It’s the end of a long season and the Pete Alonso performance in Queens this week was as bizarre as anything Luke Jones and Nestor have seen in Major League Baseball. This season is about to fade away but before it does, we’re here to try to figure out where it goes after next weekend…

The discussion assessed the Orioles’ late-season playoff chances and the roster decisions facing the team this offseason.

Playoff Outlook

The Orioles swept the Mets and remain mathematically alive, but their roughly 5% chance depends on winning six or seven of their final nine games and receiving substantial help.

The remaining schedule includes Milwaukee, Toronto, and New York; injuries and inconsistent performance make a postseason berth unlikely.

Both speakers agreed that merely reaching the playoffs would not erase the season’s broader shortcomings.

Roster Concerns

Pete Alonso was viewed as the Orioles’ most valuable player, while Jackson Holliday’s prolonged slump and injury raised serious doubts about his role and long-term value.

Luke would consider trading Holliday if another team still values him as a former first overall pick. The outfield remains unsettled, and Colby Mayo may need to develop as a right fielder because first base and designated hitter are crowded.

The offseason question is whether to preserve the current young core or make significant changes; the group agreed the roster contains too many uncertain players and not enough dependable contributors.

Action Items

Text Buster and explore getting him on the show before the baseball season ends. (@Nestor Aparicio)

Contact Katie about the exclusion of Los Aparicio from the ballpark and associated spaces. (@Nestor Aparicio)

Have Richard bring his available concert ticket stubs to the State Fair appearance. (@Nestor Aparicio)

Obtain a Los Orioles jersey and send Katie a picture of it. (@Nestor Aparicio)

Pete Alonso and Mets Fans

Discussed Alonso’s return to Citi Field as an Oriole and the unusual positive reaction from Mets fans.

Compared the situation with former Orioles such as Mike Mussina and Eddie Murray.

Orioles Playoff Race

Reviewed the Orioles’ sweep of New York and their remaining schedule.

Discussed the team’s slim odds, tiebreaker position, injuries, and repeated missed opportunities during the season.

Jackson Holliday

Examined Holliday’s sharp decline after a strong July and his season-ending wrist injury.

Considered whether his trade value should be tested during the offseason.

Offseason Roster

Evaluated Pete Alonso, Brandon Young, Blaze Alexander, Jordan Westburg, Mayo, and the outfield group.

Discussed the need for a less sentimental evaluation of the young core and possible roster restructuring.

Orioles Promotion

Mentioned the upcoming National Hispanic Heritage Night, including a Los Orioles jersey giveaway and themed food and entertainment.

Nestor Aparicio 0:01
Welcome home. We are WNST AM 1570 Towson, Baltimore. We are Baltimore positive, and even though it’s football season, this is going to be a baseball segment. We’re going to be talking baseball and rock and roll, and probably this much football next Thursday at State Fair in Catonsville. We’re looking forward to get back out on Frederick Road. Life is great in the 21228. It will be great when we have Ravens times two scratch offs. They are the kiss face bird. It’s been a lucky batch. At least it was at Costas two weeks ago, as well as a fishmonger’s daughter. Now we get back out to Catonsville. We’re going to be back in Essex on the second of October in the afternoon at Pizza Johns. It is our 28th anniversary at WNSD. We are celebrating with the musical memories in my musical memory bank and the most influential bands. We’re going to start things off with some Kiss this week, and I’m trying to find those pictures from backstage at the Civic Center in 1984, and I think I have the negatives. I’m not sure. In the meantime, it’s the end of baseball season, and some of us have been watching various parts enough to see Buster only rolling around. So I I owe Buster a little text here, maybe get him on before it’s all over with. Luke, how you doing, man? How you holding up here in this? We did think it was going to be football, baseball, baseball, football. I had threatened to take you and make you the king of queens this week up to New York and run around and see the Mets play, but you didn’t want any part of that. And you haven’t been there yet, have you? City Field. I like Citi Field.

Luke Jones 1:37
No, I haven’t been to Citi Field. I I went to Shea in what was it? 2006, I want to say it was.

Nestor Aparicio 1:43
Yeah,

Luke Jones 1:44
yeah, I went to Shea. So yeah, I

Nestor Aparicio 1:46
also know who they play. It

Luke Jones 1:47
was the Orioles. Yeah, I want to say was that the Chris Benson year? I think Chris Benson may have started that game, but yeah, I mean, I yeah, it was fine seeing Shay, right? There wasn’t a whole lot to see it, Shay, you know the Apple, but but yeah, I mean, I I saw that in 2006, in which what Shay closed a couple years after that, I think it was towards the end. The

Nestor Aparicio 2:11
Queens, okay? Yeah, yeah, it was

Luke Jones 2:13
right around that time when I first, like, I graduated college in ’06. It was right around then when my best friend Mike and I just started trying to knock off some ballpark. Like we went and saw old Yankee Stadium, right? So I was able to cross that off. I think I did that the same year. I think you know, obviously saw Shea. I mean, saw RFK. You know, saw a baseball game at RFK, right? I mean, so you know, you kind of go through the list of the ones that are local. I went to Fenway at that point. I went to Wrigley at that point. So, so yeah. So now

Nestor Aparicio 2:47
collecting concerts. Like I, you know, I I saw Springsteen at Shea. I I didn’t see the Beatles. I wasn’t there for the big wrestling match that they have. Was a Bob Backlin and Harley Race wrestled there? I think, in the rain a million years ago, if I remember. Maybe the rain match was the Rose Bowl or the Orange Bowl. But what’s

Luke Jones 3:07
what’s funny at Shea, Hulk Hogan faced Andre the Giant in what 1980? I think it was when Hogan was the heel and Andre was the baby face. Okay, and mid 80s WWF wanted you to forget that entirely, right? Because obviously it was a different dynamic for WrestleMania three. But yeah, I’m pretty sure they wrestled at Shea as well.

Nestor Aparicio 3:27
You know, I, I, you know, I went to the Lenny Dykstra game, right, at Shea Stadium, the playoff game. I remember he told me that freeway when he hit the home run.

