Sure, it’s not the lineup that manager Craig Albernaz envisioned back in Sarasota in February but the Orioles need to figure out how to stop striking out and start hitting with runners in scoring position. Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Birds’ struggles, including a five-game losing streak and scuffling through Kansas City waiting for the roster to get healthier and more productive.
Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discussed the Baltimore Orioles’ recent struggles, including a five-game losing streak and a 10-12 record. They highlighted the underperformance of key players like Kobe Mayo, Colton Kauser, and Samuel Besayo, who are expected to contribute more. The conversation also touched on the impact of injuries to Adley Rutschman and Tyler O’Neill and the need for better defensive play. Despite some positive performances from Jeremiah Jackson and Leoti Tavares, the overall sentiment was pessimistic, with concerns about the team’s long-term prospects and the potential for another disappointing season.
- [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Have Maryland Lottery’s Maryland Treasures scratch-off displays available at Koco’s on Thursday during the Baltimore Positive event.
- [ ] @Nestor Aparicio – Bring GBMC representatives to Koco’s on Thursday and share additional ‘Walk a Mile in Their Shoes’ stories with attendees.
Orioles’ Recent Performance and Lineup Issues
- Nestor Aparicio and Luke Jones discuss the Orioles’ recent struggles, including a five-game losing streak and a rough start in Cleveland.
- Nestor expresses frustration with the current lineup, noting that it doesn’t meet expectations.
- Luke Jones highlights the need for better performance from young players like Kobe Mayo, Colton Kauser, and Samuel Besayo.
- Nestor and Luke reflect on the past three years of tanking and the hope that the current young core will eventually pay off.
Comparing Current Team to Past Seasons
- Nestor and Luke compare the current Orioles team to past seasons, noting the lack of progress and the mediocre performance across the board.
- Luke mentions the potential return of key players like Adley Rutschman and Tyler O’Neill, but questions their impact.
- Nestor recalls the high hopes from the start of the season and the rapid decline in performance.
- They discuss the lack of consistent production from the young core and the need for more from veterans like Weston Wilson and Jeremiah Jackson.
Defensive and Pitching Performance
- Luke points out the Orioles’ defensive struggles, particularly in making routine plays.
- They discuss the pitching performance, noting that it hasn’t been terrible but hasn’t been great either.
- Luke praises the Cleveland Guardians for their strong defense and effective pitching.
- Nestor and Luke express concern about the Orioles’ ability to make plays and the impact on their overall performance.
Impact of Injuries and Future Outlook
- Nestor and Luke discuss the impact of injuries on the team, including the potential return of key players like Rutschman and O’Neill.
- They express frustration with the lack of production from young players and the need for more from the veterans.
- Luke mentions the importance of the upcoming series against the Royals as a potential turning point.
- They discuss the long-term outlook for the team, including the need for significant improvement to avoid another season of struggle.
Team Dynamics and Management Decisions
- Nestor and Luke discuss the dynamics within the team, including the impact of management decisions and the addition of veterans like Taylor Ward and Austin Hays.
- They reflect on the expectations for the young core and the challenges they face in living up to those expectations.
- Luke mentions the need for more veteran players to support the young core and the impact of injuries on the team’s performance.
- They discuss the potential consequences of another poor season for the team’s management and future outlook.
Optimism and Realism About Team’s Future
- Nestor and Luke discuss the need for optimism and realism about the team’s future, given the current performance and challenges.
- They express hope that the return of key players and improved performance from the young core will help turn things around.
- Luke emphasizes the importance of seeing more production from the young players and the need for better overall performance.
- They conclude with a discussion about the upcoming series against the Royals and the potential impact on the team’s momentum and future outlook.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Orioles woes, frozen bats, Kansas City, lineup issues, young core, injuries, pitching performance, defensive struggles, Adley Rutschman, Tyler O’Neill, Jeremiah Jackson, Leoti Tavares, veteran players, team psyche, future outlook.
