Luke Jones and Nestor recap a shaky start to Orioles spring training and huge hopes for Opening Day

Luke Jones and Nestor recap a shaky start to Orioles spring training and huge hopes for Opening Day

Welcome home we are wnst am570 talison Baltimore and Baltimore positive um we’re g to get the crab cake tour back at I tell you you know this February thing tough 20 degrees in the morning you I used to like sort of vacation this time of year right now I’m sort of doing

Some things over here at Baltimore positive in regard to oral season and the crab cake tour our friends at the Maryland Lottery I’ll get back to giving all this stuff away our friends at window Nation as well 8669 Nation we got some new sponsor coming on we have cool

Stuff happening with the liberty pure uh Solutions and some water treatment and some information there also our friends at Jiffy L MultiCare want to give them uh some love as we get ready you know there’s an exhale right like after the Super Bowl after you lose

An AFC Championship game at home I sort of unprecedented after you get news that the sun is going to shine I keep go on the wrong side of the monitor uh the Sun is going to shine again over Camden Yards and Cal ripken’s going to be an

Owner of the team by uh the time I’m eating snowballs and they’re melting in the summer right Luke Jones joins us now I Luke I mean you and I usually go at this with like Ravens offense coordinator coaching Lamar Lamar contract aosta uh Indianapolis let’s get

On a plane let’s go freeze let’s go drink all night at the Sun King Brewing Company let’s honor the great Peter King who retired this week but instead like this exhale period especially when I’m thinking politics Trump’s on my timeline like just you know hockey basketball the

Things that you would fall into the turps but this spring training thing where Rock kac’s tweeting Out video of some guy hitting a home run or like like and I gotta be paying attention to this I don’t know this feels like an exhale for sports for me where I’m getting

Ready for opening day I’m getting ready for a March Madness it doesn’t feel like it’s going to happen here but like if you and I are doing 6 AM Monday morning radio on the last week of February in leap year um there’s no Olympics there’s no like Maryland’s no good I mean

Lacrosse is early like whatever even it would be this is a weirdly slow time but it is giddy giddy giddy I I mean in regard to sports fans we want to talk about something even if it’s um you know something as important as uh the wide receiver having domestic issues and

People wanting to not talk about like there’s just a lot there’s stuff happening but none of it’s like happening this week where we’re buying tickets for it and the game’s happening yeah yeah I I think there’s plenty happening as far as what’s coming up but as it pertains to this specific

Week it’s not a whole lot now I will say this I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge yeah the combine does start this week and if you’re really super into the draft Yeah NFL Network’s going to have the coverage of the workouts later in the week and and there’s all

That but for a lot of fans and even frankly pulling back the curtain a lot of media there’s only so much that’s going to stem from that that’s really headline worthy right now John Harbaugh Eric dasta are both going to speak in Indie I’m guessing we’re not going to

Hear a whole lot of substance we’re going to hear talk they’re going to talk about the positions of need that the Ravens have they’re going to talk in very general terms about a Justin matab and whether they’re going to place the franchise tag on him and their other

Pending free agents and what’s going to happen there uh and on the flip side Orioles great fruit League games have started that’s great had a chance to watch the the lousy Centerfield camera on on it on Saturday and that was I called my wife in on the like the

Third at bat and I said please come in here and tell me how you can watch this and she’s like oh my God it’s like make it and she has eye issues from her kid she’s like it’s making my head hurt and I’m like I just turned it off I’m like I

Want to watch it man but I can’t watch it it’s making me physically ill and I was mcing this LLS event on Saturday but like I was geeked up I put it on at 12:32 right and I’m watching Rock sitting out there with some dude I’ve

Never seen before maybe I mean maybe I saw him last year in some pregame show but I’m like who’s the dude well okay and then and then Palmer’s basically saying they’re not at the game and like I’m like oh my God we need new owners

Here and this is the stuff that used to like set me off a little bit and I I I social about it but in the in the in the the notion that there’s going to be a new owner in this hope that like this is really going to happen and maybe I’m

I’ve been told by smart people I’m not being naive like this is really going to happen like that’s why I keep we because you and I have’t talked about it a lot in the in the aftermath of the football thing happening and you know us doing

The charity week and all that I really hope it happens and and I know the league want I mean everybody wants it to happen I hope Mama Angelos wants it to happen because inevitably she’s the one that’s going to be signing you know that