Luke Jones 3:35
Yeah.

Nestor Aparicio 3:35
So I was at that game. I was there the night that they that the Yankees won the World Series. I mean, I walked through center field with Denny Nagel and got on the train and went to Manhattan and partied with Derek Jeter and Roger Clemens and his sister. So I mean, I I’ve got some shame memories, but Citi Field’s been like my biggest memory. There is now going to be Pete Alonso. You know, my biggest Citi Field memory was when Adam Jones said to me, “Why is the old man hate you so much? So you know, I’ve got some Citi Field memories, I guess. And there’s a whole Jackie Robinson motif at that at that stadium too. If you’ve been there, you would remember that if you walked into the atrium there ever. I like going to games. I I like it better. Don’t tell anybody. I like it better than going to the Bronx. Just from a stadium experience, I prefer the stadium there. But the Pete Alonso thing the last couple days has been bizarre to a big city, bizarre to the sport in a general sense of you’re coming home, we’ll wave you, we’ll say hello, but we’re not going to actually cheer for you against our team, piss everybody off. It’s been quite a blistering back page, and not bad for a week when the Giants and the Jets are both one and zero. For the Mets to get any traction at all, it’s interesting, right?

Luke Jones 4:54
Yeah, I mean it was an interesting series from that standpoint. I mean you have Pete Alonso trying to drag. The Orioles to still be in this thing, and they are still in this thing, and we’ll get to that. I them they are okay 5.7% according to ESPN, 5.8. Look, man, we’re gonna get into it. I’m gonna lay out the the argument. Look, it’s a long shot. We all know that, but but yeah, like this this series was so interesting. We saw something similar, but not to this extent, in Baltimore a couple weeks ago when Adley Rutschman comes back in. Obviously, gets the big ovation, hits the home run off Brandon Young. There were some cheers at that point, but I mean, this was Pete Alonso hitting the game-tying home run in the ninth inning on Tuesday night, and Mets fans cheered, right? I I was texting with my cousin Kyle, who, as I’ve said to you, I text with almost. He’s texting about Orioles games, even for games I’m not watching. That’s how dedicated he is. But I said to him, I said, “Look, I remember how much anger I had when the Orioles let Mike Messina walk out the door after the 2000 season, and I can remember him coming back and certainly wishing him well in the sense of being grateful for the memories he had provided. But I never rooted for him when he was pitching against the Orioles, right? So that dynamic is just so strange. But I think it just it has less to do with how much they love Pete Alonso there, and they do love Pete Alonso there. That’s obvious, and so everything to do with David Stearns and how they botched that situation, and not just that. And it’s one thing to let them walk. Go look at their production at first base this year. It’s been a disaster for them, one of many disasters for the New York Mets this year. But yeah, that dynamic was just,

Nestor Aparicio 6:54
dude, dude. It was weird. It reminded me a little bit of Eddie Murray leaving here because of the position, the time in his career, where he was, you know, I mean, Eddie probably had about 300 home runs when he left, probably. You know, I don’t know. You can look it up, but and you know, I remember all this vaguely, but and I’m thinking to myself, I was in St. Louis when the pool house thing happened for a Ravens game, and there were signs outside about keeping him. No one felt that way about Manny Machado here. No one felt that way about Adley Rutschman here. Messina here for sure, but there was a lot of piss and vinegar at the owner that Messina wasn’t going to come back here and have Oriole fans cheer for him as a Yankee, like that wasn’t going to happen. And we’re nice people. We were always thought to be the nice fans here, right? Like, I I don’t know, dude. It’s really, I don’t know. I I’m I’m in my mind. I could hit my clone and ask for comparables on this to this or that or any other sport. Hockey is one of these incredible gentlemen sports. When you come back, if you come back to a place, you get that, and I don’t mean Gretzky coming back to Edmonton, but I, in a general sense, that’s the kind of sport it is. College basketball, you never get to come back, right? The NBA, I mean, who knows? It’s a that’s a that’s a that’s a horrors game, a Gypsies game. Same thing with the NFL, where like Flacco comes back here a couple of times, and like nobody here’s rooting for him to beat the Ravens because he’s wearing a Browns helmet. Like I, it, I don’t know. It’s it’s weird, and it speaks to the Mets fans being angered since ’86, I guess, right? They haven’t won since ’86, right? Like they’ve they’ve been in but lost a couple times, right? They have yeah. I

Luke Jones 8:46
mean, they’ve been to a couple World Series, right? I mean, what? I guess three, right? They had the Subway Series. Oh, wait, what? No, no, they lost that year. Um, and against the Royals in in 15, right? So, but no, I I think few things. First of all, it helps that he’s playing in the other league, right? If Pete Alonso had signed with the Phillies, I’m guessing you don’t see that. And it also is the last 10 days of the season, right? I mean, the Mets were officially eliminated a few days ago. They’re they’re out of it entirely, and yeah, it’s kind of a perfect storm of circumstances that lead to that, but look, the warm ovation, the fact that they played Layla when he walked up-that was his walk-up song at Citi Field. All of that-that-that was all within the realm of expected for a player of Pete Alonso’s stature. And it’s funny you mentioned Eddie Murray, and obviously Eddie had, you know, I mean, his relationship with the press and where the club was in 1988 and all of that. There were some other factors that weren’t in play for Pete Alonso, but it is funny both first basemen and I think you just look at the consistency. And I looked it up. Eddie Murray had 300. 33 home runs through the 1988 season, so very similar in in terms of just stature consistency. I mean, Jim Tomey

Nestor Aparicio 10:10
would get a helmet. I mean, hello in Cleveland, but the ovations for the White