SPEAKERS
8
Luke Jones, Nestor Aparicio
Nestor Aparicio 00:01
Welcome home. We are W, N, S T AM, 1570 taus to Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive, positively getting the Maryland crab cake to a back out on the road. We’ll be at Koco’s on Thursday. Hopefully the Orioles will be playing better baseball. All of it brought to you by friends at the Maryland lottery. I will have the Maryland treasures scratch offs, which have been very popular and colorful, like my background here on our on our set at Baltimore positive, I will also have our friends from GBMC and some more stories of walk a mile in their shoes, which I did on Friday. Was just like, if they could have ordered her postcard weather, they would have gotten that up at GBMC, hundreds of people there. Big thanks to everybody that had me involved in that, and we’re gonna be talking some more about that, as well as our friends at farnton and Dermer. They have the comfort. Guys went from 90 to like 40 and 40 to 90, and it looked like the hot dog rappers would have been blowing around in Cleveland on Sunday. Luke Jones joins us now. I guess I should check the weather in Kansas City, as well as Baltimore, as they get back home here this weekend, dude falling down the mountain, right? A little bit, right? And I know you’ll say a couple of games, and certainly with the lineup that they’re putting out there right now, the Sunday lineup looked a lot like the Wednesday lineup when I was down at the ballpark. Rough week for the birds as they begin things in Cleveland had the KC,
Luke Jones 01:23
yeah, especially when you think about it through the the context of they needed kind of a miracle comeback on Friday night. We talked about last Monday’s game against Arizona, right? So you kind of look at the stretch now where they’ve lost five of six once again, and that easily could have been a seven game losing streak, right? So they’re not playing well. I mean, it’s just it is what it is. They’re we know they’re injured. We know there are elements of this team that you hope will regress in the positive way, right? I mean, I think we’re all hoping that you’re going to get a much better version of Pete Alonso, expecting to get a much better version of Pete Alonso, but I don’t know, man, I look and it’s one thing to talk about Jonathan Rodriguez or Weston Wilson. You know, guys that are filling in right now with some of the guys that are on the I
Nestor Aparicio 02:10
should be stumbling right now based on the lineup. I mean, I took a picture of the lineup on Sunday, and I’m like, All right, you know, this is not what I signed up for, right?
8Luke Jones 02:19
So right to a point, but I don’t agree with you 100% there, because at some point in time, are you going to start getting anything from Kobe mayo? Are you going to start getting anything from Colton kauser? Are you going to start getting more from Samuel besayo, Dylan, beavers, maybe has been a touch better than those guys I just mentioned, but he hasn’t
Nestor Aparicio 02:38
been great, and far less is expected of him than there’s other cats, right?
Luke Jones 02:42
But, I mean, he’s, he’s, he has less experience beside has less experience, right? I’m not lumping the entire young corps, no, but there’s
Nestor Aparicio 02:51
8a hell of a lot of expectational beside at some point that doesn’t
Luke Jones 02:55
even but, but they need more from some portion of that group, right? I’m not saying, I’ve never said all along that the young core, every single guy was going to hit, or every single guy needed to hit, right? We all understand their prospects. But you know what I started thinking about over the weekend, as I’m watching this group and I’m watching these young guys continuing to not hit, I started thinking back to Renato Nunez and Rio Ruiz and Hansard, Alberto and Pat villega and all those guys that we sat through for three years, three years straight, I’m not counting 2018 that was pre Elias. They tried to win that year, and it completely fell apart, right? And then they sold off, and then we started this. But they had three straight tanking years where they didn’t try at all at the major league level, right, meaning front office management, meaning trying to make a put a better product on the field in terms of wins and losses,
Nestor Aparicio 03:48
and that was the payroll would speak to that, right? Sure, of course, of course, yeah.
Luke Jones 03:52
But as awful as that was, there was always the thought in the back of your mind that there was an end game here, right? There was okay for as bad as all these guys are right now, as bad as this team is right now, this is going to pay off at one point down the road. But now you look at this and look, I’m not saying this team’s going to lose 110 games or anything like that, let me be clear. But I look at it and I see how mediocre it looks across the board. And I’m asking, like, is this it okay? They’ll get some guys back healthy. But, like, okay, Adley rutsman coming back will be great, right? Because Samuel besayo happened to catch just about every day in addition to trying to find his footing at the plate. But let’s not act like Adley rutsman’s trended well over the last year and a half. Right? Go down the list. I mean, Tyler O’Neill will come back, great, but for how long and what’s he going to look like?
