Orioles Take Series Against Dodgers + Possible Trade Targets - Ep. 17

In today's episode, Tyler, Clay and Freddie discuss the Orioles series victory against the Dodgers, along with who's hot & who's not. They also preview the tough road ahead, and the MLB Trade Deadline.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Yo yo yo, what is going on, ladies and gentlemen? Welcome back to Orioles Theory, your number one one-stop shop for all things Baltimore Orioles related. I'm your co-host and creator of Oz Theory, Tyler Barbarus. Join with me is my left-hand man, as always, Clay Seljan. We have a special guest in today's episode. Some may know him as Freddie, some may know him as Masson Orioles, some may know him as Freddie the O'S fan. We got Freddie joining us for today's episode. Freddie, how are you doing, man? Welcome on the show.

SPEAKER_02 0:56

I could not be happier to be here. Um, happy Monday.

SPEAKER_01 0:59

Thanks for having me. Yeah, always hope you had a good weekend. I'm finally back in the booth. A long two-week vacation down in Greece, went island hopping, met Kevin Hart, which was pretty cool at a bar. That was really, really random. But I had a nice two-week stretch. Me and Clay were talking before the show. You left and the O's were five games below 500. You got back, and the O's are still five games above or below 500. Seems like this team can't really gain any sort of momentum to finally get them over that 500 mark that we've been hoping that they could get to for quite some time now. However, a very encouraging series win in Los Angeles over the Dodgers, arguably the best team in baseball. And then we're going to preview the road ahead, the O's. They have like a 25-game stretch against teams that are all in the American League playoff hunt, some in the uh NL wildcard playoff hunt. And that is gonna be a time where the Orioles can really, really propel themselves to that third, maybe even second wildcard spot as we approach the all-star break. We're also gonna dive into a new segment. I think Clay and Jake introduced this when I was gone, but it's who's hot and who's not. We're gonna be diving into Orioles players that are blazing hot. See what I did there. And then we're gonna be diving into some players that are a little bit colder. Freddie has a few guys too that we're going to dive into. And then lastly, we're gonna wrap it up. This is what people love about this show: the trade deadline, right? It seems like every year the Baltimore Orioles are one of those teams that are at the forefront of do they buy? Do they sell? To what extent do they buy? And on this show, we love to be delusional and talk about guys that they could buy that they will never actually buy, or guys that maybe they sell, or guys that they buy low or buy high on. We're each going to have a player that we have in mind and what we think will get it done. But before we dive into today's sports talk, let me give a quick shout out to our sponsor, O Squared Residential Design. Look, we know what it takes to build a winning team, and O Square knows what it takes to build winning spaces. They're a woman-owned, family operated company right here in Maryland, specializing in kitchen and bathroom renovations. Whether you're looking to restore, replace, or completely remodel, they deliver excellence in every square inch. Serving homeowners across the state of Maryland. Check them out at osquaresign.com. That's osquaresign.com. All right, the Baltimore Orioles went into Los Angeles, took on the Dodgers, who I believe do they still have the best record in baseball, or is that the Braves?

SPEAKER_00 3:31

That would be the Dodgers. The Dodgers are 49 and 29, the Braves are 48 and 28. So it's about even, but they're a game ahead. But before we get into this series, Tyler, I uh speaking of LA, Kevin Hart had his roast in LA a couple weeks ago. How did you never tell any of us this? This is my mic was muted. This is brand new to me. This is uh this is something that we need to talk about.

SPEAKER_01 3:55

Well, okay, so to give some quick context, me and my brother, we were on the island of Patos, a very beautiful island in Greece, P-A-R-O-S. And we were just hanging out, and I was going on Instagram. I'm a huge Kevin Hart fan, love all of his, love all of his movies. I think he's the funniest person on the face of this earth. And I was following him on Instagram, and I saw he was on a yacht somewhere in the Mediterranean, blue ass water. And I was like, wow, Kevin Hart's in Greece. I looked at the location. He was partying in Mykonos, which is another island in Greece. I was like, huh, like, wouldn't it be insane if you just bumped into Kevin Hart somewhere? I'm like, yeah, I don't think anything of it, whatever. Me and my old older brother and my dad were at a bar, just hanging out, drinking, whatever, having a great time. And we're hanging out with like some girls that are my brother's age, whatever, having a good time. And then one of the girls goes, I think Kevin Hart's outside. Like, what? Like, I said it because I was kind of shocked, but I wasn't because I knew that he was in Greece. And I was like, all right, I don't want to act as like like this super fan that's like Kevin, Kevin, Kevin. But he had a few drinks, a few drinks were in me. And I'm walking outside and I just see Kevin Hart walking right past me. And he's with Ludacris, funny enough. Like, so I was like, wow, two birds, one stone. He was also with his family, so I didn't want to be super obnoxious. But when I was in that moment, I wasn't really thinking that. So what did I say? If you've ever seen the movie Ride Along, you'll know that Kevin Hart's uh video game name in that show, like his Xbox gamer tag is The Black Hammer. And I was like, all right, well, I'm gonna yell the Black Hammer right to Kevin Hart. So I go, hey yo, what up, Black Hammer? And he just looks at me and just laughs and just keeps on walking. I'm like, wow, that was actually really, really cool. But I saw Kevin Hart. I have a video on my phone. My dad like gapped him up. It was really cool. But yeah, like I didn't want to act like a fanboy. If anything, he should be acting as a fanboy because he met the host of Oregon theory, right? So um but no, it's it was a really cool opportunity.

SPEAKER_00 5:56

Awesome, awesome, awesome, awesome. So I guess we'll talk about Friday first. I was gonna say, Tyler, Tyler, in your in your absence, I I want to you know put a pat on my back. I I think I hosted the show very well. I think it got a little off-color more than usual, but I kind of expected that one. But I want to talk about Friday. Freddie, I want you to lead us off. What are your thoughts on Friday? Obviously, very tough ending. Uh what can I say?

SPEAKER_02 6:22

Yeah, and you know, before that game, that was the one game where Shohei wasn't playing because he was on paternity leave, and you're thinking, here's your shot. You know, um, I don't think anyone expected anything in the Dodgers series. Um, but if you're gonna take one, it's gonna be without one of the best hitters in the game. Um, and it's what, 1.15 in the morning back here, and um, I'm watching it thinking we got this, and then all of a sudden you see kind of piece by piece fall apart in the ninth, walk after walk, and then one bad pitch from Ryan Helsley, and I'm just I'm too tired to react and too tired to be mad. But what you're thinking there is there was our chance to steal one from the Dodgers, and we now we're gonna get swept, okay. And I I tweeted out of the time, I think we know we're gonna need to sweep the Angels, because I thought you know we were gonna, you know, fall to it would have been one and five on the road trip. Um, so you're we're in the dumps that carried that mood carried the next day for me. Um, because there was your chance to go into the Dodgers Stadium and shock them, and you totally just blew it. Um but you know what? I I I I know we'll talk about the series more in a minute, but it was different from like the New York series at New York at Yankee Stadium and the Rays series at the shop, whereas the lights weren't too bright for the guys at Dodger Stadium. You know, in New York, the the pictures were trembling on the mound, and we we got blown out blown our doors off every uh four games that series. So, but this time, you know, the Orioles were hanging with them. Obviously, they they took care of business the second two games.