Luke Jones 10:17
Sox, the beat, right? You know, the ovations and even the ovations with every like every time he comes up a friendly warm applause. It’s like a New York raspberry to everybody else, though you know. Yeah, yeah, but but for him, I mean, the cheering when he tied the game on Tuesday night in the ninth inning-that was just wild to me. And I, it’s funny. I saw some Mets players made some comments, and you know, obviously, some people have taken those and either criticized them for that, or. But I can’t fathom being a player, and you’re in your home ballpark, and it’s not a scenario. It’s not like Orioles fans had had come in masses to Citi Field and taken over the ballpark, like that couldn’t have been more bizarre for them. As disappointing as the season has been, when you’re in the moment and he ties the game and everyone’s cheering, I mean that’s just crazy. I mean it’s just a weird series. It’s funny, yeah. The Orioles get a sweep. You know they’re two and a half back with nine to go. It’s a long shot, but it’s not quite as long as it was three or four days ago. But it was just a weird series because the Mets, you know, the Mets have actually played okay baseball since the All Star break. I think I even mentioned that that to you a few days ago when we were kind of recapping the the Toronto series, and you know, looking ahead as much as you can look ahead when it feels like you’re out of it, you’re not mathematically out of it, all that. But I can’t help but feel the the reaction of the fans just kind of left the Mets shell shocked, and you know, the Orioles, to their credit, took advantage. I mean, you know, hit the ball. Excuse me, hit the ball.

Nestor Aparicio 12:05
Wait, he’s drinking out of his. Sorry, I had a tickle in my throat. That’s all right. I love the Ron Burgundy mug.

Luke Jones 12:11
Yeah, the the Orioles play. They they they’ve brought me to uh to get emotional right now, but no, they hit the ball out of the ballpark. I mean, it’s amazed. Tuesday night they won despite striking out 17 times. I mean, just a weird series, but I can’t help but feel

Nestor Aparicio 12:26
stumbling to the finish line, and you think they have a chance. And I had John Martin on the. They do have a chance. I mean, it’s it’s small and has no hope for his team, even though his team’s leading. Yeah, you know. So it’s you called it the race to death or whatever the hell you called it, race of the

Luke Jones 12:42
undead. Yeah,

Nestor Aparicio 12:43
I. I don’t know. As we sit here, if you and I have to wake up on Monday and talk about it because there are game out and there’s six games to play, then all of a sudden it becomes, I don’t know. They they’ve at least had a full blossom season that mr. Elias can go to mr. Rubenstein and mr. Aragon, and that’s the part that look. I got us to the finish. We were in it to the end. That’s the part

Luke Jones 13:07
I’ll wholeheartedly reject. I mean, even if they make the playoffs somehow here, I would wholeheartedly reject that because that that can’t be the standard. You know, this wild card race. To your point, if

Nestor Aparicio 13:18
they play a week of great baseball here, they’re in. But but

Luke Jones 13:20
but this wild card race is akin to there’s $100 bill on the street and all these teams are falling all over each other trying to pick it up until it goes down the the the drainage you know goes down the the the sewer and

Nestor Aparicio 13:33
they all are what they are yeah I mean none of them are good 500 for the but I

Luke Jones 13:37
but you know if you’ll humor me for a moment here and then I do want to get into Jackson Holiday a little bit, who went on the IL. But you do look at it now. The thing that is working against them more than anything is their schedule here over the last nine days. I mean, they’re going to play the best team in baseball this weekend in Baltimore, but still best team in baseball. The Brewers have already clinched the NL Central, yet they still have something to play for to have the number one seed. They’re a couple games ahead of the Dodgers. They want to make sure they stay ahead of the Dodgers, so that’s the biggest challenge. You have Toronto coming in who just had a really unfortunate series for their sake. I mean, they lost two or three to Detroit. I mean, a bad, bad series loss for them and their hopes. But they’ll come in. The Orioles need to sweep Toronto for the tiebreaker scenario, if it if it would come to that. And then obviously the Orioles finish up three in New York. The way that’s looking, I’m not sure the Yankees are going to have anything to play for. So that’s something to keep in mind. I mean, they’re barring a drastic change here over the next six seven days, you know they’re they’re not going to win the division and Boston’s not going to catch them, right? I mean that’s kind of where it is. So, but I just think you look at the Orioles’ difficulty with their schedule. You know some of these others other teams do look favorable. I think if you’re looking for. Interest. The Orioles have tiebreakers over the White Sox and Houston, and by the way, those are the two teams that are struggling right now. And barely, you know, in the case of the White Sox, as you and I are speaking going into Thursday’s action, they’ve fallen behind the Guardians. So there’s that fact. They haven’t played well over this last month at all. And you know Houston, same thing with them. They’re scuffling here towards the finish, whereas Texas playing really well against the Boston Red Sox this week. So, so you kind of look at that, but it comes down to this. I mean, the Orioles, short of going seven and two or six and three with a heck of a lot of help, it’s it’s not going to happen for them, and that’s where it’s frustrating because when you look at where they are right now, even right now looking at where they are, I think back to when they went 10 and four in late May and early June, and then they won one of the next eight series immediately after. If they

Nestor Aparicio 15:57
just could have won a little bit,

Luke Jones 15:59
if they literally won a game or two. You think back to all the series, all the winnable games where they kicked the ball around, all the different failures, right? The seven-game winning streak in July, then they lost three the next four series, right? The the two series wins against the Rays. Well, those sandwiched that sweep, you know, they had a sweep at the hands of the Yankees in between those, and and even forget all that they get back to 500. Right, Colton makes the amazing catch 69

Nestor Aparicio 16:30
and 69. If

Luke Jones 16:31
they had simply just played 500 from that point and not had that six game losing streak, they’d be right there. Right, we’d be talk. We’d have a way different tone, right? Not not this. We’re kind of humoring the idea. Mathematically, yes, they are still alive. Well, the best

Nestor Aparicio 16:49
team in baseball’s coming in, and you know, and then they got to be the Yankees. So that’s where it’s well. I mean,

Luke Jones 16:54
and even the Yankee series. I mean, like, look, the Yankees are, and

Nestor Aparicio 16:57
there’s no Bradish, and there’s no Jackson, and that’s right.