8Nestor Aparicio 04:44
Well, when the saviors are question marks. I mean, Westbrook, his own question mark about his health, as was Grayson Rodriguez before that. And I take you back to you know, where is the hope? The hope was that day that Jen, whatever her name is, threw me out of the press box. In Arlington, because when we got down there, that thing was a rocket ship, right? And then it was a rocket ship into April and May, when I told my wife two years ago, this month, this one was this week, like, this might be the best team that they’ve had around here this century, certainly going back to the 83 team or the mid 90s teams, which were all bought, to some degree, a different kind of team, when you got five players that you think are coming into their own, the way the Cubs did a decade ago, the way a team would trend and look with like the Astros did. The Astros, where these guys came from after right? Whatever that
Luke Jones 05:36
would be, yeah, yeah. And I just kind of look at this, and I see Cleveland in contrast, who certainly pitched very well, right? I mean, Parker Messick, what he did Thursday night. I thought Gavin Williams was outstanding on Saturday. So I do want to tip the cap to Cleveland to a point, of course, but it’s not just that. I also see how well the Guardians defend, right? They played great defense. Other than, I guess what? They had a couple hiccups from the second baseman. But overall, I mean, you see them make great play after great play after great play. And for the Orioles, if there’s a play to be made, and I’m not saying a great play, I’m just saying a play that has any degree of difficulty whatsoever. They’re not making it. And so you look at that, the pitching hasn’t been awful by any stretch of the imagination. The bullpen has been way more good than bad. The rotation hasn’t been great, but it hasn’t been disastrous, kind of terrible. But I just kind of look at this, and I go back to the point that I made to you so many different times early last year, and oh, by the way, as they start the series in Kansas City, they’re one game better than they were at this point last year. So like, let’s not, let’s also not act like this is markedly better. I mean, it’s marginally better in the win loss department right now. But I just kind of look at this thing and what am I impressed by now, there are some individuals. Jeremiah Jackson’s been a great story, and leoti Tavares has been so much better at the plate than anyone would have guessed. And who knows whether that’s going to last or not. Maybe he’s the next Laureano. Maybe he’s the next Ryan O’Hearn, right? I mean, I’m not saying that those stories aren’t good, but when those are the headliners right now, and you’re kind of looking at the at the core, and okay, gunners hit more home runs, the powers look better. But if he’s not hitting home runs, it hasn’t looked it still hasn’t looked as great as gunner looked a couple years ago. At this point, I just kind of look at this thing and like, what’s really given me hope that isn’t just blind hope. I’ll hear the injuries, oh, absolutely hear that. That’s part of this. It was part of it last year. It was a big part of it last year. But at the same time, I would start seeing more from these young guys. I mean, Colton kauser has been in the majors for a long time now. He’s looking way closer like a guy that needs to go back to the minor leagues. And that’s that’s coming from the guy that at least acknowledges his defensive impact, which again, is much more of an indictment of how they defend across the board than thinking Colton cows are as a Gold Glove outfielder.
Nestor Aparicio 08:17
But I mean,
Luke Jones 08:19
8he’s slugging under 200 at this point in time. Kobe mayo, slugging under 200 at this point in time. Like, give me like, Give me something to work here with guys.
Nestor Aparicio 08:29
Mendoza, when, like, the night that you strike out nine times is the Good night. I mean, they don’t make contact. They are easy to deceive. They’re quick to jump and and I think confidence level when you strike out 11, 1214, times, and how many double digit strikeouts, if they have, have they had eight or nine double digit strikeouts in whatever, however many games it’s been, it means they strike out a lot so they don’t make contact. And the left situational hitting leaves. There’s just a lot that leaves desire here, including the best starters being really good, right? Like, we’re now at the point where Rogers and we’ll see Bradish, if they’re not the answer, then this thing’s really in a world of hurt, because we were 10 days ago talking about efflin, and now we’re like, where’s Tyler wells going to be, and this and that, and have we seen Kittredge and holidays on assignment? And I don’t know. Man, like, if it’s not about Henderson and Alonzo and Taylor Ward, I don’t know where they’d be without him at this point. But the rest of these guys, they’re ifs very much. Ifs, and in the case of the cowsers and beside who hasn’t done it at all, and holiday who’s barely done it, you’re waiting on him to come back. And he might just be a 225, hitter this year because of this or that, or he’s 22 or 23 whatever he is. I see no one ascending here.