On for that I hope it all gets done but when things like that happen it just shines like the um the Bono Spotlight you know on how awful it is and I mean this is the first pitch of spring training when they haven’t a programming

In four and a half months where I mean clearly I’m paying for it I’m not stealing it it’s not super TV with my toaster yeah you know I mean I’m paying them for the product and I don’t think it’s a real high bar to just expect something that’s per profal that again

The the measurement for all of this isn’t just whether I have a press pass back in my own world because it is people keep asking me when will you know it’s fixed when I’m sitting in the Press Box like a normal reporter and being treated like a normal Citizen and having

People wave hello because I’m from Baltimore and I love the team and I wear a hat my last name’s apparicio and it’s the reason I’m here like I feel like it’s fixed but there’s so many signs for everyone out there to just know how awful it is and I continue to write

About how awful it is and people still I’m negative I did 78 charity pieces last week and I’m the negative guy that no it’s awful and and it’s it’s it’s apparent how awful and I just hope and I’ve said this to you I hope that when

The light comes up that they really do it it’s significant next spring training there needs to be 28 games on right you know what I mean there needs to be like a real change in all of it all of it it just needs to all be changed other than

Mike Elias and what’s going on on the field but every other aspect of it is so awful that I I I just can’t get over it but I keep thinking like here comes the brighter day and I really hope it happens yeah and that’s look I I don’t

Want to sit here and talk about Masson and its shortcomings to put it the the in the kindest way possible because we’ve talked about that for a long long time and because you’re hoping a new day is coming much sooner rather than later but yeah it for me it’s a reminder and

I’ll leave it at this because but it is the presentation of the game it is what they present and they don’t present anything for the next five days right like they only put a game on a week or whatever right like so this is their this is their way of selling their Sport

And it’s so it’s the reason it’s not as great as it could be and and at some point the Rubenstein group comes in you want to pay Rutman you want pay the money has to come from us want I can’t turn the game off in the first inning of

The first day cuz I can’t physically watch it it’s unbelievable you didn’t have to turn the game off you decided to do that um but the your point look I’m not going to disagree and I don’t again I don’t want to talk 30 minutes about the awfulness

Of mass because we’ve done that for 15 I’ve done that for 15 years with you right now and it’s it’s a reminder and I’ll leave it at this because there I don’t want to marginalize what’s happening on the field because fans are really excited about that and and for the first time in

Several years and you know going back of course last year of course too but it’s a reminder of how much work there is to be done for the new ownership group it’s just one of many things as we’ve talked about as much as things on the field are

Are looking up and up and up and up after a 100 one win season there’s a lot to do on the business side beginning with Masson beginning with what the renovations for campden yards are going to look like uh and the Investments being made there so but the opening day

For every single fan was 12:30 like people were really excited about like no I mean I I felt like there was it was a destination you know I mean bars bars all over Facebook where one o’clock come in we have drink specials come watch the Orioles and and I’m in loonies and and

The and the screen’s going like you know like I’m just thinking to myself like new ownership can’t come fast enough to rescue this because everything else we’re going to talk about cowser holiday just keep we’ll get into that all of that makes us tune in at 12:30 you know

What I mean it makes you want to spend too much on up many day tickets and start to even look at the calendar and thinking hey man Luke you want to go up to Toronto get your passport out let’s go see a game or whatever and we got

That you know there’s a solar eclipse coming through right on April I’ve heard yes yeah yeah so like that was coming through Buffalo and I was like where’s the games and like where the Orioles that week so anyway you know I’m thinking about like how can I have fun

With the Orioles again and I’m thinking maybe you and I should just go to spring training because if we go to spring training the screen won’t go up and down that’s what I’m thinking I’ll say this and i’ I’ve SE I saw a number of people acknowledge this and look I watched some

Other spring training games it can be Wendy and Sarasota just like it can be at any Spring Training Site however however this was a good lesson of when you do it with a skeleton crew clearly the broadcasters were not in Sarasota you’re going to have more issues and

Yeah there there were some other games I watched and yeah the center field camera can have some issues from time to time I’m not not disputing that masson’s not alone in that reality of spring baseball but just better that’s all just do better of course of course I mean but

