Orioles Lose Angels Series in Devastating Fashion: Whats Next? - Ep. 18

In this episode Clay and Tyler break down the O's series loss to the Anaheim Angels and take a dive into the systemic issues surrounding the O's.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:26

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 Tyler Barbaris, your creator and co-host of O's Theory. Joined by me, as always, is Clay Selgen. Clay, obviously, we're going live right after the Orioles lost. 7-6 killer in Anaheim. So, what are your vibes right now? What are you feeling? We're gonna dive into that. But before we do, 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 Squared 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 osquedesign.com. That's osquaresign.com. All right, Clay, lead us off here, man. Seven, six loss and extras to the Angels. The O's fall the series after they just won a series against the reigning defending champions, LA Dodgers. What's going through your head right now?

SPEAKER_00 1:48

It's just never gonna end. I mean, you know, we I left work today and the Orioles were up 5-2. Sammy hit two homers, and we'll get into it, but I mean this is this is the 10th you know, worst loss of the year of the year, and it's June 25th, June 24th. I mean, it's it's miserable at this point, Tyler. I mean, it's I there's so much you want to say, but you know, it all goes back to you know, we had a we had arrested bullpen today, so you know, pulling Trey Gibson early when there was no need to do that because you have the off day tomorrow. Now, you know, you put yourself in a situation where Keegan Aikens, you're you know, lone and only hope going into the 10th inning, and it just can't it can't happen. Uh, I feel like that's been another phrase of the year, it just can't happen. But I don't have much to say. I mean, it's if we're keeping this PG and keeping this the way it has to be said, I mean, this is I'm speechless at this point.

SPEAKER_01 2:45

Yeah, and it's hard not to be, um, considering the fact that we were up 5'2, we had a great second and third inning, Pasayo back-to-back, endings with a homer. Trey Gibson was cruising. You're expecting for him to, you know, throw into the sixth inning. He was only at 66 pitches when he got removed, I believe. And I have a list of things that I could say played an impact in this blown lead and the loss, and I tweeted it. The multiple errors, I mean, Blaze had one, Gunner had, I think, two, and Gunner's error ultimate in the first inning ultimately costed the team two runs because Jorge Soler hit that home run. And then additionally, not scoring since the third inning, that is always an issue. You need to have constant run production. It's kind of like cash flow, right? Like you want to have constant cash cash flow. You want to have constant run production. You don't just want to, you know, get a big check for $100,000 in November and then not get paid again until July, right? You want to have money coming in every month.

SPEAKER_00 3:56

And for the Orioles, they want to give me $100 million in November, I will shut my mouth until July.

SPEAKER_01 4:02

Well, I would definitely do that too. But I was just using it as an example because it's like, what good is there if you can't score runs in the final six, seven innings of the ball game? And we saw that tonight. And then additionally, trusting Rico Garcia in the eighth after a god-awful month. Um, now I was I wasn't opposed to bringing him in during the eighth inning. I honestly think it was the right call, but it's like, at what point do you try and play your chips differently? And do you put Tyler Wells in the eighth or Cano in the eighth when they have been better pitchers this month? Um Kittredge over Helsley for the final out in the eighth inning, I thought was silly. Uh, you pay a guy $14 million a year to get you big outs like that. And there's no excuse to make as to why the $14 million man couldn't pick up four outs instead of three. And he looked great today as well. So it just seems like a bunch of overmanaging by an unexperienced manager and a lack of pride by the players and a lack of effort by the players. And that's kind of been the theme for the Orioles all season. Anything to add on that, Clay?