SPEAKER_01 7:55

Yeah, Tyler. Yeah, and I feel like that's really all that you could ask for. So, I mean, I had a hard time watching all these games, especially on the West Coast trip because they were super, super late. And I woke up at like 8:30 on game one, and I was like, Okay, they just lost six to five, right? Like they played really well against a good team. I just checked the box score, and then I go on Twitter, do my my little scroll. I tried staying off it as much as possible. Then all I see is just like burn uh Craig Albert, Ryan House Lee sucks, the Orioles sucked, yada yada yada, and then I see that they had what was it a two, three run lead in that ninth inning?

SPEAKER_02 8:38

It was five three in the ninth, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

Two-run lead in that inning, and I'm like, man, like the craziest part about that too is when I was watching the game high highlights just because I wanted to stay up to date on like the flow of the game, they were down three-nothing, and then Gunner hits a two-run Homer, right? And then uh someone else knocks in a run, Jeremiah Jackson with a gunner to play the game, yeah. Oh, yeah, right, right. Pete, yeah. So it like it was like that's kind of like how that game was going. They had all the momentum, and then you just miss a pitch when you really, really should have just been throwing curveballs and splitters in the dirt. I saw that rushing had a really, really tough game prior to that moment. And it's like the small things this team still cannot do, and it's it's gonna be detrimental to this team's success in the future. Now, with that being said, they bounce back in a big, big way. And bad teams lose games like that on Friday, and then the next day they come out completely shell-shocked and they get blown out. Good teams find a way to win games like that. Great teams find a way to have it be more convincing and not almost blow the lead in the nine. But I could say that this Orioles team is a good team. They're not great, they're not bad, they're not awesome, they're not terrible, they're just like good. And that's how they've been for the past what month, month and a half.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

They're a mediocre team.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

I mean, they're 16 and 13, I think is what I saw since like May.

SPEAKER_03 10:10

Since the Rays sweep, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:12

Yeah, yeah, right, since the Rays sweep. And if you just keep playing to that pace, like you're not gonna get in the playoffs. But it's encouraging to know that they still haven't even played their best baseball of the season yet. They had that mini spurt that start that started against the uh Tigers, and then they brought it over to the Rays, and then Boston, then they really had an opportunity to take the four-game series in Toronto. They couldn't do that either. And after that, it kind of just spiraled down from there. But like we were talking about, Clay, this West Coast trip was gonna really, really make or break this team. But now they have an opportunity, an opportunity to where they're still treading above water. The other teams in the American League wildcard around, they haven't propelled themselves either. If this team just plays great baseball for a month, there's no doubt in my mind that they won't be three games above 500 come the trade deadline. And that's what you just got to keep on doing. And that win on Saturday was definitely the a step in the right direction. Clay, Freddie, your guys' thoughts on Friday. Then we'll talk about what transpired um in that game on Sunday.

SPEAKER_00 11:18

Yeah, I mean, you know, and and to Freddie's point, Friday, it was it just it seemed and to your point, Tyler, too. I mean, we talk about you know, good teams win those games, great teams find a way to not be in those situations. I mean, the Orioles continue to beat themselves, and like Freddie said, it kind of carries over. And the one thing I've given this team all year is that even I mean, besides after that loss in Toronto, before you went to Europe, you know, they find a way to go out and win the next day. Something bad happens, they still find a way to bounce back, besides after that boujay series. But even then, they still they still split that series against Seattle, a four-gamer. But you know, it it's situations like that where you know, the minute you want to give this team credit, and the minute you want to say, all right, you know, Trey Gibson went out, he threw five innings, and and it didn't look like it was going to be good at first. And and just like Freddie said, this team wasn't scared of the bright lights of Dodger Stadium like they were. It's something about Yankee Stadium that just seems to scare this team. Yeah, but you know, it obviously you expect more out of Ryan Helsley, but you know, you have these situations that just seem to slip away. And I I think that's seven or eight games this year, and you're five games under 500. There's seven or eight games this year that they add up. And and you know, we talked we've talked all year, Tyler, about you know, your 54 wins, 54 losses, 54 of wins or losses. That that's besides who you are. When you have seven or eight losses like that, I mean that's that's who you are. I mean, and yeah, uh, me and Jake talked about it, and and you know, Jake was right, you know, shout out to Jake. I mean, we said you know, we were gonna go to Seattle and lose. Somehow this team was gonna you know pull the David and Goliath, take two out of three, sweep the Dodgers, should have swept them, you know. And but now all of a sudden it all evens out again. You're five games under, but you're going over to a three-game series against the Angels, who are 17 games under 500. There's no reason you can't sweep this series. Then you got the nationals at home coming home from a West Coast trip. All of a sudden you win five straight, you're coming home. That's momentum. But yeah, can they capitalize? That's I mean, that's for us to talk about. I mean, shout out Trey Gibson Friday night, shout out the bats for keeping him in the game. I mean, it was just just lack of daysical effort, and shout out Sam Basaio for coming back for making that mistake at the end of Friday night's game and you know coming in catching yesterday and not making us have to have Sam Huff catch. It's baby steps, it's baby steps, but you know, I I never thought that this year would be the year, and sorry to ramble on, but you said this almost gonna win 99 games before the season.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

I don't want to hear this, I don't want to hear this.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

I did, but but I I talk with my heart. But no, I mean when you have a rookie manager and things aren't going your way, it's tough, and this team just doesn't have the pitching, and we'll get into that with who's hot and who's not in the road ahead. But you know, unless they get some sort of pitching, I mean, this is the kind of team that I expect for the next couple months, unless something drastic changes. So let's uh let's uh Friday, why don't you go on and talk about Saturday? We'll we kind of talk about it a little bit. Sunday, yeah. When we get into the more exciting game of the series, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:09

Well, first of all, I mean, how cool is it on top of bouncing back after losing Friday night to face Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who we obviously were nearly answerless against last September. Um, and you you just outplayed him. You know, Brandon Young said um it was Young Saturday night, right?

SPEAKER_01 14:26

Um, that was Rogers, seven innings.

SPEAKER_02 14:30

Right, oh yeah, yeah. No, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

I thought he said Yamamoto, yeah, yeah, yeah. Rogers.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

Who you could see Rogers getting better and better every start this season, and and this was like, give me the ball, I'm gonna go out and beat Mamamoto, and he and he did it. And um, you know, we the ninth inning was still the ninth inning. It was really cute for a second. Um, but we we held on. Um, and then just just Sunday to to end in a total laughter at Dodgers Stadium. You know, you're on the bus over to Anaheim feeling fantastic all of a sudden. Um, and yeah, I think Clay, you said uh something about Bisayo earlier about you know, he wanted the ball Sunday. I I heard some reports say that he told Albanaz, you know, I'm catching on Sunday. And Besayo's has some growth, maturity issues this year. I know that's been well documented, and everyone has an opinion on that. But you know, it was a sign of growth, I think, for me to see him take the ball the next two games and really lock in with the pitching and lock in with the bat and really play a nice uh series finale.