Luke Jones 09:58
Yeah. Like I. Said it’s it’s the veteran newcomer, and I know Jeremiah Jackson was here last year. Is a guy that’s not old, like I said, I I love what I’ve seen from Jeremiah Jackson, and maybe we just need to start lumping him in with the rest of that group and say, Hey, he’s 26 he looks like a guy that is showing more than their heralded prospects over the last few years. So that’s fine. You and I are
Nestor Aparicio 10:22
making the grave mistake of putting the draft pick number in front of the expectation at this point, right? Well, and
8Luke Jones 10:28
I understand that at the same time, all these prospects were the fruits of not trying for three years in a row, and that’s kind of why I made the point that you have to suck
Nestor Aparicio 10:38
really bad to get you a rushman or Jackson holiday, but
Luke Jones 10:43
Adley rutsman. Remember that was coming off of the 18 season. Gunner Henderson was coming off of the 18 season. Mike Elias arrived and said, Okay, this thing needs to be completely rebuilt from the ground up. He was correct in saying that, but he also made a conscious decision for three straight seasons to say we’re not going to try at the major league level, like, yes, the players and the coaches are going to try to win games as far as those guys that are here, but we’re not going to try to improve the ball club in terms of signings and things of that nature. So that was all done with the thought that, hey, you’re drafting Heston kerstad second overall in 2020 and Jordan westburg and Kobe mayo. And in 2021 you draft Colton cows are in the top five and 22 you draft holiday one, one and beavers. I want to, I need to start seeing more from that group. And I understand a couple of those guys I just mentioned are hurt. But like I said, Can you give me a few more glimmers at least, at least, besides a couple rockets in the midst of not hitting a whole lot, but he’s hit a couple balls out of the ballpark where you say, All right, I see that mayo, mayo and kauser are doing nothing with the bat, like nothing. Mayo looks lost. Kauser looks completely lost. I mean, cows are struck out four times the other night, and three of them were looking, I mean, what are we doing here? So the other factor that’s, I don’t know what to make of this exactly, but they have swung the bats better in the later innings. And, you know, that’s kind of, you know, that people have kind of grabbed on to the narrative, and they’re trying to create hope that, okay, this team’s little mentally tougher than last year, whatever, but at the same time, like I’m asking the question, okay, if they’re swinging the bats decently late in the game, what’s going on in the first five or six innings? I mean, that’s not a formula for winning ball games in the long run, right? We could talk all we want about Oriole magic and the 79 Orioles and Doug des senses and Eddie Murray being the clutch player. He was like, that doesn’t mean you sleep walk for six innings, night in after night in, night out, right? That’s not the formula for winning games consistently. So I look at that and I say, Okay, what? What’s going on here? Okay, starting pitching, and again, Cleveland pitches well, so you know, I’m trying not to rant here too much at the same time we this was a disappointing, frustrating weekend where they kind of needed a miracle to avoid a four game sweep. I mean, that’s where they were, but with them having such issues, to start games off like, I’m starting to wonder, like, is this a scouting thing? Is there something in their intel, in their advanced meetings that that’s being left out, I don’t know, but, man, they’ve got to pick it up. They have to pick it up. And I mean, this this series coming up, and maybe this is where we transition to talk about Kansas City right now, much like when they went to Chicago a couple weeks ago on the heels of the Pittsburgh sweep. This is a better get right kind of series, because the Royals are really scuffling. I mean, they’ve lost seven straight, and much like the Orioles, if you kind of look at it, you kind of think of where, where the Royals were two years ago, and then, you know, certainly didn’t take the next step last year. That’s for sure. Well, I
Nestor Aparicio 13:58
8mean, they won 12 years ago. You know what they are at this point. They don’t think they’re the Dodgers or the Yankees. No, of course not. But, well, it’s a
Luke Jones 14:04
different era at this point, other than I guess Salvi
Nestor Aparicio 14:07
Perez is the only guy still, but, but my point is, ideologically, the Orioles are selling the point where they might be five years from now be able to keep Henderson if we pack Camden Yards and we’re loyal to Team Orioles and they grow their brand, and like all of that stuff that Katie grow, we’re going to have the all star game and all that you regress back to. If you don’t get it done, you then have to cash your chips in and suck all over again. And that’s kind of what Kansas City has done, is suck all over again. And to your point, like they’re not going to have a whole lot of patience for seven game losing streaks, nor will the fan base here if they lose a couple more before they come back home, because this start to fall 568, games under 500 Jackson holiday is not the one getting you out of that hole, and it’s probably not Jeremiah Jackson either. I mean, and at some point Alonzo will hit the ball. But to your point, the rest of this, I’m convinced Alonzo and Henderson are going to hit the ball. The rest of this, I don’t know. I know they’re not going to catch the ball. We’ve already figured that out. Pitching wise, Rogers and Bradish. I mean, I want to believe in last August and September, but that was last year. You know, I need to see it now, and I’m not seeing much of any of this in Kansas City, to your point with the franchises and where they are, and you don’t want to be that again, blowing it up all over again. And this year’s tanked all over by June 15, because this, this is doesn’t have good feelings any way around it, really doesn’t.