SPEAKER_00 5:12

Yeah, I mean, I mean, you really look at it, you know, they brought up two weeks ago or a week ago that Kyle Ripkins kind of being hands-on nowadays with with fielding and player development and make sure these guys are playing. You know, you brought in Mike Schultz for this reason, you know, to help out the organization from a structural perspective. And obviously it's not working. I I mean, it's not to say it's their fault, it's not. I mean, these guys are major league baseball players, they need to be able to do what they're supposed to do. You know, I think I think about the air with Blaze when Blaze cut off Gunner on that ground ball, I want to say it was the third inning. I mean, it was it's simple plays like that that you know they've been making, we've been making since we were eight years old. That you know that's the shortstop's ball. I mean, and and I get it's you know, it's heat of the moment stuff happens, but it's little things like that, and the little things will come back to bite you. I mean, the ground ball on with two outs up by one in the tenth. I mean, Keegan Aiken, Pete Alonso, nobody's getting over to cover first base on a weak grounder. That was the game, right?

SPEAKER_01 6:10

Pete's gotta get there.

SPEAKER_00 6:11

Pete's gotta get there. That's not Pete's ball. That ball was never Pete's ball. He should have first thing he should have been doing was running to first base.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

I agree. I'm now I don't want to come here and like knock Pete Alonza because he kept us in the game. He had a fantastic game and he's been a gold glover at first base. But this is the third time the Orioles have lost a game like this in the ninth inning, or I mean, actually the ninth inning or extras when they've been walked off because of a defensive error. The first one being in Pittsburgh with Anthony Nunez, or I believe that was in the eighth inning. Um, Anthony Nunez, two outs, runner on third, completely kicks the ball, which would have been a routine um uh ground out to the pitcher toss over to first. That's one. Then you have the Kobe Mayo error down in Miami, that's two. And now you have this, that's three. The Orioles are what six games behind or behind or six games under 500. If you win three of those games, you'll you're you're only three games behind now. And it's small things like that that have just been adding up. And we've said this many times on this show, Clay, is that fundamentally sound baseball teams win games like this. And I've been saying too, good teams, like when we saw the Orioles do the whole um extra inning walk-off spurt at at home about a month ago, I was like, good teams win games like that, and they had, and they were doing that. And it just seems like today could have been another one of those instances where you win a pivotal game three when you're up five-nothing and you've got a series victory. But it all comes back to the fundamentals, and that's why the Orioles lost this game on top of the poor managing from Craig Alvarez. And it just seems like an ongoing trend right now for the O's, and it's gonna be tough for them to gain momentum after losing a series to the worst team in the American League. Anything else you have to add about this game? Then we'll move on to the actual script on uh some things that I do want to talk about.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

Yeah, uh, nothing much more to add. I mean, we we pretty much covered it. I mean, you look at games like today, guy games like yesterday, really. I mean, you look, Shane Boss had the horrible first inning, but you know, even then we didn't get a hit until the sixth.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

I mean, 12 ERA Ryan Johnson had an Oskin.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

Ryan Johnson had a 12 ERA and we couldn't get a hit. I mean, it's disgusting. It's little things like that. I mean, it's just it it's like you said, Tyler, you want to give them the credit when credit's due, but then at the same time, uh, they're not a good team. Uh, and I hate saying it. I it hurts me. I obviously don't want this team to be successful, but when when little things like this continue to happen, it's it's a trend. And and the definition of insanity is to continue to do the same thing over and over thinking it's gonna change.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

That's that's been this team since July of 2024.

SPEAKER_01 9:04

It's and the funny part about that too is that definition of insanity fits how I feel as a fan. I'm like, oh, the O's won three in a row, they're gonna get it going, and they keep on losing two, three games after that. And that's what insane insanity is. It's thinking that it'll change when it just keeps on happening over and over and over again. Um, one thing I do want to talk about real quick, though, is Gunnar Henderson. He's been having a better month of June. Gunnar Henderson usually turns it around in June. But at what point does your franchise superstar, quote unquote, get you that that that clutch it in the eighth, ninth inning, extra innings? He hasn't done that all year. He didn't do it last year.

SPEAKER_00 9:47

The only time I could think of him doing it was that homer off Waskar Brazzabon when he was a Marlin two years ago.