SPEAKER_01 15:26

And I think that's that's honestly the most important part, too, is when you look at a team that isn't as young as they used to be, but these they they still have ways to go on the maturity scale, right? Basal holiday, even Gunner, right? There are many guys that still aren't carrying themselves as true pros, but you're starting to see that shift a little bit, especially in guys like Colton Cowser. That guy, anytime he's on the microphone post-game, he sounds like a well-spoken, true, like 12-year MLB veteran. And you can kind of see that rubbing off on guys like Basile. Now he's still 21 years old, he's gonna make mistakes. That's just a part of baseball. But what you love to see is how they bounce back, how they respond. And they respond in a big way on Sunday. Taking two out of three in LA is probably the hardest thing to do in Major League Baseball. And they did it convincingly. That's what I look at. Now, if you won another close game on Sunday, maybe you're like, okay, maybe this team is gritty. Maybe they actually can win these close one, two-run games against the best teams in the league. But it's always nice to have what a 12-1 victory in LA. I mean, you don't get to see that often. I couldn't tell you the last time the Orioles beat a team that was that good like that on the road. Last time that that last um game that comes to mind is 2024 Yankee Stadium against Luis Hill when we won like 16-4 or something like that. It's just these games that are so complete, but pitching looks looks great. We'll talk about Brandon Young too in this next segment. But it's a collaborative team effort, and that's what's gonna get this team to the postseason is playing for each other, not playing for your egos, putting those aside. And when those egos are put aside, when you're playing for a team, you're really gonna start to see the birds building some momentum, and you just gotta hope that they go into LA, they win tonight. This podcast will be out um Tuesday morning. But for those live, we play the Angels in what two hours, two, three hours. You gotta win this, you gotta win this game tonight. You have Kyle Bradish on the mound. There's no excuse to lose that game tonight. Then tomorrow they're going up against um um blanking. It's not a great, great pitcher, but you have the guys that you want on the mound here over the next three games. It's it's the Angels. How many good pitchers do they have? There's a time for the O's to capitalize, and I'm really hoping that yesterday's victory over the Dodgers in a big statement game can finally, you know, get this team over the hump. And you're gonna start to see linear progression with this team rather than the roller coaster that we've been riding on the coattails of all season. And that's really what's gonna make make or break this team is how they respond now. Do they come out and do they win six to two tonight? Can they win seven to four the next day? Can the offense stay hot? Can the bullpen hold on? Can your starting pitch and continue to give you length and depth? Those things are pointing to yes, they can, but how long can they do it for? That's gonna be the real question. Uh Calais, your final thoughts on that game on Sunday, and then we'll bounce into the segment who's hot and who's not.

SPEAKER_00 18:51

Yeah, absolutely. I I think, like you said, Sunday was as much of a statement when as needed. Uh Brandon Cy Young, you know, I we'll talk about him in the next subject. I mean, it's it's it's incredible what he's doing. But you know, what you mentioned, Tyler, that stood out to me was you know, we talked about a maturity thing. We talked about these guys growing, and and Colton Cows are sounding like a 12-year vet. And you know, I don't think it's a question that these guys are mature and nice and humble guys. I I think I think they're all I can speak the world of all of these guys, but I I think sometimes I think we all question what's missing in there because there's so it just seems like you know, we talk about that Yankee game two years ago that there's something missing from that day that these guys are just winners and want to go out there and be world beaters. It just it just seems like the conversation for five months out of the year is always oh, you know, look at us, we're getting hot, and then it's like you know, things are going bad, and then we're getting hot, it's that roller coaster, and you know, just trying to find some sort of consistency. Yeah, I mean it's you know, at some point this roller coaster has got to you know balance out, and this is the series to do it, and we'll talk about it. You know, who's hot, who's not. But I mean, if it's not now, when is it gonna be? Well, Tyler, you want to take it take it away?

SPEAKER_01 19:59

If there's a player who is scorching hot right now, he's blazing of opposing defenses in the gaps, left, right, and center. It's the guy, Blaze Alexander. This is what Blaze has done in his last 30 games. He has a 388 batting average, an OPS that starts with a fat, juicy one with a decimal on the right, not on the left. He's got three homers, 18 RBIs, four stolen bases. To think that we got Blaze Alexander for a reliever that pitched 30 innings, he was 28 years old. These are trades that really help you win in the margins. And Blaze Alexander has been so insanely impressive this season. He gets on base. You we love that little picture right there. But he does. Blaze Alexander, he gets on base and he's been doing it since May 1st. I mean, I I think with Blaze, his issue in April was he couldn't elevate the baseball. He would line into 105 mile per hour lineouts to the third baseman, to the shortstop, to the second baseman. He wasn't elevating. And I think he had a tweet in like late April. I was like, Blaze can't lift the baseball Alexander. And I think after after that is when you started to see him lift the baseball, pulling baseball, sending baseballs into the um right field gap. It's like this guy can do everything. Really, really, really smooth uh swing. He's quick on the base paths, he's a great defender, too. Now he's not an outfielder. I think he's a deep uh infielder and he should only play the infield. But he genuinely is the pure definition of a true utility man. He's not this Jorge Mateo, he's not Ramon Arias. He can do anything that you need him to do. Lay down a sack, butt, he'll do it. Hell, he'll maybe even get on base with a sack, but if you need him to deliver a bases clearing double in Dodger Stadium, he'll do that for you, too. If you need To swipe it back, he'll swipe it back. Blaze Alexander has been tremendous. He hasn't even hit his arbitration years yet. And I think he's what, 25 or 26 years old? At what point do we say Blaze Alexander is part of the Orioles young core? Is that a crazy question to ask, Freddie? What do you think?

SPEAKER_02 22:17

No, it's not. And he fits the profile of the guy that you want to build your team around. You know, he's got the really the five tools. And he was saying, I think, in an interview earlier this week, that he was just trying to do too much in April, which could be the story of the whole young core trying to do too much. But I mean, you know, he he's he's decided his name is Blaze. You kind of can't go wrong with the guy named Blaze um playing short stuff. So I I I got nothing to add to that. He's he's really fun to watch right now. Light, what you got?

SPEAKER_00 22:48

Yeah, I mean, you know, you touched on it um, you know, April, April he couldn't elevate the ball, but I think the one thing that stood out, even though he was hitting about 170 in April, was like you said, one, he was hitting the ball hard, but two, you know, he wasn't striking out. He was how else can you say he was putting the ball in play? It's it's one thing that we said. I think we fired out a tweet around April 12th, and it was like, you know, Blaze Alexander puts the ball on base or puts the ball in play, but you know, it's not working out. But at the same time, it's like at some point he's gonna find a gap. And since May 1st, he has found a gap. And I I I mean, I as much as I hate Michael Ias, I at the time I loved this trade, and I'm only loving it more. I think I think Blaze Alexander has to be a part of this everyday core. I mean, I'm not expecting him to hit a 310, but you know, surely if he's hitting 270, 280, and he's playing good defense, he's being that utility guy. There's no reason that this guy shouldn't be a part of the core. I mean, I get Jackson Holiday's, you know, supposed to be part of the core, Jordan Westburg, but there's always questions with these guys. Jackson Holiday hasn't produced, Jordan Westburg can't stay on the field. You know, if if you're given a proven commodity, why would you not take it? It's it's the same reason I argued for Luisa Rise all offseason. The guy's gonna hit 310. I don't care if he can't field, I don't care if he can't run. If he gets on base, he gets on base. Taylor Ward gets on base. I mean, yeah, Taylor Ward's home run numbers are down, but you need guys to get on base, you need base runners, especially when you you got to score seven or eight runs a game because his bullpen stinks.