Luke Jones 15:38
I mean, it’s we and we talked about. And look, this isn’t, I understand. They’re 10 and 12, right? As they’re going into this Kansas City series, mathematically, they’re fine, right? They’re fine. And it’s not like the Yankees and the rays, you know, those are the teams leading the way right now. But neither of those teams are playing so incredibly well where you’re bracing for them to run away with it in the way that the Dodgers, you know, you look at the Dodgers in the n, l West and, you know, and even, for that matter, the way San Diego’s played. I mean, San Diego’s right on their heels. You’re not seeing anyone in the Al East play like that right now. But at the same time we talked about it, I can’t help but feel that this team’s psyche is fragile, based on last year, and that’s, I know Craig Albernaz came in, and everyone talked about the vibes and spring training and all that. And that’s, that’s well and good, and I’m not saying that that was invalid, but at the same time, you can only, you can only feed off of spring training vibes, so long if you’re not winning games out of the gate, and you’re getting off to a choppy start, and to your point, suddenly you’re five or six games under 500 and you’re six games out in the division, right? I mean that it can get away from you very quickly. And it doesn’t even need to be as dramatic as it was last year, but it can still have just this catastrophic of an impact, where guys just, you know, kind of go into their own heads, and then they’re just thinking,
8Nestor Aparicio 17:00
here we go again. So, but Albernaz and Elias spent December and January filling out a lineup card that that and the reason Albernaz took this job is like, my god, we’re going to add ward to this. We’re going to add asset late to this. We’re going to add, we have efflin Looking good, radish and Rogers are is, is for sure. Look at the money we spent on Alonso. Look at the way we fortified even with Leo tovarez. I mean, holidays, 500 at bats Westberg, 600 at bats, like that. All of that’s falling. I mean, Kobe Mayo wasn’t supposed to play. And I’m telling you, when Albernaz is filling out a lineup with Sam Hoff and Wilson Ward and Rodriguez, Wilson Weston, well, learn his name eventually. Mr. Wilson, yeah, you’re too young to be Dennis the Menace guy, but Dennis the Menace, but go. Have been called a menace. I’ve been called worse. But for me, with what Albernaz signed up for what he thought the lineup was going to be. And now he goes and sees his buddy Stephen vote, who leaves little people furniture and like all that stuff over the weekend, he he’s bringing a water gun to the fight here with when what at Wilson? Yeah, that guy and the lineup, just in general, the lineup, I looked at it and I’m like, Oh my God, there’s to your point. The Mayo’s and the cowsers aren’t hitting the ball. You’re hoping that the Jeremiah Jackson’s and Leonie Tavares that they’re as good as they’ve been for a week and a half. But in the end, rushman holiday curse that cows are Mayo beside Oh, those guys are that you’re counting on them. Because if you’re not counting on them, you’re waiting on Blaze Alexander Jeremiah Jackson to lead the team. I mean, we talk about Steve Pierce. Steve Pierce was a really nice player. Steve Pierce was mixed in with Manny Machado and Chris Davis in his prime. And, you know, Nick marcas and Adam jumping, you know, he didn’t. If Jeremiah Jackson’s your third best player this year, which is what he’s been this week, you’ve been better than that. He’s been better than Alonzo, if
Luke Jones 19:12
you just looking, I mean, he’s been excellent, yeah,
Nestor Aparicio 19:14
he’s a better than gunner, I guess. I mean,
Luke Jones 19:17
8like that over the last 10 days, yeah.