Luke Jones 16:59
I mean, what’s their pitching going to look like? I mean, you know, Boz. I. It sounds like Boz is okay after getting hit in the elbow. It sounded like that was more like a funny bone kind of thing more than anything. But that was crazy. But yeah, I mean, they’re just you know they’re they’re limping to the finish line from the standpoint of having lost some guys now. Not not that Jackson Holiday’s been remotely good since the end of July, and and you know I do want to touch on him, but man, you just look at this thing every time, and I think I even said it to you when they had the six-game losing streak after the the catch in Colorado by Kouzler. I think I even said to you, you watch, they’re going to have one more desperation last mini run in them, and you’re just going to get angry all over again because of how many missed opportunities there have been throughout the season to just sustain. You know, when they played well, just sustain that a little bit better, right? Don’t go from playing great to playing really poorly again. Go from playing great to then just settle in and just be okay for a while, right? And and instead, they just they had these stretches where they’d play well, but then they played, they’d fall back down the mountain again, right? I mean, again, I go back to the late May, early June. You know, they remember they were like eight games under 500 when they came home from that series down at the Trop where they were swept, and then they went 10 and four, they got back to two games under, and then they played eight series immediately after that and won one of those. One of their next eight series they won after that, and I mean they just did that too many times this year, and and they still, even with all that, they still have a little bit of a chance. I mean, none of these teams are any good, right? Whoever wins that third wild card, whoever wins the AL Central, whoever wins the AL West, none of those teams will have accomplished anything that’s all that impressive whatsoever, right? We’re talking about barely above 500, or maybe 500, or I don’t know in

Nestor Aparicio 19:01
game one, and that’s impressive. I understand, Nestor, but

Luke Jones 19:04
but at the but my point here is making the playoffs this year is not an accomplishment. It just isn’t. I will wholeheartedly reject that premise, and it speaks to how low the bar is. That they are have a 5% chance still. That’s all that that’s all the chance they have right now of doing it, and it speaks to how disappointing the season has been, and and that’s where you get angry all over again, because, you know, you you didn’t need to win 100 games this year, you know, just 86, you know, an 86 and 76 team win or 86 and 76 team is in the playoffs, right? You’re you’re comfortably in if if you’re at that pace. So it’s just it’s really frustrating on that front. We’ll see. I mean, weirder things have happened. Baseball and

Nestor Aparicio 19:54
good baseball, two different things.

Luke Jones 19:56
Right. This year it is. I mean, it just it is. It’s like I said. I mean, it’s like found. Money. I think I said. I don’t know if I said this to you over the air or not. I said to you a while back. I mean, like, this being in this race right now, it’s like, you know, it’s like finding a $20 bill in the street. That doesn’t make you a good investor, right? It just means you were lucky to find a $20 bill in the street. So, and they’re still, you know, are you on

Nestor Aparicio 20:19
Jackson Holiday with the shutdown here, yeah, I mean, like

Luke Jones 20:23
you know that you’ve probably been more forgiving about Jackson Holiday than I have been

Nestor Aparicio 20:30
over the course of lately. I call it. Oh no, no, but but I just well, I’m

Luke Jones 20:33
just talking about like the the big picture. We were waiting for the body of

Nestor Aparicio 20:36
work to bloom, and we’re getting here.

Luke Jones 20:38
Well, and and I think the thing that’s so discouraging. If there was one thing that I cited at the trade deadline, when they trade Rochman and they trade Taylor Ward and they trade Tyler Wells and they trade Dean Kramer and Michaelias has very much signaled what he thinks about the 2026 club. If there was one thing that you could point to right, right then and there, beyond established stuff like Pete Alonso, you know, who has been phenomenal. Is going to be the most valuable Oriole. I I kind of struggled picking my second and third place, but first place was very easy. But but but I think you looked at Jackson Holiday back in July, and he batted 368. He had a 500 on base percentage, right? He he walked more than he struck out that month, and not to say that he was going to continue at that clip, but to see what he had had been the rest of the season, I mean, it’s just it’s very very discouraging. Now, maybe this wrist, which by the way is the opposite wrist of you know the hamate bone, right? I mean, it was his right ham eight. This is his left wrist that landed him on the on the injured list, and presumably has ended his season. I you know I I suppose if that by some miracle they make the playoffs, we’ll at least ask about it. But you know over his last 166 plate appearances, which is 40 games, quarter of a season, 196, a 224 on base percentage, a 278 slugging percentage, a 503 OPS, and he’s only walked six times over that. So everything he did in July, where that was kind of one of the things you were looking at and saying, you know what, as disappointing as it is with this trade deadline and dealing Ruchman and this team not being nearly good enough, it felt like Jackson Holiday was blossoming, and he’s just he was just awful over the last two months.

Nestor Aparicio 22:33
Jackson Holiday and and Gunnar Henderson and Adley Rutschman, if they were going to stink, this team was going to stink, and we’re still sitting here talking about them being a breath away from being a playoff team. It’s crazy.

Luke Jones 22:46
Yeah, and I mean, it speaks to really, you know, what it’s been the last month. You know, this the month of September. It’s been three guys. Their offense has been horrendous, save for three guys that have carried them: Pete Alonso, Kobe Mayo, and Christian Encarnacion Strand. Go look at the numbers of everyone else. Like it’s ugly. Like some guys, it’s really ugly. Some guys,

Nestor Aparicio 23:10
it’s pitcher ugly.