SPEAKER_01 24:15

And that's why you have guys like Pete Alonzo to drive in the runs, like Gunnar Henderson, who I would like to see more RBI production from, but you build the middle of your order to drive in the guys from the bottom and top of your order. And putting Blaze in the eight-hole, Jackson at the nine hole, Ward at the Ward at leadoff. For all you know, you could have guys on second and third with one out, and then all it takes is Gunnar Henderson to dribble one up the middle, and then the birds are up 2-0, then Alonzo hits a homer, and then look, it's 4-0. And that's kind of like how I think Elias has constructed this roster. Now, we he didn't expect Blaze Alexander to be batting 305 with an OPS nearing 800 come the start of uh July, but we all knew that Blaze Alexander was a ball player. And when you have an opportunity to trade an arm, a bullpen arm that isn't even a proven arm, who is older, he hasn't he didn't hit the majors until he was 27, 28 years old for a guy that's coming off a very, very solid year in Arizona. You do that trade 10 out of 10 times. And at the time, I loved Cage Stroud. I was a huge Cage Stroud fan. I thought he was going to be a big part of this bullpen. Him, Rico Garcia, and Dietrich Ens were my three guys that I was banking on to really elevate the spull pen, which is why I wasn't surprised that the Orioles only really brought in what, Ryan Helsley and Andrew Kittridge. Because they expected these guys to produce. And both Enns and Garcia have been producing this year. Dietrich Ens, I miss you dearly. But it's like now you have a guy in Blaze Alexander who all he does is produce and all he does is get on base. And he does all the other things too. And to have a player like that just in your back pocket for the next four or five seasons, it's a luxury. And I think everyone has to, you know, tip their cap to Michael Eyes on that one. But Blaise Alexander certainly is a part of this Orioles young core. I wouldn't be shocked if he becomes one of the Orioles' better players. You see trades that happen like that all the time, where it's a one-for-one swap or a two-for-one trade, and it's two guys that are at the MLB level that are young, that are talented, but one player completely breaks out and the other one is forgotten about in two years. The Orioles could have a situation like that on their hands with Blaze Alexander. I'm damn happy that he's wearing our jersey. Now, another guy that I do want to talk about who is super, super hot, and I made a graphic on him, and we were talking about him earlier. We said that we were gonna get to him. We have to. It's BY. Brandon Cy Young, 273 ERA since May 1st, 1.18 whip, an opponent batting average of 215, 40 strikeouts. Now, I know that Freddie, this was kind of your segment, but I just want to say that Brandon Young, he has always had a good enough makeup to be a solid starting pitcher, but I never expected him to produce at this level. When I looked at Brandon Young when he first made his debut his debut in 2024, I was expecting to see a guy that would give you three, four innings of two, three run ball every single game. He wasn't gonna give you seven, he wasn't gonna give you six. I just saw a guy that is just an okay starter when you need to rest a starter or you need a bullpen game. BY is your guy. The more Brandon Young has pitched, the more he has grown on me. And it's because of that damn splitter. That splitter is fantastic. I don't know what it is with Orioles um pitching labs and coaches, but they know how to teach, how to throw a splitter. Dean Kramer added a splitter, became a much better swinging miss pitcher. Felix Bautista, his splitter has always been phenomenal. Ryan Helsley, he added a splitter. Yenir Kano, he added a splitter. And now Brandon Young has a Kevin Gaussman. Kevin Gaussman, hell, maybe he started the whole thing. But the Orioles, they love pitchers with splitters, and it and it's been working like a charm for BY. Now, the advanced metrics don't really point to him, you know, or they don't point to this being sustainable. But if this can be the guy that just gets you to the trade deadline, and then you say, all right, BY, you're our fifth guy now. We're not gonna send you back down because you've been great, but it's time for you to rest. You don't have to be the workhorse anymore. That is what I admire and love about what Brandon Young has been doing so far this season. And if the Orioles get to the playoffs, a majority of that reason is going to be it was because of Brandon Young. We're gonna look back and say it was because of Brandon Young. Because the Orioles are what, 11 and 1 when Brandon Young pitches? That's gonna be why the Orioles get to the playoffs, because of BY. Now, Freddie, I know that Brandon Young was um on your who's hot side of the table. So just dive in a little bit into what you've seen from BY so far this season.

SPEAKER_02 29:04

Yeah, you know, he's a guy you can count on. Um, you you said uh the advanced stats don't love him, but the final score almost always does. And that's kind of as far as you have to look there. He's got two quality starts against the Mariners, one against the Blue Jays this month, um, ERA under 260 in June. And you saw that, I think it was in um, I think it was last year. He uh with the immaculate inning against the Mets in July, and then he goes out and throws a perfect game into the eighth inning in Houston, which is a really tough place to pitch. Yeah. So you see these glimpses of Brandon Young with his really sharp off-speed pitches, the splitter you were talking about, his curveball's a real nice bender. Um, and and he I think he wants to be the workhorse. You know, I I I tweeted today, I said, I dare you to outpitch him. He may not win the stat line at the end of the season against the you know your Paul Schienes and whatnot, but I dare you to outpitch him on a given night because he's gonna take the ball, he's gonna get you back at the dugout with a chance to win, and that's all you can ask for.

SPEAKER_01 30:01

And it's it's funny because you kind of said like he likes to be the workhorse, and it seems like the Orioles they've always had a guy like that in their rotation, going back to Jordan Lyles in 2021 or 2022, and then Kyle Gibson, and then the year before that, I think it was kind of like Zach Efflin. Yeah, 2025, Trevor Rogers, and now it's Brandon Young. And a lot of those guys, you know, they didn't have sustained success, but they did enough.

SPEAKER_02 30:28

Well, it'd be cool if we could have more than one per year, but you know, yeah, right, right.

SPEAKER_01 30:32

Like it's it's it's one of those scenarios where the Orioles they just always find a guy that will just give them 180 innings over a course of one season and be good, like be good enough to win you games. And that's what Brandon Young does. He's limiting the damage when he has runners on pace. Now, the two-out struggle is still a thing with the Orioles, they will never be able to escape it this season. But he likes being the workhorse, and we're okay with him being our workhorse. If he is at 60 pitches through five innings and then gives but has given up three runs, keep him in the game. Let him go seven innings and giving up four runs. I'm okay with that because I think this offense can put up five and win you the game.

SPEAKER_03 31:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:15

And like I said earlier, if the Orioles make the playoffs, if they get to above 500, if they go and get that big pitcher like the Logan Webb, Joe Ryan, it's not gonna happen. But if they go out and get that big pitcher, you'll look back and you'll say it's because Brandon Young got us to this position now, to where we can be buyers and we don't have to be sellers. That's awesome, and that's why I love baseball. How can you not be romantic about the Brandon Young Resurgence? That's gonna be my my new Instagram or my new Twitter bio. How can you not be romantic about the Brandon Young Resurgence? Clay, real quick on BY, and then we're gonna hop into a player who's cold. Um, and then we'll swing it over to the road ahead.

SPEAKER_00 31:55

Yeah, absolutely. I I think you guys said everything that needs to be said. I mean, kind of like Freddie said, analytically, Tyler, you've known this forever. I I don't give a rat's ass about what the analytics say. Uh at the end of the day, you want to see Chris. Brandon Young is Brandon Young has gone out there and won ball games, and as Freddie also said, you know, I whether the metrics care or not, at the end of the day, usually when he pitches, we win. And right now, if we if we were somehow to sneak into the sixth seed, I'm starting Brandon Young game one. And and what I love about Brandon Young is I mean, I I trashed him all last year. I trashed him. I mean, he started April 4th and April 6th in Chicago this year. I and I was pissed. I was there. I was like, why is Brandon Young here April 6th? Brandon Young has been nothing but great for us. Brandon Young has been the epitome of the American dream. He's gone out there and said, you know what, I'm gonna be counted out, but I'm gonna go out there and win ball games. And you know what? I don't have I don't throw 100. I don't I don't have a curveball that moves or a slider that moves like Paul Skeens, but I'm gonna go win and I'm gonna find a way. And that's the American dream. And it's just I don't know, it's inspiring. It's it's right now, dude. Brandon Young is the only guy in this rotation that I know if he's starting like tonight or last night. I was going, all right, we're winning this one. You looked into the weekend series. I said, I said Brandon Young starting Sunday. Okay, that'll be the game that if I had to bet something on, I'm going with Brandon Young, you know.