That’s that what’s that’s what got me thrown out 20 years ago was saying do better than this and I know that the Rubenstein and I guess that is the hope for me the Hope For Me Is You know what it’s a stupid spring training game on a

Saturday you know like okay fine great the team itself and what’s going to happen who’s going to play second base shortstop um just it is full of intrigue it really is and I think that’s why I want to watch the games where they don’t shake and wanna like you know I’m the

Fish chasing the hook hook you know the team is the hook there’s no doubt about that and who’s going to pitch that’s I mean there’s a lot of intrigue in this spring training it’s not a whole bunch of set roster pieces like it was in the

Dave Johnson era H yeah I mean there aren’t a ton but the ones that are open it’s intriguing and of course we’d be remiss if we didn’t begin with the Kyle bradish update I mean he’s throwing the so far so good I mean that’s about all you can say right I

Mean it’s not you know there’s not anything concrete other than he’s increasing a throwing progression he said that he’s felt good after throwing is is he throwing Bullpen sessions yet is he throwing Sim games yet no and to me until we get to that point that’s about where the update begins and ends

Right he’s throwing he’s throwing from 60 feet 75 feet 90 feet so far so good hey it’s better than the alternative of him playing catch from 60 feet and his arm hurts and he’s getting Tommy John surgery right away so you know we we’ll just have to see but in the meantime

There is more Intrigue Cole Irvin for example he didn’t start Saturday pitch Sunday did get a chance to see a little bit of that that was on the pit Berg uh cable channel since they were playing in brenon right up the road from Sarasota but velocity was up you know he looked

Good you know he’s missing bats and that’s not something you typically think of with Cole Irving so there’s a perfect example though as much as you talk about the disappointment of not knowing what’s going to happen with bradish for the entirety of the Season uh John means knowing that he’s behind he’s not

Injured but knowing he’s not going to be ready for opening day I mean Tyler Wells Cole Irvin step on up I mean it’s this is your opportunity and I I think Cole Irvin’s a guy that you know we spent some time talking about last offseason when they acquired him via trade and we

Thought he would factor into this rotation more than he did had the really bad starts in April got sent down the command was off the control was off which was uncharacteristic for what he had done up to that point in his career and very quietly he came back and and I

Know he had a couple stints where he was up and down but I think his ra I mean he had a a sub four you know his Ra was in the low threes from that point on now it was mixed between some starts and some Bullpen appearances but the point is he

Quietly pitched pretty well for them over the final four months of the season after that stint at Norfolk so you’re going to need that whether Kyle bradish comes back and pitches and is healthy at some point in time or not you’re going to need more than just your projected

Five starters I mean that’s just reality everyone knows that so it’s good to see I like go back to like Jamie Moyer and I was there the year that he was sort of a throwaway guy and whatever then he goes on and pitches 15 years and like figures

It out and for guys that were high sealing guys and that’s pretty much you know these guys take a gander on guys and the amount of guys they’re going to need with injuries and everything else being factored into it that you know you get a guy in a a Bundy trade that a

Couple years later you get mileage out of the the relief pitcher Batista is now going to miss a year I mean everything is shows up on my timeline are about how many pitchers in this modern era are having surgeries and the training that we’re going through that

If you and I were doing a legitimate radio row baseball piece and they shut the league down and we got together and we were really going to talk about the sport and what’s going on with the sport with pitchers and arms and all of that but the one thing about this group from

Houston straight through is almost every year they they they’re they make a guy they they they find a pitcher that they they can do something with with with vo with stretching him out with taking a starter making him a lever lever making him a starter finding roles for people

Even like finding whatever they found with Canó last year for a month that he’s like the greatest relief pitcher in the history he’s Bruce suder for a month right I I I don’t these guys are sort of geniuses about this and when I start to see like Cole Irvin day two like

Throwing the ball harder than he ever has I’m thinking these guys know stuff and it’s not like it was before where you know a guy goes away and comes back 25 pounds heavier and we’re all winking about the you know what they were doing

Back in the day and um like all that I this is legitimate sports science stuff where they take guys strengths and say if you can do 2% better on this figure out one pitch one motion one arm slot one thing that we have figured out about your body your arm about your height

About your wingspan about the way the rotation comes off your fingers and spin rate all of the science of all of this these guys are really on the Forefront of this and that’s why I sit here on the outside if I were on the inside they