Luke Jones 23:12
I mean, it is ugly, ugly for some of those guys. I mean, I’m talking, looking at some of the stats. Guys that have 40 and 50% strikeout rates since the start of September. Like Leoti Taveras since the start of September has a 54.8% strikeout rate. I mean, this is holy cow, really, really bad for some of these guys. Colton Kalzer is batting 176 and is striking out 42% of the time in the month of September. Dylan Beavers has not been very good, you know. Kerstad has barely played since being caught up. You know, Basayo has really, really struggled, and we know he’s not healthy either, right? So you kind of go down the list. It’s been three guys that have kind of just been dragging them to the finish line offensively. Now, you know, pitching-we’ve talked about it. The rotation hasn’t been as formidable, and obviously Bradish has since been shut down. You know, Brandon Young has grinded more over the last few weeks, but still giving them a really representative effort. Well, these

Nestor Aparicio 24:15
are the innings you didn’t want any of these guys to have, right? I mean, these are the innings where you’re at the end. You’re like yes and no,

Luke Jones 24:21
but but but at the same time, it’s you’re trying

Nestor Aparicio 24:25
to see how far Brandon, how many innings you can get out of him this year, so you can say tack 20 more on next year. I don’t know. Well, I

Luke Jones 24:31
mean, that was kind of my thing with Bradish. I mean, I said it to you the other day as as we kind of did the post mortem for him, and and we’ve since found out he has a sports hernia. Look, I don’t think they’re making that up. Does it mean it was something that was hindering him very badly? I don’t know, right? I mean, there’s different types, you know, certain hurt sports hernias you might be able to play through, and other times you can. I mean, but point is, we knew over the last. I just remember,

Nestor Aparicio 24:56
like when I was a reporter many years ago, when a teen told. You what was going on? You just took it as gospel and went with it. Now, like in your modern era of having to go through these tea leaves, they’ll lie to you. They’ll come out in spring training and say something like that. Never happened in my era of doing this. Now it it is a big guessing game because their agents want it that way. They want it that way. The team wants it under just everybody wants it under wraps. They just do.

Luke Jones 25:23
Yeah, and I and I will say this: Look, how many times do fans and even media talk about wanting players to be tough, wanting players to tough it out, wanting them to play through if they’re not 100% So there are examples where that happens, but unfortunately, because of what you said, because the environment that’s created, and I’m not-that’s not an Orioles-only thing. That’s not a Ravens only thing. That’s modern sports team culture and how they interact with the media and, by extension, the public in general. But then you’re really skeptical about it, and then then it comes across as, oh, well, you’re just making an excuse. Look, I don’t. I don’t think it’s made. I don’t think it’s something that they created out of thin air. Is it something that was truly hampering him to a a meaningful degree? I don’t know, but he needed to be shut down. Whether he had a sports hernia or not, he needed to be shut down. One because the innings suggested that, considering where he’d been this year compared to the last couple years, and then the fact that he just wasn’t pitching well for the last four or five weeks, so you have that. But but it’s just you know going back to holiday. I’m not as concerned about Bradish, but I certainly need to see a better version of Bradish next year, especially when you just invested the long-term contract that you did, but in in the case of holiday, and you know the same can be uttered about four or five other guys, you know that are younger, youngish, right? Guy guys that are still in that maybe department, where you just look at it and say, is there enough there, right? Is there enough there to proceed with, with him as a definite is as a yes? Right, and and that’s where I I look at holiday and I’m just I’m not sure, not sure. I’m I can’t say I’m encouraged. I can’t sit here and say that I I my long term outlook is I’m I have a high degree of confidence that he’s going to live up to being a guy that you’re, you know, whether he becomes, you know, not even talking about becoming an MVP candidate, but just being someone that you’d say really, really solid, good ball player as a former one-one. I don’t, I, I can’t, I’d be lying to you if I had that degree of confidence in Jackson Holiday right now. I see a guy that has a lot of deficiencies. I’m not

Nestor Aparicio 27:44
penciling him in as a star strength of next year’s roster in this off season. I mean, honestly, I wouldn’t pencil him. Penciling him in to be a 250 hitter that might hit 12 home runs and strike out a whole lot next year and be unavailable 38 games, right? Like that’s what I think he is. But the

Luke Jones 27:58
problem is, you have too much of that. What? What’s your outlook as a club? You know what I mean. I mean, I’ll be totally honest with you. Jackson Holiday’s someone I would look to trade in the off season, if if the value is there. If you have some teams that are still treating him like a one one, yeah, and still and and and I and this is where I will acknowledge, he’s still only turning 23 in December, right? He’s going to be entering his age 23 season. For me, it’s just I haven’t seen enough of the glimpses. I’ve I’ve talked a lot about Basayo this year, right? Pasayo’s had a woeful second half, right? He’s not healthy. He’s not hasn’t been good, but you see the power, and you just say, “Oh my gosh! I mean, he did it at at Citi Field the other night, right? I mean, just clobbered a baseball. Haven’t seen enough of that since July, but but you see that, and you just say, “Man, he still has development, you know, to finish up here. I mean, he’s not a complete product, but you see what they’re excited about-it’s easy to see that. I don’t see that that dynamic ability from Jackson Holiday flashed nearly as often as as I expected or I would like to see. Right? Even Gunner, as frustrating as he’s been this year, you still see Gunner do things that make you go wow. Even in the field, even as frustrating as his defense can be, you’ll still see him make fabulous plays in the field. You don’t see Jackson Holiday do that. I mean, you just you just don’t. So, you know, this is a very disappointing way for a disappointing season for him to end. I mean, it’s just he he’s one of the many disappointing,

Nestor Aparicio 29:36
disappointing, disappointing. Yeah, I only one not disappointed is probably Encarnacion Strand. You know, a couple of guys that got paid this year, and I would say Mayo.

Luke Jones 29:43
The way Mayo’s finished up the season, I mean,

Nestor Aparicio 29:45
he looks like a big league player.

Luke Jones 29:47
That that inside the park home run the other night was wild. I mean, that was wild. But but it also speaks to what I’ve talked about, man. And I’m guessing you won’t see it happen because they haven’t done it to this. Point, but he’s a he’s a pretty good athlete. I mean, he runs like you you saw he didn’t even run out of the box, and he’s still you’re thinking make him

Nestor Aparicio 30:08
a left fielder.