SPEAKER_01 33:11

And it's crazy how it has now shifted to that player being Brandon Young, a player that wasn't even a top prospect of ours, a player that was counted out all throughout his uh minor league career, comes up to uh tell the majors, and in his debut, I think gives up three homers. It's like, all right, this is just gonna be one of those guys that we see and that we don't see for six more years. Or and he has found a way to stuck around or to stick around and clay to your point that really is the American gene something that you could ask for out of a guy that looks like a caveman, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 33:45

So yeah, it's to paraphrase paraphrase what Brad Pitt said in Fight Club. I mean, when they take everything from you, you know, there's nothing to lose. Brandon Young's got nothing to lose. He was never he was never given a shot. Now now he's got a shot, and I mean he's showing you who Brandon Young is, and I'm at the point I'm ready to buy a Brandon Young jersey. But uh, Tyler, I guess we'll get into the uh the who's not section. I I'll let you lead this off and and we'll dive in.

SPEAKER_01 34:13

Yeah, so um we we're only gonna do who's not uh once just because we're running a little bit um close on time. But Freddie pointed out a player that started off the season tremendously, and a lot of us expected him to regress at some point, but the regression has kind of hit sooner than expected, and it's kind of been ugly. So, Freddie, why don't you uh take the reins here on who is not hot at the current moment?

SPEAKER_02 34:42

Yeah, and it's tough because it's a guy that I love who's been a lot of fun this season, but it's Riga Garcia, and you know, almost just by the metric of you can't stay as hot as he was. I think he went 33 innings without giving up a hit before um he finally became human. Um, but last month he has a ERA uh, I think north of six, and um, so he's just kind of coming back down to earth. But the reason that I went with Riga Garcia is because he is in an extreme way representative of the entire bullpen. You know, in April a lot wasn't going well, but you had Anthony Nunez who was pitching really well. Enz was lights out, Wolfram lights out, Garcia lights out. You know, in the events that we got to, you know, the seventh inning with the lead, we were able to take it home. Um, but a lot of those guys, Kittridge, I think, is dog water. Uh Wolfram's a little bit cold. Uh Helsley's, you know, been dealing with some injury stuff. The bullpen is kind of, I think it's run its course, and that was always the shakiest part for me, you know, going into the season. Um, I think Garcia's season trajectory is pretty emblematic of the bigger bullpen picture.

SPEAKER_01 35:45

Yeah, well said. And and Rico Garcia is one of those players, too, that he had an expectation coming to the season to, you know, just be a good arm, give us a mid-three ERA, strike out some batters. And we saw what Rico Garcia could do last season, especially in that basis loaded jam in Fenway, no outs, picks up three short strikeouts, and he has done that Hudemiac multiple times before. But I think the pressure that was put on him to be the guy that when there are runners on second and third with one out in the eighth inning to bring him in, that pressure is starting to catch up to him. And I don't think he was expecting to be in that role. Now, people were like, Rico Garcia still shouldn't be our closer because he's a weapon and you want to bring him in in the highest of leverage of situations. And I was like, Well, why wouldn't you have him be our closer, especially with Hellsley out? Like, just give him the ninth inning every single time. If you're that confident, that'll win you the game. And people were like, no, no, no, it's no point in that. Like, you sign Helsley to bring him in. I'm like, he's injured, give it to Rico. And then he started to see Rico be in these six in the sixth inning, seventh inning, eighth inning in all these different scenarios. And I think that Tampa Bay game really kick uh kickstarted it. Um in the eighth inning, it was, um, in that series that we lost. He came in and then he gave up a hit on like his first um base run or on his first batter that he faced. And it's like, okay, well, clearly Rico Garcia isn't the guy that you just throw into any situation and he'll get you out of it. He's not Superman. He's good, but he's not Superman. And the Orioles, they don't have a Superman in their bullpen. Do they need one? No. Would it be nice to have one? Sure. But it's definitely not Rico Garcia anymore. But I think what this team needs from the bullpen, just more of a collaborative effort. Guys that are gonna give you two innings that normally won't give you two innings. Kafka off, Grant Wolfram yesterday, he looked great. Um, he pitched two innings of, and I don't think he gave up a single hit, no earned runt. It's like, you need more of that in your bullpen. Lean on your brother to help your brother rest because he just threw 32 pitches the day before. So that's when I want to see more of the more out of the spoolpen. And if Rico Garcia has to be the guy that has to give you two innings and then not pitch for the next three days, do it, right? So don't rely on one pitcher to get you out of certain jam. Just have a collaborative team effort. And I think when that happens is when you're gonna start to see the spool pen really, really, really start to sharpen up. And you're really hoping that they can because the road ahead that I'm looking at here, and that's what we're gonna talk about now. There are a lot of gritty teams that will work some at bats against you. The road ahead is gonna be a make or break stretch for the Oz. And it seems like we have said this so many times by now. Make or break, make or break, make or break. They have three games in Anaheim against the Angels, then they come back to Baltimore for the Beltway series against the Nats, three games there. Then they have three games against the White Sox. That White Sox series is gonna be huge because that's an opportunity that you have to look your opponent dead in the eye and say, you know what, we're not gonna let you guys go to the playoffs because we want to go. And trust me, the White Sox are gonna feel the same exact way. They remind me of the Orioles from 2023. Young, gritty, pitching's coming out of nowhere. Davis Martin, he's our Kyle Bradish. Just the pitcher that is coming out of nowhere and looks great. Colson Montgomery, that's your Gunnar Henderson. Mimunataka Murakami, that's your Santander. They're just gelling, and that's gonna be a really tough series. Luckily, the O's are at home and they play better at home. And after that, they played the Reds on the road, three games there, three games against the Cubs, three games at home against the Royals, then they have the all-star break. After the all-star break, at Astros big series, and at the Red Sox. That is 24 games. If the O's can go 15-9, get themselves one game above 500. How would you feel? Do we think that this is achievable? Clay, I'll let you start.

SPEAKER_00 39:48

Yeah, I I I think it's very achievable. I mean, uh Tyler, I mean, we've talked about this stretch for the last two months. So you gotta get through this gauntlet in June. Yeah, I mean, it's yeah, 100%. And you know, I said the Orioles need to come out of this at 500, and you know, somehow they're five games under 500 still, but it still feels like there's a chance. I mean, they're only two games out of a wild card spot, and you know, it it's something that just seems like every time that this is supposed to be given away, it's not, and you're you're still somehow in it. You know, you look at this stretch of you know, three against the Angels, three against the Nats, three against the White Sox, Cincinnati. It's these are very winnable games. I mean, you went into Chicago and swept them earlier this year. That brand the first start of Brandon Young, that series. You know, the Nationals kind of had you a little bit earlier this year, and it was a kind of a different team in a sense, though. I mean, it was a different Oriol team, the Nats were hot. And I mean, that's a series you got to really bounce back from, and and you know, I I think they have it in them. I they just have to figure it out. And to touch on Rico Garcia just a little bit, I mean it goes into this. I mean, this bullpen's got to figure it out and have some sort of consistency. But when you pitch Rico Garcia a thousand days in a row, I mean, the wheels are gonna fall off at some point. You know, when when this bullpen doesn't have a superman, and you got to try and put lipstick on a pig, something's gonna happen at the end of the day. You know, this team, and we'll get into it with the trade deadline preview with Freddie's opinion, but they need a superman, you know. Freddie, you know, Felix Bautista's coming, you know, starting his bullpen progression today. That's a good sign. But you know, Tyler Wells' last three games hasn't given up a run. That's something you needed to see. Expected a lot more of him this year. Grant Wolfram going out there, two innings yesterday. But this bullpen just I mean, Keegan Aiken, you know, Albert Suarez, you got Andrew Kittridge, Ryan Hilsey. You got four guys right there that you know, every time they come out of those doors, you don't trust them. And and if Albert Suarez is in the game, it means we're either blowing someone out or down by a lot. Keegan Aiken somehow is still being put in situations where the game matters. You know, Andrew, Andrew Kittridge, too. Andrew Kittridge came out Saturday night and I said, Well, this is this is Friday all over again. This is this is great. You know, Grant Wolfram would have been somebody, anybody but Andrew Kittridge. I would have started the inning with Kano. I mean, it just Yanyer Kano, I mean, he's had a lot more success in the past than he has the last couple years, but I I mean I'm giving him the ball every single time before I'm ever giving the ball to Andrew Kittridge in a safe situation against the Dodgers. Are you kidding me?