Nestor Aparicio 19:19
I mean, you’re, you know, Jim Traber was good 34 years ago. Bill Ripken, you know, I mean, I can go through guys that been on tears for five minutes. I’m assuming that’s what Jeremiah Jackson is at this point. I’m not going to talk myself into thinking he’s going to be a 10 time all star. Maybe, you know, but at this point, it’s been a nice couple weeks for him. Where’s the wake up call for the rest of the guys that are the blue chip guys, and I don’t mean any one of them, they’re going to need four of these guys to excel not let’s wait. Cows are up. Great. We wake him up and beside you sitting 158 like No, no bueno. Yeah. So long way of saying that, Albernaz didn’t say. Lineup for this either. And when he walks the lineup card out, and I see the lineup card that Melanie Newman’s putting up 20 minutes for the game, I’m like, yeah,
Luke Jones 20:06
be kidding me. I mean, let’s, let’s, face it, Let’s call a spade a spade here. And I say this with no disrespect to this individual who has only been in Oriole for three weeks. It’s embarrassing that Jonathan Rodriguez is being penciled in as the cleanup hitter against left handed pitching right. Handed pitching right now. But part of that is, you know the guy who should in on paper, right theoretically, hypothetically, you know, as you’re as you’re thinking about it in those terms, you know the guy who should be penciled in at cleanup right now, because he at least be holding his own and showing enough signs Kobe Mayo would be hitting cleanup against left handed pitching right now. Pitching right now, but he’s doing absolutely nothing, right? And you just said it. And this goes back to last year. This goes back to a couple years ago, when we were talking about the idea and the merits of adding some more veteran players around. And that was always correct, right? And I think Mike Elias has adjusted, at least ownership has certainly delivered the message to Michael Elias that, hey, you need to support this young core with a little more veteran, established help. But none of this was ever designed to work because leoti Tavares becomes a miracle contributor for you, or Jeremiah Jackson as a minor league acquisition becomes a starting caliber player for you. To your point about Steve Pierce, like Steve Pierce was an absolute stud for the 2014 Orioles, but that was never Dan Duquette and Buck showalters blueprint. The Blueprint was, it was Mark Koco’s and Adam Jones and Manny Machado and, you know, Chris Davis became that after they traded, you know, traded for him from the Rangers. Point is, you had a core, right? Jonathan scope, you know, add those guys to it, and they needed to perform. By the way, he was
Nestor Aparicio 21:53
my favorite guy. I would have given him all the I would have given him the visayo deal. That would have been a bad deal. I mean, I love Jonathan scope. I would say I he
8Luke Jones 22:01
never had the plate discipline to for me to think he was going to play 16 years in the majors. But I won’t lie and say that I wasn’t surprised that his career flamed out as quickly as it did.
Nestor Aparicio 22:11
But I mean, there’s a guy they were had a big year and disappeared, and I don’t know which of these guys can stay I’ve always thought Westberg was a staying power guy, and you thought rutsman was the natural and so
Luke Jones 22:22
everybody thought, everyone thought that otherwise you would have drafted Bobby
Nestor Aparicio 22:26
8Witt and worse than that is he looked the part the first year. Yeah, sure, so.
Luke Jones 22:30
But I just And again, this is not me sitting here trying to act like I’m in la la land, saying that all these guys were going to become all stars. But man, they need a bigger percentage of these guys to start pulling their weight. I Your point is well taken about Mayo if, if there were no injuries, and everything went the way it was supposed to in the offseason and spring training and westberg’s elbow is never an issue, there’s a good chance Mayo maybe was traded, or he’d be playing at Norfolk right now at the same time this, this is not someone that’s been rushed to the majors, right? He’s been accomplished, an accomplished hitter at trip at triple A so the next logical step is for him to play in the majors. And again, I’m not saying he has to have a 900 ops with eight home runs right now. That’s not just give me something, show me something that says, all right? He’s not swinging the bat great right now. And look, we can look around baseball right now, and you’ll find some star players and guys that have been regular major leaguers that are off the bad starts. But when you just look at that, almost across the board, right there with the young court that you know, gunners graduated from that kind of territory, right? Gunner is an established major league player. It’s been an all star. All that. Right, we can debate whether gunners playing, you know, needs to play like more of an MVP for them to or whatever. But he’s legit.