Luke Jones 30:08
I would at least entertain because he’s not a third baseman. I think we all can should be able to agree on that. He’s not a third baseman whatsoever. I think he could play a perfectly fine first base, but you’ve got Pete Alonso there right now. How much run is he really going to get there? So you kind of you’re kind of left to to to put him at you know first base when Alonso needs a blow 15 times a year maybe in the DH and then he DH’s, but then that you know and there’s ways to massage that because Masayo’s a left-hander, Mayo’s a right-hander. Not saying it’s untenable with him as a DH, but man, I’d love to have another tool in his in his golf bag, so to speak, that he could go out there and play a Trey Mancini-like right field. You know what I mean? Baseball, you should be able to have a glove. I mean, I would just like to, for me, I would just say, you know, all winter, just take fly balls in right field. Like we’ll we’ll put you on a regimen of what we want. We’ll we’ll make we’ll you know wherever you’re gonna you know he lives in Florida. We’ll we’ll we’ll connect you with you know this this individual who’s gonna just hit you fungos every single. These are

Nestor Aparicio 31:18
us, and I would just like to see

Luke Jones 31:21
him do that for an entire winner, and then if he’s

Nestor Aparicio 31:24
worth $100 million to him, he should go do it.

Luke Jones 31:27
Sure, but but I, if you could add that to his profile, even fully acknowledging acknowledging the question marks about how well can he hit right-handed pitching, how well do you have to play the outfield to play it for the Orioles at this point? But Trey Mancini was able to play a passable right field. That’s what I’m talking about. Can you be someone that doesn’t kill your team out there? Like that’s that’s the standard. Like right field at Camden Yards, if if you learn how to play the out of town scoreboard, Sally Desaire made a lot of money doing that. Yeah, yeah. I mean, and he wasn’t someone that was regarded as this great defensive player when he first was a rule five pick, so I would just that would be one of my curiosities of the off season. Assuming they’re not firing, so you’re saying

Nestor Aparicio 32:09
hide him out there in right field the next two years and let him kick it around and and how he might hit 271 at some point and hit 3232 yeah right. I

Luke Jones 32:20
mean, I’m, and for me, it’s way more of a just work on it all winter and let me see what it looks like in Sarasota in in late February. If it’s a disaster, then fine. We’ll go back to the DH first base thing. That that’s what I would just like to see because I just that’s the problem when you look at how this roster profiles, putting aside the Elias questions and all of that-you’ve got a just-you’ve got a lot of redundancy, right? You’ve got-you kind of look at third base. You’ve got multiple guys there, you know, within Carnacion Strand in the. I don’t even know what you

Nestor Aparicio 32:52
have. What what do you have that if you were blowing this up, my dude? If you like, if you’re not related to Mike Elias or Sigma Dell, you don’t have a crush on Eve. You don’t like the. You don’t even know who Arigetti is. You’re just a baseball guy that gets hired to come in and evaluate. Cal’s not. I don’t want to hear from anybody. I just want baseball players that are going to help me win the World Series. In I’m new around here. We got a strike going on. Give me 28 or 29 that we can be a playoff team. Not this year, but next year. Where? And I don’t want to say that to Pete Alonso. I don’t want to say that to Boz, right? But you’re trying to be say that to anybody buying tickets in the Truest Club. All right. I’m talking about rebuilding this and saying, “Who do I? Harbaugh did this in New York, right? I know you hate when I bring him up, but he he went in there and said, “Who do I want? Who do I want? Bringing Isaiah Likely, I’m bringing in my guys. I’m bringing in Pat. I’m bringing in my guys. But what guys are here? I mean, Harbaugh got rid of their best player because he couldn’t get along with him right away. Just decided, screw this guy. I mean, I dealt with Ed Reed. He was a Hall of Famer. I’m not dealing with. And that was something with Dexter

Luke Jones 34:10
Lawrence. That that had kind of been building. Okay, but for me, you’re right. This

Nestor Aparicio 34:13
I look at this coming in. Stuck with Boz. Stuck with Bradish. Stuck with Pasayo. give me other contracts. What? That’s it, Alonzo. Alonzo, Alonzo. Okay, so those are my four. That’s

Luke Jones 34:30
it. But yeah, you’re looking at you’re you’re looking at that. I mean,

Nestor Aparicio 34:33
so if you and I, we should do this. This would be a fun little shtick we could do at Peach Johns or at State Fair next week. Maybe I’ll do this with Casper Wells. I’ll do this with Alan next week. Is just to say, all right, your God evaluate

Luke Jones 34:46
the

Nestor Aparicio 34:46
totality of all of this. And money aside, don’t even worry about money bags because he doesn’t know. You don’t have to answer to anybody based on the body of work. Who do you want in your team next year? And then, whose feelings are you gonna hurt, dude? I’m gonna tell you right now. You give me those contracts, I might deal Mayo to your point if somebody liked them. You know, if somebody liked them and I didn’t feel like if I felt like we’ve already problem is he’s one of the few

Luke Jones 35:19
guys I actually am am liking. But if I’m new here, I haven’t.

Nestor Aparicio 35:23
I’m feeling like you. I haven’t. I haven’t seen him shag fly balls. Let me see how awful it is. Like, why did you make him a third baseman to begin with? Like, with that body type, he looks like looks like it could be a center fielder. Looks like a gazelle. Like, what are you doing? Like, so nonetheless,

Luke Jones 35:38
yeah,

Nestor Aparicio 35:39
whoever’s new would look at this differently. I don’t know what to make of it. I mean, I I think Brandon Young’s interesting, right? I mean, from a you know, like I want to me he’s he’s

Luke Jones 35:50
the new Dean Kramer, and I’m and I mean that in the best possible connotation of saying. I want

Nestor Aparicio 35:55
him on my team. Yeah, I want him on my team, right?