Probably lie to me and run for me as if I had a badge right and I mean last time I did I sat at the kids table but if I really wanted to learn about this like at a high level these guys are the mad scientist of this and there’s a part of

It much like we did with dasta and Azie when they could draft Ed Reid or figure out how to find Joe flacko when they needed him right in a draft these guys can take yours and find guys rule five double A pitchers that they’re getting in deals and turn them into a

Good relief pitcher turn them into a one-trick pony that can be very very useful and and that’s I I guess that’s the Brilliance of Elias and midell and this group and the the way they’re training pitchers yeah and I mean look I think on the pitching side

There’s still a lot to prove for for this group because we haven’t seen them draft a ton of pitchers right I mean we we talked about that every year it’s been College hitters and it’s been you know a gunner Henderson type you know who obviously was a major Flagship

Individual for their Player Development having drafted him more like them being a sure thing like a running back where like pitcher arms fall off so they’re by their very nature you draft 41’s arms going to fall off before he gets the Triple A like at least with the hitters

You stand a chance like keeping your job I guess right yeah yeah but I mean really what you just described though it’s a four-letter word to so many older Baseball fans not all and I want to be clear I’m not I don’t want to make too many generalizations but the word analytics

Information really it’s information it’s taking yes data but things that you’ve learned and things that you see about a player and you know you you identify a pitcher that was somewhere else and maybe didn’t have the best numbers but you say you know what guy throws a

Really good slider why don’t you throw that more I mean that’s just a really simple example there that you know it’s General but they’ve had guys like that where someone has a really good change up or you know they’re throwing a two seam fastball but their four seam fast

Ball seems to be better and has you know a pretty good spin rate and why isn’t he throwing that and and all those different things but oh it goes back to a turn that you and I talked about a lot and the Astros cheating scandal aside

Was talked about a lot the idea of growth mindset the idea of identifying players identifying Scouts and people within your front office and coaches who aren’t satisfied with the status quo aren’t satisfied with with the idea of a player being considered a finished product at any point in time not just

Talking about guys in the minor leagues but you know I mean one of early stories of spring training and you know we’ll see how it plays out but Corbin Burns a guy who’s won a Sai Young Award you know he’s been working on a different breaking pitch uh supposedly and and you

Know trying to expand his repertoire which makes sense for him not just for a new team but hey he’s going to be a free agent at the end of this year so he’s trying to get paid not he’s going to get paid but he’s trying to get paid the

Absolute most he can so you know that everyone oh he’s got a chance to be a World Series MVP free agent like literally hope so yeah I mean the orial certainly hope so so but but the point is with all of that you have information you have technology you have player

Tracking you have yes statistics uh that weren’t necessarily there five years ago 10 years ago certainly weren’t there 20 years ago and you use it and that doesn’t mean that it’s fail proof that doesn’t mean that you’re not going to run into some bumps in the road and yeah just because you

Have all this information about pitchers doesn’t mean that they’re not going to still get hurt uh and we’ve seen that here first and with the Orioles with Batista and you hope not but we know what the odds typically will tell us about what’s going to happen with Kyle

Bradish here uh but you know in the meantime you are trying to develop other guys and you said it I mean yenor Canó okay he’s not going to duplicate what he did in in MA April May June but he was still a good reliever the rest of the

Year it’s just he wasn’t this ungodly Untouchable reliever right but the fact is look at what he was when they acquired him from min Ina when they traded Jorge Lopez he was a mess I mean he was a guy Ben McDonald said it that was wondering why is this guy even on

The 40 man roster he thought that going into last spring and you see what he became so that’s not to minimize the concerns in the bullpen without Felix Batista I mean you’re talking about a really special reliever you’re not going to have that’s not to minimize the the

Concern of the potential loss of Kyle bradish that would that’s really going to hurt if he can’t hang on a second this is where I step and say Batista wasn’t all that special till he was Canó wasn’t anything until he was and that’s where I think these guys and look man I

Was down there in Fort Lauderdale where they’re lifting weights in a back alley and they did you know I’m seriously right like like um I think somebody said in the broadcast maybe it was Palmer or no it wasn’t even Palmer it was somebody in the broadcast said something that