SPEAKER_02 42:21

Right.

SPEAKER_00 42:21

I mean, Freddie, what do you think?

SPEAKER_02 42:24

Yeah, well, first of all, like you said, it's great to see Yanyer Kano back to his 23 form, and we saw that all the way back in the spring training. Everyone at Down in Stairs would have just said his off-speed stuff was so crisp. Um, and he was a huge liability in 25, but he was a reason we you know we won 101 games in 23. Um, yeah, you know what? Uh how Orioles would it be after this Dodgers series against the lefty started with a 450 ERA tonight, Monday night to just lay a total egg. I saw the lineup, same thing. I haven't seen the lineup yet. I don't care to see it. Uh you know surprise me, but where's where's O'Neil batting?

SPEAKER_03 43:01

Fifth.

SPEAKER_02 43:02

Oh, I called him. Um, so and I was gonna bring it up.

SPEAKER_01 43:06

I mean, yeah, go ahead and pop in the nine-hole, yeah. Basil bring it off for sure.

SPEAKER_00 43:11

To me, dude. I mean, I I honestly, and I guess you know the analytics disagree with me, but I've always said right now with Blaze Alexander hitting 310, 312, I'd have Taylor Ward lead off Blaze Alexander behind him, and then I'd have I'd have either Gunner or Basayo, I'd have Pete batting fourth, and then I'd have Gunner or Basayo batting fifth. And the way Gunner's playing, I'm batting Gunner fifth. I I don't care if you're going too righty heavy at the top. When you got a guy hitting 312 and Taylor Ward having a having an on-base percentage in the 400s, you can't bet Blaze Alexander behind Tyler O'Neal. That makes no sense, right? It makes literally no sense. You have Toby Mayo batting cleanup, hitting 188, who's having one of the coldest stretches of his season, you know, and then Tyler O'Neal, who who couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat. I mean, it it makes literally no sense.

SPEAKER_01 44:00

Well well, like you said, Freddie, um you gotta give Basayo the day off. And I don't want to talk about this line too much, but um you were you you were talking about Yanni Rukano and how he's really shifting. And obviously we touched on Rico Garcia. There are certain guys that we don't trust in the spool pen yet, but how crucial is it going to be for this bullpen to start gelling while the rotation is starting to bud into their own thing? You're seeing Braddish, Spaz, Rogers, Young all do their thing. Gibson's coming to life too a little bit. How important is it for this bullpen to get it going while the rotation is also getting it going?

SPEAKER_02 44:44

Well, because you want to see what your team can do when you're all firing all cylinders, right? We've had stretches where the bullpen's been trash, but the offensive starting's been good. And and I think a bad bullpen is the most disheartening third of the trio to have not playing well. So um, I want the team to be able to see exactly how good they can be. And against this stretch, I think before the all-star break, the teams are about to face are combined 24 games under 500. We've said this a couple times the last couple seasons, and the Orioles have failed the test every time, but you gotta just put your foot down and win some ball games here. Go on a uh a 15 and 5 stretch or something crazy like that, and just you know, give your fan base something to cheer about and give the team something to really believe in. Because I I don't see that they totally believe in themselves, you know, after after prolonged stretches. So um it's important to your point, just because the team needs to see what they can do.

SPEAKER_01 45:38

And they haven't swept the series since they swept the White Sox earlier this year. Oh yes, they did sweep the Rays at home, but you only have two sweeps all season long. That White Sox team is a completely different team now than they were back then. Yeah, and it's like, can you actually sweep an Angels team that is not good? Can you beat a Nationals team that you have to have confidence that you're better than them? Yeah, like how much can they add on here down the stretch, or not down the stretch, but down the stretch before uh you hit the all-star break? How many games can they stack? It was 2023, and this team went on a 10-game win streak, and it was like, okay, this team is legit. You started to see it flour, or you started you started to see them flourish when Adley Rutschman made his MLB debut, and they were, I think, what, 12 games above 500 or 15 games um above 500 with Adley in 2022, and in 2023 they got off to a an okay start, but then they had that 10-game winning streak in what June, I think it was. And then it was like, okay, this team is legit. We started off the season really hot in May of or in April and May of 2024, and they just completely collapsed. And ever since then, they've been playing some poor baseball. But I still believe that at their best, this team, like you said, Freddy, has a 15 and 5 stretch in them. And all you need is a 15 and five stretch over your next 20. And all of a sudden, this team is two, three games above in the wild card spot, and then they're on cruise control from there. All you gotta do is just play above 500 baseball and you for the rest of the season, and you will be a playoff team. That's how I view the road ahead. It's a scary one, um, considering you know how gritty some of these teams really, really are. And I think that they will challenge um our pitchers, um, the hitters, they're gonna try and attack really early because they view bad pitchers on the mound. But you don't want to underestimate your opponent down this stretch here. But before we dive into who we think the Orioles could possibly target at the trade deadline, I want to give one more quick shout out to our friends at O Squared at Residential Design. If your kitchen or bathroom needs a championship level makeover, they are your MVPs. They're family operated excellence that serve the state of Maryland. Hit them up at osquaredesign.com. That's osquaredesign.com. All right, fellas, I love this segment because it sh it points to how delusional we Orioles fans can be. I have a name off the top of my head. Most people know that I've been a Logan Webb believer for so, so long. He has been the number one guy that I've wanted the Orioles to target, but I'm gonna change it up this time. There's a center fielder for a team that we're competing against for a wild card spot that I think if you slot him in to your center to your center field spot, he is your leadoff hitter for the next three seasons, and he is the premier defensive player that you need, and he has the power that this team has kind of been lacking. And that's Byron Buxton. I think Byron Buxton is a perfect player for the Orioles. Now it's not going to happen, but he's a guy that has been batting, I think, 345 um in his last 13 games. He hit a home run, I think, in like four straight games. Um, he has a 356 batting average, six home runs and 12 RBIs in his last 11 games. Um his OPS starts with a nine. Um, he has a 927 uh OPS. He's on pace for 55 homers and 91 RBIs. If you put him on a team like the Orioles, you get a lot of base runners with walks and and with sacrifice bunts. You put guys in scoring position. Byron Buxton would end the year with 125 RBIs. Now, with that being said, I think there's a very, very small chance that he is traded. I would say it's 5%, maybe even less than that. But if there's a package that you could send to get Byron Buxton, I think it would look something like a Nate George. He's your headliner. You're gonna have to give your top prospect away for him, but it's a center fielder for center fielder. Give up some other pitching. They need pitching with Joe Ryan gonna be a free agent after next season. They need pitching too. Give him a Trey Gibson, give them an Ike Irish, give them an Aaron Estrada. But this is a position player that could completely transform your offense and take you from a top 10 offense to the offense. Imagine a lineup with Ward, Henderson, Buxton, Alonzo, Badley, Lasayo, Cowser, Blaze, Holiday. And then off the bench you have Beavers, you have Tavares, right? Who now all of a sudden is your fourth outfielder. That would really take this O's team over the top. And I'm optimistic that maybe they could call him and see what's going on. But unless the Twins lose eight out of their next 10 games and fall six, seven games back of this wildcard spot, I don't think there's a chance that they trade him. But I like to be crazy, I like to be delusional, and I think that there's a chance that maybe Biden Buxton could get dealt at this year's trade deadline. The question remains whether or not the Orioles are gonna be one of those teams to target Buxton. Clay, your thoughts on Buxton real quick, and then the player that you would like the Orioles to go out and get.