Luke Jones 35:58
I want him to profile as my number four and number five starter, right? I mean, I’m not profiling him as a a top two or three because I don’t

Nestor Aparicio 36:05
want to go sign Ranger Suarez. Well, but but I’m just right. But no,

Luke Jones 36:08
like I I think it yeah to me this exercise like you don’t even have to take into account like okay who else do I want to sign like you just just evaluate what they have. Westfield

Nestor Aparicio 36:17
non entity right Pete

Luke Jones 36:19
Alonso is at first base, he’s set right. I mean, he might. We’ll we’ll debate how he’s going to age in years three, four, and five of the contract and all that. But he he’s going to be there. Second base, I already said. I mean, if some team, if if another organization still loves Jackson Holiday, I’d be I’d trade him in a second for the right package. I mean, I because I just, I’m not confident in that you’re getting more than an okay ball player there. To me, I mean, there’s an argument to be made of doing something like that. If again, I’m not doing it just for the like. I’m not doing it just to unload him because I’m desperate to get rid of him. I’m assessing what the rest of baseball thinks about him in the here and now, right, and how that pertains to what he was perceived to be a couple years ago, and where you think he’s going. So you know, you could trade him. Blaze Alexander could become your everyday second baseman. Yeah, he’s a

Nestor Aparicio 37:11
keeper to me. I keep Blaze Alexander. Not as an everyday player, but as a guy that I’m going to need for 115 games next year. I mean, I’ve been here.

Luke Jones 37:19
Yeah, I kind of liked all things being equal, and again, this speaks to like how many players are really left on this roster that you really want to keep, and you really have a level of confidence in that there’s a future with them. All things being equal, in a vacuum, I’d like to keep Blaze Alexander in the super utility early career Melvin, early Orioles career Melvin Mora role, right, where he could play five different spots, and he’s going to play five days a week, but it’s not going to be at a set position necessarily. But you have that. I mean, look, not looking to get rid of Jordan Westberg, like it’s nothing about that. But can I really, can I count on the fact that he can he play third base, or is he someone you’d have to think about becoming a second baseman just because of his arm and his elbow, right? So you have that. I mean, Encarnacion Strand’s done a great job. He’s a great sign. I need to see more. Would you date

Nestor Aparicio 38:14
Gunner Henderson?

Luke Jones 38:15
Yeah, for the right trade package, of course, because.

Nestor Aparicio 38:21
So you’re talking about I’m taking this thing over, I’m gonna deal Holiday and Henderson potentially. I’m gonna work maybe probably not at the same time, dude. I’m interviewing you for the job. I mean, you’re like, hey, I mean, not. I mean, I know more than David Rubenstein or Michael Araghetti about baseball, and I’m like, okay, sounds this all sounds sensible because you and I’ve sat here and watched 148 games.

Luke Jones 38:43
It hasn’t. This hasn’t worked. This was my argument for for everyone good

Nestor Aparicio 38:46
players, dude.

Luke Jones 38:47
For everyone that was so, not everyone. I understand why Orioles fans got upset about dealing Adley Rutschman, but it very much had become the idea of Adley Rutschman compared to what he had been the last two calendar years, so it’s the same exact story with anyone else I’m going to trade. Why would I be sent? First of all, if I’m a GM coming in from somewhere else, I don’t have any attachment to these guys. Zero

Nestor Aparicio 39:13
sentimentality. So,

Luke Jones 39:14
but I would look at it and say, this has failed collectively. This isn’t a commentary on any specific individual. If I can make some moves to reload this thing, and it doesn’t, I don’t think there. It has to be viewed through the lens of a multi-year rebuild again. But I do think you need to be willing to get your hands messy and say, “Man, we’ve got to blow up some pieces of this here and there because it’s not working. We can’t we can’t keep talking about the vaunted young poor. It’s been a bust, spade a spade. It’s been a bust. Not every single individual, but collectively that group has not worn out. It has not worked out nearly to the extent that it needed to, and that’s even acknowledging that not. Every single guy was going to become an all-star, right? And and that that was probably some of Elias’s flawed thinking in hindsight of you just put way too many eggs in that basket, right? You just way too way too much confidence in how smart you and the organization was and how talented all these players were, just to know that development in baseball doesn’t work like that, right? Top picks fail all the time. Top pitching prospects fail all the time. That’s why I’m skeptical about. Hey, they’re more pitching centric with their farm system now. Great, but we know a sizable portion of the guys that we’re talking about now will not work out, or they’ll work out for a little while and they’ll get hurt, or, or maybe a couple guys will end up being really good. So, but for me, you you can’t be sentimental about this thing anymore. It hasn’t worked. The outfield’s a total mess. I mean, Dylan Beavers is really the only guy that I’m still have some optimism that I think he can still develop into an everyday player? Not saying he’s going to, you know, maybe at his best he could become a B.J. Surhoff kind of guy, but you know, there there’s still work to be done there. But everything else about the outfield, I mean, I like Kouzer’s defense, but like he should be a bench player. I mean, like he’s a fourth outfielder at best. He doesn’t hit nearly consistently enough. So, yeah, some messy, messy, messy off season. Whether they decide to make a change at the top or whether they maintain the status quo with Mike Elias, I mean, the cupboard’s not bare, but man, there aren’t enough ises and there aren’t enough definites and there aren’t enough yeses. There are a whole bunch of noes, and still way too many maybes and way too many uncomfortable questions. Not questions, but uncomfortable questions. And and for me again to kind of bring it back to what we were talking about originally, you know, Jackson Holiday is kind of at the top of that list for me. Gunner, the clock’s already ticking, right? That he’s an expiring asset at this point in time. Whether you decide to trade him this winter, next All Star break, or next winter, or you know the winner after 2027. But in the case of holiday, I just I get it. I’ll keep hearing he’s 22, he’s 22, he’s 22. I know that, but man, I’m just not seeing enough evidence of him becoming a special kind of ball player, and that’s why I said I very much would put fielders out there to see how much interest there is in him before I would just automatically run it back with him at second base in 2027.

Nestor Aparicio 42:38
Luke, I think you’re missing out on the most important thing this week is that Friday on Friday night the Orioles are going to celebrate National Hispanic Heritage Night. They’re going to have giveaway jersey.

Luke Jones 42:51
Yeah, I don’t know if you’ve seen the jersey, Los Orioles.

Nestor Aparicio 42:54
Yeah, you think I’m excited about that?