Richie bansel would wink down the aisle in Fort Lauderdale or something like that I I I heard something over the weekend and I’m thinking to myself now they’re sequest in the back maybe it was rabaka that said that in the pregame now they’re sequestered over here sequestered over there and I’m thinking

Yeah and they actually like have success and they actually figure out how to take guys and I’m gonna make a a broad generalization here that’ll make you chuckle and if it gets back to Dave Johnson I’ll make him chuckle but there wasn’t much that Greg Maddox had that

Dave Johnson didn’t have in regard to physicality in regard to being right-handed in regard to being a command pitcher in regard to never you know break radar guns or whatever and one goes to the Hall of Fame and one’s a serviceable major league pitcher and on that Fringe

Of this time of the year saying can he be our number four number five and Jamie Moyer was that guy and you know could go to the Hall of Fame at that point in their life late 20s and I see pitchers in this system that find a thing that

Modern science would have them find that at least has can have them be um whatever the best they can be is because dude these aren’t bums you know what I mean like we would say Bruce simmerman ah he’s just you know quad quad what I don’t know man like it’s really hard to

Get anybody out at the major leagues and to hang around for a period of time and you know um be be a a tripa a bull Bull Durham guy you know in and out the difference between that and and being Yen your Canó for a month or what we

Perceive Batista to be now that he wasn’t to years years ago right and these guys that make major steps up this is the time they do that and they do that to your point with Corbin Burns working on a new pitch working on they don’t they can’t work on a new pitch in

November and December they’re not throwing the baseball right this is when they get a chance to air that out and I guess that’s what makes this franchise my God I’m saying this out loud so interesting and so fascinating is that they are Cutting Edge about how

A guy that last year got farmed out in June because he was no good come back and maybe win 15 18 games maybe make 30 starts this year because he just in March figures it out and winds up in the rotation because means can’t do it and

You know bradish is arms no good whatever there are opportunities here and um and on good teams and I I keep referencing the moyer thing because it’s something I’m makes me sound like an old man and that’s fine but it’s a great example dude I was there every day when

Jamie Moyer’s doing March Madness pool cards and he’s like literally not going to make the team wearing number 82 you know what I mean and 15 years later because he figures it out and this is when guys figure it out this is when it’s all fun and games to us and they’re

Blowing bubbles in the in you know on spring training or whatever man guys are fighting for their lives down there as much as they’re trying to fish and golf and do whatever but in an organization like this this is a they can make a lot of money here

Yeah and look I mean couple things I I’ll give you a more modern example than Jamie Moyer how about John means I mean John means in 2018 was called literally was on his couch at home and the Orioles were limping limping limping to to that historically terrible last season they

Had under Buck show Walter and Dan duat they had traded away guys they needed arms I mean John means was caught off the couch and he pitched at Fenway and got knocked around because the perception of what he was at that point was a guy that was an organizational arm

No more than that and we saw what and and I don’t want to say it was only because of Mike Elias and the new baseball Ops coming in John means put in the work right and so many of these guys and this goes back to the growth

Mindset one thing I’ll disagree with you about a little bit is it’s not just comeing the spring training guys seek out instruction whether it’s private instruction you know facilities like Drive Line you know different things like that over the off season where a pitcher or a hitter will rebuild his

Swing whatever it might be guys that are trying to refine what they do really it was so much more of a an art compared to a science and that’s not to belittle what process was before in terms of Player Development and working on things I mean Ted Williams talked

About the idea of launch angle and things like that he just didn’t have statcast tracking it for him right so Jim I wish my father were alive this time of year man my father bought the sign of hitting and gave it to me when I

Was 5 years old to buy these reels about Rod Karu and how it like and my dad love that stuff man yeah I mean it’s always been a thing it’s just now there are tools that Quantified I mean the idea of spin rate late life on a fast ball right

You know a fast ball that’s perceived to have some rise that’s that’s a fast ball that has a really good spin rate so it’s just things that you know Concepts that had always been talked about to some degree it’s just now analytics information I’ll keep using that word

Information that you now have that you can quantify some of those ideas and now it’s not just a case of okay there might be a pitcher or how about this a specific coach who is really really gifted those coaches were so valuable because you know you didn’t have

Technology that helped you with this now Walt reniac Walt reniac would love all this right yeah but but now you have coaches who are really talented and on top of that they have information to go with that so now you have to you have to filter it out and and there there is

