Arizona. They would all play for the Diamondbacks or for the Padres or for the not the Dodgers. Nobody lives in LA because LA sucks. You live in Phoenix, you play in LA like, I travel. I know these things. So, like, if it’s about getting guys out of Phoenix, I mean, Damon Buford went out there. He never left. I mean, all those guys go out there to Awa Turkey. And I’m telling you, man, if I own the baseball team, we train in its and in Scottsdale, you know, I’m much more of a cactus guy than a spring training guy, because I’ve been out there and I’ve experienced it, so I am not shocked that a guy who’s already got 80 million in the bank, it just took on another 210 million. And it’s just going to say, like I can see the stadium from where I live, it’s 12 miles away. Got a chance to win. I mean, you know, the Orioles thing, it’s cold there, so he played Milwaukee, you know. So, like, I get that you couldn’t marry that girl, you know, I could give you a list of 100 girls I couldn’t marry, you know, when I was young, too, you know, I’d like to just couldn’t. And that’s good. That’s okay. So keep communicating with your fan base. Go on the radio. Be accessible, be fun, be off season. Encourage people to get involved. Tell them about the Birdland membership. Tell them what discounts they can have, like
27:33
sell it you have
8Nestor Aparicio 27:35
empty seats. Nobody believes in you. Nobody believes in the Orioles. Nobody, nobody. Why would they believe in the Orioles give me a reason to believe that sounds like a like a Brett Michael song gave me something to believe in. So, yeah, give me something to believe in. And that’s what I see amongst the haters like me. How can I dare be a hater when all they’ve ever done is lie, hide, cheap state Bucha all the way through. That’s what they’re what they’re known for. They’re not known for 101 wins. They’re known for not scoring runs in the playoffs. And now they’re not known for signing Manny Machado or Corbin burns and they can’t get Anderson Don and they just all of all of the awfulness of Angelo’s gets resurrected when they lose out on $210 million picture that maybe they never had a chance to get. But again, this is a chance for them to show me and everyone who follows me, and everyone who listens to me and you, or anybody that listens to Jason lock and for or listens to Brett Hollander that they’re doing things differently, other than making commercials with the guy that looks like Steve Martin, like, you know, like, show me you’re doing things differently, and give me a reason to believe in what you’re doing, that there is a plan it will work, and where the strategy of your payroll is, Mr. Rubenstein, that that’s the story. That’s the whole story. Because if you’re asking us to fund it, little small market, I’m afraid of going downtown, you know, you like, if that’s then fine, then we’re gonna play with $110 million payroll forever, and we’re just not gonna have good toys. And then people like me, you’re not gonna believe in you to begin with, because you’re not gonna really, you’re gonna be Milwaukee. You’re gonna be like, okay, but you’re not gonna really be serious. And at that point I find others. I’ll go to the beach in the summer. I mean, I like or, though this would be 10,000 empty seats in the upper deck, until you take the 600 million we’ve given you and erase them and turn it into a bar so it doesn’t look like 10,000 empty seats, and they’ll just announce the crowd at 32,000 like I I’m trying to grow it, not shrink it. Luke and. And I’m not being a dick, they haven’t won in your lifetime. So when they do things like this, and they continue to box people like me out, and then as a fan, as a journalist, I’m looking for information, and all I gets whiffs of we tried really hard, because Bob might and Gail said, and I like Bob, and I like John Amon. John Amon, John, even I work together Sporting News. I mean, these are all people I know well. So like, I’m not anti all of that, but I at some point face your customers in this city, in on December 30 and january 3 and January 10, and continue to give them something to believe in that quite frankly, quite frankly, the football team gives us something to believe in. And we could beat the football team up and Lamar and Derek Henry, or whatever, the football team, there’s never a night we go to bed not thinking that they they’re going to win the division, or that they can be the team they’re going to be next week, which is hosting a playoff game. It’s still not good enough, because anyone 15 and they’re not at home, and they