Luke Jones 42:57
Yeah. So I’ll I’ll be there Friday night. I can get it for you if you want it. If you want it,

Nestor Aparicio 43:01
Los Orioles jersey. Yeah, you can have it. Yeah, while they’re banning Los Aparicio from Los Ballpark and Los Spacebox.

Luke Jones 43:08
I can’t do anything about that. Yeah, I know.

Nestor Aparicio 43:10
I I I sent Mark Fine a a little nasty gram about that. I’m gonna hit Katie up on that while we’re on it. But apparently, I’m reading from their bouja on their thing here. They’re gonna have a Mexican folk dance group there because so many Mexicans go to the ballpark. They’re gonna have a Corona wall mural because Corona is paying them to do this. It’s the Brewers are in town as part of the ceremony, players, coaches, and uniformed personnel with Latin and Hispanic roots will take the field, holding the flag of their respective country. We’re gonna get some Venezuelan flags on the field. That’s what I like to hear. Don’t send them down before we go. Fans can also enjoy Hispanic and Latin theme music. Miva, video board graphics and additional in-game entertainment throughout the evening, and here’s my favorite: they’re going to have a nacho dog during Friday’s game with special nacho cheese sauce, jalapenos, and cantina ketchup, which is only going to be available for a limited time at the Bleacher Grill. So they’re going to take away the cantina ketchup after a Spanish night. You are going Friday night, right?

Luke Jones 44:25
I will be there Friday night. Yeah, so we’ll see. I mean, playing the Brewers. I. It sounds funny to say this because I don’t have any confidence in this, but you got to win two out of three against Milwaukee if you, you know, like that’s that’s where they are at this point in time. Want they

Nestor Aparicio 44:43
honor Gorman Thomas and hit a lot of home runs and strike out a lot. What do you think?

Luke Jones 44:46
There you go. There you go. Chances are that that’s what will happen. They will strike out a lot. We’ll see about hitting the home runs. But I

Nestor Aparicio 44:53
love baseball. I hate baseball. I love baseball. Luke Jones is here. He will miss baseball beginning next week. We will be watching base. I’m going to try to talk him into coming to State Fair next Thursday as the Ravens fly off to Brazil. Oh, what I got though! Leonard Raskin is going to be in Brazil next week. He is our WNST Baltimore positive representative who’s going to be running around on a bus scared for his life because that’s what Brazil is. I’m looking forward to doing that myself with Rush sometime in January. So it’s Brazil Week next week. We’re going to be doing the Maryland Crab Cake Tour at State Fair, where I’m going to have waffles and fried chicken. And I grilled my damn chicken at State Fair. I’m going to have it fried. My friends at GBMC might not like that. I have my Maryland lottery scratch-offs with the Kiss Face Bird. We’ll be doing that for breakfast at State Fair on the 24th. That’s next Thursday. Luke, you’ve never met Richard Abrahams, have you?

Luke Jones 45:51
I don’t think so.

Nestor Aparicio 45:52
Well, you know, ever when I said to Bryant McKinney that you know nothing good happens after midnight in a in a in a bar, and he said, “I met some nice people after midnight. I’ve met plenty of good times after. Plenty of good times after midnight, Miami. Brian McKinney, which which so

Luke Jones 46:08
pulls back the curtain on his career and his life. But

Nestor Aparicio 46:11
I would say, would you think you could meet lifelong friends at two a.m. in a hex parking lot at you know camping out for Who tickets in 1981.

Luke Jones 46:23
Well, I wasn’t alive in 1981, but I was 82. I’m

Nestor Aparicio 46:27
sorry, it was 82. He’s a minute.

Luke Jones 46:29
At some point in time in my life, I I would be out at 2 a.m. A long time ago.

Nestor Aparicio 46:34
Richard Abrams has been in my life. He I met him in the Reisterstown Road parking lot camping out for who tickets, and he took me in. He and his family. He was my first ever Jewish friend. Being a kid from Dundalk, I didn’t. He taught me lots and lots of things. He and his family. He’s still my friend. He went to Live Aid in England with his brother. We told those stories last year. He and I have never really told the Billy Joel campout stories or the YouTube campout stories at the Towson Town Mall and the Unforgettable Fire. So we’re gonna be telling these stories next week. Richard’s coming out, and I’m gonna have him bring whatever ticket stubs he has because he brought all his live aid stuff out. Richard has some ticket stubs. Richard was my gateway to the alarm, which is last I checked, number 22 on the countdown of bands. Richard went to Hammerjacks with me in the Capitol Center and got me thrown out of a Who concert at Veterans Stadium for real, for real, thrown out by very big, brutish British bodyguards of Pete Townsend. Trust me, I got thrown out. I was in the parking lot. It was Richard’s fault. Hmm. Should I admit all this to you, Luke, or you don’t like these old rock and roll stories, do you? They don’t involve Pink Floyd. You don’t care about him, do you?

Luke Jones 47:58
I’m just saying that don’t don’t do anything that’s going to incriminate yourself. Although the statute of limitations is probably up with some of those stories.

Nestor Aparicio 48:06
I don’t know, man. Roger Waters is back in the news this week. I found my old Bob Kraft picture. He was in the news this week, so rock and roll is still live, and we’re going to be celebrating next week at State Fair. 24th, we’re going to be doing it over there. On the second, we’re going to be at Pizza Johnson, Essex. It’s all brought to you by friends at the Maryland Lottery in conjunction with GBMC and Farnham and Derma. Zach Dermer is going to come out. He’s even younger than you, and he’s been suffering with the Orioles less longer than you, than everybody else. We’ll be doing some Oriole baseball. Ravens are in town. Saints off to Brazil next week, and we’re trying to pick up the pieces of what Luke keeps telling me is pennant race baseball, and maybe on Monday we’ll find out that it still is. Either way, I’m going to get a Los Orioles jersey and send Katie Griggs a picture. It may or may not have various fingers involved. Stay with us. We’re Baltimore positive.