Nestor Aparicio 23:51
You punt pencil. I thought that USA benching thing may a little, you
Luke Jones 23:55
know, little fire, you know. And he got off to a pretty good start, but, you know, of late now it’s tailed off a little bit. And like I said, it’s been, well, you’re always going to be asking it.
8Nestor Aparicio 24:02
Going to be asking him to carry the thing, sure, but
Luke Jones 24:05
point is, we also know any of this is going to work with the guys that you brought in to supplement and compliment and all that. It was still all about the young core. Again, that that’s why we sat through multiple seasons of them, not even trying. Was to bear the fruits, and think five years from now, you know, when I’m saying 2025 years from now, or six years from now, they’re going to have this young core of players that is going to be talented and fruitful and productive and cheap, and you’re going to be able to augment that with, you know, I didn’t know it was going to be Pete Alonso six years ago, but Pete Alonso
Nestor Aparicio 24:41
and Taylor Ward, well, we’re getting to the end of cheap right away. Let’s start Sure.
Luke Jones 24:44
8Well, I mean, you look at it, who exactly do you want to extend right now? There’s one guy that you would say absolutely, I could extend that guy if he’d let me. I mean, if you continue to play like this, even if you offer gunner Henderson eight. $800 million he’s not going to take it, because he’s going to say, well, I can get that money from, I don’t know, the Yankees or the Dodgers or the Mets or whoever, and I want to have a chance to win, and if this is not looking like we’re going to have a great chance to win, not going to stay here. So that’s when you get into the other side of this uncomfortable start to the season, where, if they don’t take a step forward, and it looks closer to last year than it did three years ago, you’re going into an off season with Gunner Anderson having two years of control left. I’ll say the quiet part out loud, might need to start looking about dealing them, because, like, that’s, you know, and I hate, I hate the fact that I’m even suggesting that. But if I’m going to look at it objectively, if this doesn’t, you know, if this season doesn’t bear fruit, in terms of, well,
Nestor Aparicio 25:55
if this doesn’t bear fruit, I mean, you need to come back with the rushmans and the cows are this time next year in the Mayo’s, and there is no Calvary for any of that. And that would put Elias in huge Jeopardy, I would think, with these owners, right? I mean,
Luke Jones 26:11
if you have another season like that, I don’t know how you can justify bringing Mike Elias back again. I mean, I just again that’s
Nestor Aparicio 26:19
going to greatly affect them, selling tickets and having revenue, and doing the things that on the books Katie Briggs and Don rovac are trying to do in regard to growing the franchise, selling their truest sweets. You know, getting asses in the seats, making people excited about it, because 10 and 12 that leads to 14 and 18, that leads to 20 and 27 is getting no one excited right now, and I have no reason to believe that the next 12 games aren’t going to be four and eight or, you know, they don’t feel like they’re capable of winning 10 of 13 in this it’s certainly in this condition with this pitching, with this particular cast of guys in the lineup, they don’t feel like they’re just waiting for a winning streak. They feel like they might be able to take two out of three in Kansas City and lick their wounds and try to get some of these guys back. But I don’t even know what they’re getting back when they get Richmond holiday at this point. I’m not looking at over the hill and saying there’s a savior coming for them. I mean, the guy to your point, the saviors are in the lineup right now, if there’s such a thing, these are, these are the prospects. These. These aren’t just prospects. These are super prospects. In the case of mayo and and cows or they’re not. They didn’t get here for not performing. They’ve performed at every level, and now they’ve hit their head, which isn’t all that unusual at the major
8Luke Jones 27:36
league level. It’s not but at the same time, when it’s such a big volume of those guys, that’s where I’m asking, like, what is going on here? What’s the disconnect? So on the positive side, Adley rutsman is eligible this week to return. He’s with the club. I don’t know for certain if there’s a scenario where maybe they have him play two rehab games. It hasn’t been that long, right? We’re not talking about a month long absence. You can do live BP before the game and get him hitting against live pitching so he could be back this week. Tyler O’Neill’s eligible. No he could be back this week. We’ll see about holiday. He played a couple games in Frederick over the weekend.