SPEAKER_00 51:13

Yeah, I I mean I Byron Buxton was a guy that I was gonna say, you know, I'll put it this way: the Orioles can go two paths, and it's gonna come down to the next 15 games. I mean, Byron Buxton in the middle of this order, I mean, Byron, he doesn't have the speed he used to, but the power's there, you know, the average is there. I mean, it's all right there for you. The fielding Byron Buxton, I mean, he's the premier bat of this trade deadline. The question is, is he willing to leave Minnesota? I mean, he he showed last year he didn't want to leave and he was loyal, but to a point he's gonna be 33 next year. You know, does he want to win, or does he just want to be a Joe Maurer type? And that's a question he'll have to answer in the next couple weeks. But I I mean, you you start that trade with a Trey Gibson, uh, an Enrique Bradfield Jr., uh, whatever the hell you got to do to get him. I mean, you want to win. I mean, if you're if you're sitting there at the all-star break and you're two, three games above 500, and you say, you know what, we got to go after this. Byron Buxton's the guy that it has to be. And and if you go the next 15 games and you're still four or five games under 500 going into the all-star break, you're looking to trade someone. You're you're not talking about Byron Buxton. You're you're talking about in Espn's top 100 trade deadline candidates, the Orioles had five guys, and there's a reason they had five guys. You didn't expect to be at you know where we are right now, but you know, if we don't turn it around, Byron Buxton's out of the equation, and and it doesn't fit what we're trying to do at that point. But if you turn it around, Byron Buxton's the perfect guy, and and I mean, I I think these next three weeks decide whether this team is going after Byron Buxton or we're talking about potentially trading Adley Rushman? No, it's not a conversation I want to have, but I want to say this we're if if we're at the all-star break and five games under 500, as affordable as I think Adley's extension will be, you got to think about the fact that we're looking at a lockout. We're there's a lot of question marks right now. Could Adley Rutschman bring you some major league ready talent that can help you in 2026 or some prospects like some pitching? You know, it's a tough question to ask, and me and Jake talked about it last week, but you know, at some point you got to acquire pitching. At some point, you can add Taylor Ward, you can add Pete Alonso, you can add Byron Buxton. But if Brandon, if counting on a Brandon Young heroic effort is is what we we have to lean on, these guys aren't the right, that's not the right answer. And Ois has to answer that.

SPEAKER_01 53:44

I do think there is like a possibility to where yes, the Orioles could be sellers, but they could sell to buy. And what I mean by that is trade off guys that are expiring, like a Taylor Ward, but instead of trading Taylor Ward and not doing anything about it, you could also trade Dylan Beavers and other prospects for Buxton, right? And then it's like, is Buxton better than Ward? Does Buxton without Ward in that lineup take you higher than Ward? But you know what I mean? Like like now.

SPEAKER_00 54:22

I totally I get I get what you mean, and and I I think it's a great idea. And you know, but I also sit there and think, I you know, if if you if you trade Ward, you trade Beavers, you know, and these are just examples, and you go acquire Buxton, you're not any better than you were. Yeah, I mean you're adding I I I think you're adding you're adding 20 more homers to the lineup, which is great, it's incredible, but you're take you're also taking away a guy with an on-base percentage in the 400s. I mean, you're maybe you're getting a game or two better, but is that is it worth trading a Dylan Beavers and trading the future for a 32-year-old that when you're not really gonna win a World Series? I mean, I'm I'm still under the belief that the window's kind of closed at this point, and and I'm I'm hoping I'm wrong, but it it just doesn't seem it's doesn't make sense. I mean, it makes more sense for them to do what they did last year with you know going and getting Boston Bateman, trading off O'Horn, trading off Loriano than it does to be stagnant in a sense.

SPEAKER_01 55:18

It just well, I the one thing I I will say, and then we'll let Freddie jump in, is um this team this year is significantly different than the team we had last year. The team last year you could tell they were dead in the water come May, come June. This year, you can tell that you know they have a little bit of fight in them. The team last year would have gone swept in LA. The team last year wouldn't have walked off the Tigers, the the team last year did walk off the Dodgers. I mean, it was well, yeah, but that was in September when all things were gone and it was the greatest.

SPEAKER_00 55:52

2131 day.

SPEAKER_01 55:54

Yeah, and the greatest Baltimore Oreo of all time in Samuel Bessiah. But it's like this team feels different and in a good way. They're better. Now, they're still not the team that we saw in the first half of 24 and in 2023, but they're better than they were last year, and by a very, very wide margin, too. And that gives me the optimism that this team will be able to turn it around. They just have to play their cards right. And another thing, too, that I said um last year, after we traded for Boston Bateman, after we traded uh O'Hearn and Loriano and Cedric Mullins and and Ramona Rias away. Like we have a guy in Twine Palmer who's looking great right now down in Frederick. Anthony Nunez was part of the Cedric Mullins deal. He's a he's a big league arm. Boston Bateman is one of the best um um starting pitchers in the Orioles farm system. They revamped the farm, but not with the expectation that, hey, these guys are gonna pitch for us in three, four years. Maybe they thought of it okay, now it gives us more of a variety and more of a prospect pull to trade away without completely killing our farm. And I think that's valuable, and I think that Elias is gonna view it as that. Um, and essentially, if they do end up trading a guy in Boston Bateman, who I really, really love as a player and as a prospect, you're essentially trading away Ryan O'Hearn and Ramon Loriano for whoever you get in that Boston Bateman package. And is that player better and will he be here longer than what Loriano and O'Hearn were here in Baltimore for? I think that's kind of how I have to view it, or at least that's how I'm choosing to view it. But I think the Orioles, a center fielders, definitely their position of need. I like for them to acquire a lefty two out of out of the bullpen. Um, I think Chapman, I even think Mike Trout is maybe a possibility too. Who knows? Um but yeah, two two injury prone guys. But I saw Freddy's eyes light up a little bit when we mentioned Chapman. So, Freddie, I'll let you uh take the reins here on who you'd like the Orioles to go out and buy.