Such a thing is information overload and I’ve seen it firsthand with some players who have Flatout said yeah I’m thinking too much up thereis by analysis yeah so so so there’s always a fine balance here and Mike elas even talked about it on uh the broadcast you know this idea of you

Try to make things as scientific as you can with what they have but they’re still going to be some art that comes into play there and again that goes into growth mindset that goes into a player’s mental makeup goes into environmental factors around them family life what’s

Going on with you all those different things you know what what kind of work ethic a player has so you know but to bring it back you know we’re very general in how we’re talking about this but to bring it back to what the last week of February you know I mean this

Reminds me of being around baseball and having football show up here and having Marvin Lewis and Jim Schwarz take me under there and and Phil Savage and literally talking to me and from the moment they got here the football people here the Ravens people and this is 1995

96 so now the Orioles have Doug Melvin’s on his way out Frank Robinson’s on his way out Pat Gil sort of on his way in Phil rean around that period of time every football person I would ever meet would say I can take that young man and

Make him better from the minute I met Marvin Lewis his whole thing was dude I’m not a coach I’m a teacher I take Peter bw’s skills I draw up ways to make him better he goes in the gym eats his weedies comes out and we study how to do

This better I was around baseball every day of my life for 15 years before this happened right like literally with a press pass like you at the cages talking to Greg B Genie they didn’t talk like that in baseball I mean I they just didn’t they just didn’t talk like that

They just talk like well he’s got the skill set you know he runs fast he’s a five tool player we’ll bring Jeffrey Hammond in here and he’ll be what he’ll be and but then I would go out to San Diego and Tony gwy would show me his

Little Suite this was literally a closet dude it was freaking closet like it was a closet it was right off of the corner of the locker room it was a closet and he had videotapes in there they were stacked up it was insane I mean I’ve

Seen this with my own eyes and that was as modern as the San Diego Padres and majorly baseball could be at the same era and the football people were Mel kering and were we’re going to coach him up we’re and that was the thing with bck

Always is I can take a player and make him better I’m I’m smart enough to make to study it and get them to be better baseball’s gone to a whole different level with managing that and and again the reason this team won 101 games is John Angelos I I’ll give him big props

For this he hired Mike goas he did got out of the way and like and he brought in smart people the same people that Eric dasta was studying to try to figure out how to do this in football better the way Billy Bean and Moneyball and wherever the sport was going and they’ve

Perfected this enough that their biggest detractor Mr orial negative just sits back and says what are they gonna come up with who are they gonna fix this year like I literally there’s going to be two or three guys that are going to make a market Improvement because to your point

There’s evidence of this John means we go through the list kenoi Bautista I mean all of their stars were maybe in the old era maybe they would become arietta somewhere else maybe they would become whatever they would become somewhere else but they could take Brad bergerson and get three seasons out of

Him here you know yeah and and really I mean as much as you’re looking for the major success story like a yener canel who goes from terrible quad a looking relief pitcher to pitching in the allstar game last July really what you’re looking for ideally and more realistically speaking is even if it’s

Just incremental improvement from everyone right 1% better 2% better and if you get that from enough guys when you already have a team that won 101 games last year then that’s how you endure losing a Kyle bradish and hopefully bringing in another starting pitcher at some point in time which I

Still think whether it’s by opening day or the trade deadline I still think there’s a good chance you’re going to see that happen I think you’re going to see them bring in another reliever at some point but in the meantime yeah you are taking a look at guys you have and

You’re looking for you know whether it’s Cole Irvin throwing 95 miles per hour which he was touching in Bradington on Sunday which was something he was not doing last year and look it’s one outing again you don’t want to make too much of it but there’s one example of yeah

You’re hoping some guys get better and especially with your your young guys I mean I look at someone like a Jordan Westberg you know I I think uh you know we’ve spent a lot of time talking about the infield but what about the Outfield we’ve had you know the Orioles have

Had Cedric Mullins in Center Anthony Santander in right Austin hayen left and that’s been what the Outfield has generally been for four five years I mean that’s kind of that was kind of the first group to to kind of settle in in this new era but think about this Nester

San is going to be a free agent at the end of this year Cedric Mullins is coming off of an injury plague season he’s going to be a free agent at the end of next year same with Austin Hayes who was an Allstar last year but we’ve seen