probably won’t win the Super Bowl. Probably won’t right right now, but we believe in the football team winning. I don’t know about that with the baseball team. I don’t know. We have any level of confidence, especially because of the big, bad Yankees and how imbalanced that imperfect their their charter is to run baseball. They just need to be better than this. I mean, that that’s all they I’ll continue to challenge them the same way. And I really offended the Angelo’s family by saying, just be better. Can you people be better? Can you people be upfront and honest and out in front of this was 365, days a year, so that when the burns thing happens, you’ve positioned yourself and the situation to be better than whatever the food fight was over the weekend. So I and your voice isn’t so great. So I’m trying to carry you, but you carry yourself now I’m
Luke Jones 31:56
gonna, I mean, I look, you’re still way more caught up in the talking about it part show me, go get a picture. But because, because, here’s the thing, everything you just said, look, there’s plenty of merit to what you just said. I’m not, I’m not sitting here saying I 100% disagree, because I don’t. But you can talk about what you want to do and talk about what you want to do, but if you don’t go do it, all anyone saying this. You guys are just all You’re all talk and no no action. I mean, it’s, you know, no one wants to hear a press conference on why you missed out on Corbin burns. People want to hear what are you going to do? Go do it. Go do it. And they’re, you know. No one says, Oh, we’re going to go trade for Dylan cease. First of all, you’re not allowed to say that. And second of all, why would you say that? Because you’re you’re gonna put strategically, you’re gonna put yourself at a disadvantage. So I hear everything you’re saying. What
Nestor Aparicio 32:48
C straight look like to you, I
Luke Jones 32:49
8don’t know, not, not far off from what the Corbin burns trade was. I mean, Joey Ortiz wasn’t a top 25 prospect in baseball. I mean, DL Hall, at that point was already starting to fall out of the top 100 prospect conversation. Well, the question
Nestor Aparicio 33:08
now for sports radio is, what we have to give up to get a to replace we have to replace Corbin burns. Because if I go to the ballpark on opening day and you’re going to tell me this Japanese kid is a fourth or fifth pitcher, because they’ve given them a lot of money by fan standards, not a lot of money by baseball pitcher standards. But I brought this up Albert Suarez. You compare it in the Albert Suarez, like, in some sort of favorable way, which is good with me, because I’m Venezuela, and I always want to compare people to Venezuela, so in the sense that it’s off the beaten path, not in the sense, you know, Albert Suarez got a minor league contract right here, right now, I’m going to read something to because it gives me a chance to educate myself to here in the off season. If pronounce his name as best you can, Sugano, correct, yes, Tom Tomoyuki Sagano. Tomoyuki Sugano, I’m going to work on that sugar. I’ll call him sugar. That’s it looks like sugar to me. It reminds me of Burt sugar, who was one of my favorite people. If he were to start 24 games this year, appear in 32 maybe do some cleanup, some bullpen, some bullpen, whatever, and he were to pitch to a sub four era, let’s say three seven. Let’s just say three seven. And he were to go, what do you want? 130 innings. What do you want? 160 how many innings you want out of him? You want out of him? Sure. Okay, 30 innings. Let’s say he went 130 innings. Um, pitched
Luke Jones 34:30
156 for in the Japanese league last year.
Nestor Aparicio 34:34
What if he threw a one, three whip, 133, 70, era. Let’s say he goes nine and seven. I know you’re not about record. Let’s say he were to do that nine and seven with a three seven era. 24 starts, that’s a lot of start. That’s a fourth and fifth starter, right? Emits what you want, and a little mixy. Mixy would come out of the bullpen and help us out. 130 innings, sounds to me like a five inning guy, right? 20. 2024, starts. Five innings would be 125 innings, right? So five innings every time he goes out, give or take and hold you in some ball games that that’s a that’s a fifth starter, right? That profile I gave you for a good team, somewhere like that, I mean, that’s Albert Suarez is line this year. Just so you know what I just gave you. I just gave you Albert’s. That’s what Albert Suarez did this year. Would that be sufficient for Sagano? And if it is, he’s not Corbin burns, no, of course.