SPEAKER_02 58:07

Yeah, so first of all, real quick, I don't think there's a universe in which the Orioles do anything resembling selling unless we totally flip our boat upside down these next three weeks. Yeah, um, you don't bring on Pete Alonzo to sell first year. This team has so much more punch than it did last year, and this race is a lot tighter this year. And the team that makes the most moves and improvements on the margins is the one that's gonna sneak in the playoffs. And as you know, you just get into the dance in this new playoff format, and whatever happens happens. We're not getting rid of Adley this year. I as much as Elias is looking at his chops at the prospect package he could get back, Adley's gonna stay. Um now, the guy I really want to see them go out and get, as you mentioned, Tyler, is Heraldus Chapman. And this is coming from a guy who hates Araldus Chapman. I I I've never enjoyed seeing him play, but he's your lefty who you know you're gonna put in there, and he's gonna finish the game out. And he's found something again in Boston, and we're probably gonna need to give up something that Boston needs, maybe first base or center field product, maybe EBJ for Chapman Straight because relief pitching is gonna be a premium. Um, but uh you go out and get a guy who's been doing it for 15 years that everyone knows his name, and who stops the TV and stops the show when he's on TV. So um I one thing I could see um that may look like selling, but it's not, is a Grayson style move, but for Jordan Westburg. And you may be betting that he is not gonna be what we want him to be, and hopefully another team sees more in him and and gives him a gives us a major league ready piece. But I I think I think Chapman's a guy to go get the deadline because I want to see this bullpen reinforced with somebody who's been there before.

SPEAKER_01 59:46

So, real quick, a very, very interesting thought there, Freddie, on the um like Grayson Rodriguez style trade with Jordan Westburg. And the team that I think could really, really, really use Westie, at least next year and for the years prior, is the Miami Marlins, a team that the Orioles have done business with before. They don't really have a third baseman. Uh Connor Norby isn't sticking at third for them. Um, he's viewed more as like a um uh second baseman, maybe a corner out shoulder. They don't have a first baseman either. The Orioles, they have some of those in the farm. You have a guy like Creed Willems who I think has first baseman flexibility. Um but Jordan Westbrook, too, is a guy that you throw in the two-hole in that Marlins order next year with guys like uh Kyle Stowers, Liam Hicks, Otto Lopez, Xavier Edwards, and that top five looks much better. And they have the starting pitching that the Orioles could value. And we've seen the Marlins time in and time out be sellers at the deadline when they could be buyers. I don't think that the Marlins change their old ways. I think they will sell once again this year, and you could go out and get a guy who I've thought could have always elevated this rotation in Sandy Alcantara. And it seems like a crazy idea to trade a guy in Westbrook, who I've always said is the glue of this team, who I still think can be a good major leaguer. But when you have a guy in Blaze Alexander who is looking like a better player now and better player next year and the year after that, you could go all in and get a guy in Sandy who will give you a good playoff start. And I think that that's a good idea. And and I didn't really ever think of that, um, like trading away Westburg for a starter. But if anything, though, I will say that I do think that's a move that this team probably makes in the offseason. I think you're right about that. Yeah, yeah. Teams are probably gonna want to see how Westburg looks, how his you know, um rehab is coming along, how he's throwing. Is he a second baseman now? Can he not play third because his shoulders or because his elbow is shot? There are a lot of things that teams are gonna have to um consider before even taking a chance on Westburg. But I do think that that is a possibility that was definitely brought to our attention after Grayson Rodriguez was traded. I think a lot of us O'S fans have kind of um turned our shoulder uh to the idea of us trading Westburg in a one-for-one swap with someone. But when they did that with Grayson, it was like, okay, if they can't get guys that can play, that can be on the field for us, they're gonna trade him when their value isn't at uh when their value isn't at rock bottom. And they somehow got Taylor Ward for Grayson, and I think Westburg probably has a little bit more value than Rodriguez, in my opinion. Um, so we'll just have to see what happens with that. But the three players that we've highlighted, um, Byron Buxton, Haroldis Chapman, and Sandy Alcantara.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:02

And can I make one last comment? Sure. Just to close this out. I you know, I know I'm wrong. I and Freddie, you're right, I'm wrong. The Orioles are not going to trade Adley Rushman this year. I know that. But what I also know is is you gotta remember why. The question is always why. And it's because Michael Eyes knows if this doesn't work, he's out, he's gone. We're we're at the point now, you know, this is year eight. You know, if if the Orioles get to July and you lose eight out of your next 10 and you got to sell, you're done. You're you're you're gonna go be the GM of the Rockies and it's over with. Yeah, you you this is, I mean, we make or break, we always say it. This is the most important 15-game stretch of Michael Ias's Oriol tenure because this is gonna say, well, and and and what scares me too is if they do go say three and seven, four and six in the next 10, and Michael Ias says, I don't want to be fired, we're gonna be six games under 500 and so F it and just buy. And and all of a sudden, you're gonna sell your farm out for a team that doesn't have it, and then this team that we figured out doesn't have that heart, even though they're nice guys, they don't have that that winning piece, they just don't have it. We figured that out scenario, and it's the nightmare scenario that Michael Ias will bring this shit down with him, and I and I know he will, he is not a good person. Michael Eyes will bring this down in a heartbeat, and that is what scares me right now. It we're staring that down.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:30

It isn't an Orioles an episode of Orioles' theory, if oh my god, if Clay Seljan isn't uh talking shit on Michael Elias. And I hope that I'd love to, but I mean like I think that during my two-week absence it wasn't a one-hour episode on how much you hate Michael Lias. I hope you actually talked about some good things that this team was doing, maybe like Kyle Bradish's giving in Chinese.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:57

Kyle Bradish, Brandon Young. I mean, I I I I only spent like 20 minutes on Michael Elias. Neil got some time, and you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:05

Well, that's well, that's better than the 40 that you spent uh a few weeks ago. So we're making progress, but uh he had it coming. He definitely had it coming. But that's gonna wrap up today's episode of Orange Theory. We appreciate you guys for tuning in to this hour-long episode. We're trying to keep them shorter, but sometimes us Oriules fans, all we can do is talk, talk, talk. Now, real quick before we end things, I just got a report that the twins front office would like to trade Joe Ryan and Ryan Jeffers at this year's trade deadline. Jeffers, her Pat Ragazzo, um, an MLB beat writer. That could be interesting. Um, he may want to add to the roster at deadline due to the weakness of the AL is also a possibility. But like I said, the twins could be a team that sells to buy. And kind of like what I said, the Orioles could do, Joe Ryan, I guess, is another guy that if there's an opportunity to go get a guy in Joe Ryan, they should go do that. But just wanted to point that out real quick, just because I that popped up as I was wrapping things up. But thank you guys for tuning in. You guys can listen to O's Theory on all platforms Spotify, Apple Music, or Apple Podcasts, uh, Pandora, Amazon Podcasts, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts, we got you guys covered for the whopping price of free 99.0 Smackaroos. Make sure to check us out on all socials at Orioles Theory on TikTok, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. The YouTube page is up and running too, where we post short clips from these podcasts. So make sure to check us out over there and leave a like and subscribe for Tyler Barbarous, Clay Selgen, and Freddie. Freddie, let them know where they can find you on social.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:01

Yeah, on Twitter, Freddie the Oz fan. Most of you probably already uh knew that. But um, yeah, come on by and say hi.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:08

And then Clay, you guys don't have to follow him. But if you guys want to, Claytrain TV, and then me, Tyler Barbaris underscore. Once again, thank you guys for tuning in. Uh, we will be we will be back after the angels series. Uh, hopefully the O's can take three um in Anaheim. That would be pleasant. Five and one in their next six or in their last six. Doesn't sound too bad, but Freddie, thank you for joining us, Clay. Thank you for being you and always shitting on Mike Elias. And we will catch you guys in the next one. Peace out.