Him wear down in the second half the last two years that’s not to say that those guys are going to be replaced on opening day or anything like that far from it but when you’re thinking through a longterm lens I want to see Colton cowser do what he did on Saturday which

Was hit a walk-off home run although certainly wind AED in in Sarasota if you saw the contact but I want to see hon Kad take the next step you know what about someone like Kyle Stowers who we were talking about a lot a year ago and

Rough I I I I actually forgot his name I called him Stout I guess I was thinking about the U the the the movies in the late but but but but yeah like I just I I’m like where’s he in all of this I mean there’s only to your point we’ve already

Got three Major Leaguers and two other guys trying to figure out how to get in a lineup that’s still nine yeah I I think you know with in the case of Kyle stard and look let’s be clear as much as we were just giving the Orioles player development their flowers

That doesn’t mean you’re going to bat a thousand right and look Kyle Stowers still is going to have an opportunity this spring but let’s face it I don’t think too many people are projecting him to be on their opening day roster like he was a year ago but he’s still in the

Organization if he has a good spring I I think couple questions for this team from a backup outfielder standpoint who’s going to back up Cedric Mullins I mean Ryan McKenna has kind of been the default at times and of course they had Aaron Hicks on the roster last year but

Who’s the backup center fielder right now can Colton cowser do it it looked awkward when he was playing center field at Camden Yards last year but he was a rookie so you don’t want to uh you know you don’t want to uh make a a a definitive statement about where he is

Defensively but someone’s got to back up Mullins Austin Hayes can do it but if Austin Hayes is in Center then who’s playing left and left field is a lot like center field in terms of the ground you have to cover so I I think that’s where Colton cowser Kyle Stowers I’ll

Throw another name at you you don’t think of as an outfielder but his role has changed Jorge Mato if you want to talk about a guy having value as a bench player Jorge Matteo’s got to play more than a backup shortstop at this point because you have Gunner Henderson and whether he’s here

On opening day or not Jackson holiday is going to be here in Baltimore sooner rather than later you have two you have a already an All-Star caliber shortstop in Gunner Henderson and the best Prospect in baseball for Jorge Mato to truly have some value I want to see if

He can be a backup center fielder I want to see if he can play left field for them and that’s not not as a starter but is a guy that you know can spell you in the late Innings or if someone needs a day off so there’s there are some

Questions there um but you know you know going back to just to finish the your your question about starers he had a rough 2023 we’ll see how he rebounds it might be and look he wasn’t the number one Prospect in baseball or anything like that it might be that he’s not going to

Figure it out to the degree that you hoped maybe a year he is competing with the number one prospects in baseball that’s probably the problem right yeah right exactly so and that’s you know that’s where we are right now with this with this roster you have a lot of

Competition do a whole roster segment with you man like I I like I want to go soup the nuts with you and where we are because I I want to be educated as to where you think this is going because it feels real crowded and and it feels real

Crowded in a way like where they could deal something off and get an arm that could be very useful at any point between now and July whenever let’s break Luke’s here we’ll get some we let’s do a whole bunch more baseball we’ve sort of been roundabout with

Masson and shaky cameras and you know certainly not a shaky front office um on the on the baseball side but the shakeup that is going to be this year of what we hope is massive ownership change a massive sort of comeback to the city sort of thing and some IDE and fresh

Ideas and Cal Ripken and it looking and feeling different on the beginning of Spring training this time next year so we’ll continue to measure this you can find Luke measure him at Baltimore Luke anywhere uh the interwebs travel and social media got a whole bunch of cool

Stuff going on around here uh in regard to sort of the development of what the new Baltimore positiv is going to be I’ve been working real hard on that as well as crabcake row and a couple Super Bowl all the stuff up all of it brought to you by friends at the Maryland

Lottery I’ve uh I’m going to get the crabcake tour back out on the road I have our friends at win donation in mind as well on Jiffy L MultiCare we have a lot going on as we get ready for opening day we’re going to be doing some live

Shows uh downtown before baseball games on Fridays I’m excited about that so a lot of things happening around here that we will U get you up to speed on including the Ravens The Raven stuff happening and combined stuff happening as well Luke and I will be after all of

That we are wnst am570 talson Baltimore and we never stop talking Baltimore positive