Nestor Aparicio 28:17
It’s signing some autographs.
Luke Jones 28:19
It sounds like, you know, I the fact that he wasn’t shut down for very long, to me, bodes well that there’s not, like, some major chronic concern here. So maybe he’s back at some point. So it’s not as though they’re going to stay this hurt. You hope problem. It’s at some point, it’s like, get these guys back and then keep them on the field, right? You don’t want to get three guys back and the two
Nestor Aparicio 28:40
8more go on the I’ll see you Red Sox and Yankees soon too. You know, those games count double.
Luke Jones 28:46
So I you know. And look, anyone who’s listening right now who’s trying to be more optimistic, look, it is early. I’m not saying the season’s over. I am getting frustrated looking at the young core, though, and saying, like, can we see a few more signs here, guys? I mean, give me a 600 ops, you know, give me a 650 ops, which is still below average, but like, at least there’s some production in there. I mean, they’re just getting so little from multiple young guys here. And okay, Mayo, sure, maybe in an ideal world, he would have been at Norfolk, or they would have traded him, or whatever. But beavers they’re counting on. Cows are they’re absolutely counting on. I mean, they needed him. The thought was he’s going to be an everyday center fielder, and he’s looking way closer to being a guy that they might need to reset a triple A that’s how bad he’s looking at the plate right now. But the problem is that makes your defense even worse in the outfield. So like, it’s just they, it’s simple, but, man, they’ve got to start picking it up. I need to start seeing more signs here.
Nestor Aparicio 29:46
Even they’re all getting tested at this point for Albernaz too. We’ve already been through Elijah’s job security. We’ve already been through beside contract, Mayo’s career and playing time at this point. Cows are, you know, got. Norfolk hanging over his head. And meanwhile, all the rest of these cats, these Sam huffs and these Rodriguez What do you expect from them? You know, like they’re getting a major league at bats, they’re getting to go in there, and they’re getting overwhelmed, because it’s hard, it’s hard for Colton cows are to do, and rushman to do. What do you expect from these other guys?
Luke Jones 30:16
Well, Weston, Wilson, Zach, had a big hit the other day. They’ve gotten so
8Nestor Aparicio 30:21
I ball looks like a beach ball to Jeremiah Jackson, the young
Luke Jones 30:24
guys, the young guys have to grow up and start picking it up. They need some contribution from that group that I’m really focusing in on. Because No, maybe some of these guys, like beavers, maybe wouldn’t be playing quite as much as he is right now, but they were still, he was still penciled in to be playing a good bit. And beside Oh as well. Cows are as well, right? So this is never going to work if they continue to have this much failure from those guys that you consider to be in that position core, they need some percentage, you know, some combination of those guys to start looking the part a little bit more. Otherwise, this team is going to continue to struggle to just keep their head above water and keep themselves around 500 until you get some of these other guys back. And hope so we’ll see. As I said, this better be a get well series in Kansas City, because they go there and lose two out of three or or worse, and then you’re really starting to have 2000 twice, 2025 vibes start to, you know, infiltrate everyone’s thinking. And that’s just no good,
Nestor Aparicio 31:34
no 30 minutes on hitting game. Talk about the pitching or the bullpen, which has been like we thought that that would be much more problematic, hoping for better things in Kansas City, Missouri. He is Luke Jones. You can find him out on Baltimore positive then he’s breaking news. It happens before the draft on Thursday. It’ll happen at W NST on our tech service. All that brought to you by Cole roofing and Gordian energy. I am at Koco’s on Thursday before the draft. We got some great guests. It’s all brought to you by the Maryland lottery. GBMC and Farnan and Dermer. I am Nestor. We are wnst. Am 1570 Towson, Baltimore. Pick it up, boys. You want to talk baseball around here? We’re Baltimore positive. You.