SPEAKER_01 9:53

It was like the home run against the Rockies. He had the Homer against the Rockies in the eighth, uh, I think give us a it's yeah, sure, it's one or two here and there, but I mean, Tyler, I mean go back to the playoff game.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

We we saw he sucked in the playoffs, too. And this isn't a dig a gunner. It's it's just it's it's something to do with the organization that's just not there's just not something that's not right. I mean, these guys like Taylor Ward come in, and you know what, Taylor Ward's homers are down, but Taylor Ward's on base percentage over 400. Pete Alonso started slow, got it going, and now he's putting up Pete Alonso numbers that we all know and expected. These guys that are coming from outside the organization, Blaze Alexander, he's hitting 300. These guys that are coming from outside of the organization are the ones that are contributing and producing. It it's the question of why is Gunner not producing to what he's capable of, or even close to what he's capable of, because he's hitting 230. That is not even close to what he's capable of. No, Adley Rutschman, yeah, sure, we're getting the best Adley Rutschman we've seen in a couple years, but this isn't the one one that we took. Haston Kirstad, I mean, I he had the health issues, but it's been enough time now in sample size that he could have been here. We went out, we went and outsourced signed Tyler O'Neill.

SPEAKER_01 11:07

It's it's an issue, it's a systemic issue that they haven't been able to overcome. And I'm not gonna come here and say, like, yeah, I'm not paying Gunnar Henderson 400 million dollars. I mean, no, I because I would. You you would, but at the same time, it's like as the year continues to go on, this is gonna suck what I'm about to say, but as the year continues to go on and as the O's continue to struggle to find consistent um and or when they struggle to play consistent winning baseball, they haven't been doing that. At what point do you just say, okay, we can probably get a crap ton for Gunner and continue to be competitive because you have other guys like Basal, like Beavers, like Adley, like Kalsier, you can build around Alonzo, Holiday, maybe even. I don't know. Like, at what point does that thought go through Mike Elias' mind? Because if you're not gonna get an extension done, it's looking very unlikely. You probably should trade him. And then and that's just the real the reality of baseball. I mean, they did that with Manny Machado.

SPEAKER_00 12:20

I said it when you were uh when you were in Greece. It's me and Jake took 10 minutes at the end of the episode that Sunday, the Sunday before you came back. It was you know, at some point, you know, we got the lockout coming next year, you got the way this year has looked. Gunner's up in 28.

SPEAKER_01 12:38

It's gotta be more talked about.

SPEAKER_00 12:40

Are we gonna wait till 2028 to trade him? You know he's hitting the open market, it's not signing an extension. The Orioles could offer him 500 million dollars, Caporis is not gonna do it. Right, it's it's not gonna happen. Adley Rushman, Adley's a free agent at the end of next year. Are you are you seriously gonna and and what I mentioned? I mean, we talked about this with Freddie the other night. You know, Michael Ayas is at the point where you know it is sink or swim with him, and I'm not even making this about Michael Ayas, but this tenure we're in year eight in the middle of a window. If if you have to sell again at a deadline, something something's gotta drastically change.

SPEAKER_01 13:17

I agree.

SPEAKER_00 13:17

The one thing are you gonna are you gonna risk losing next season with the lockout and not getting anything for Adler Rutschman, Dean Kramer? Then we'll get into that, you know, talking about the rotation. But is she really gonna risk that?

SPEAKER_01 13:32

And the thing is, too, is Clay is that you could trade away Gunner, but it doesn't mean you're rebuilding. I mean, like you would get MLB ready players if you were to trade someone like Gunnar Henderson, like you could still compete.

SPEAKER_00 13:48

Like you could trade Gunner to the Seattle and get any of their starters, you could and that's just an example, but you can get you can't.

SPEAKER_01 14:04

This isn't an overreaction. I'm not saying trade Gunner or don't extend him.

SPEAKER_00 14:10

And if it's an if it's an overreaction, it's it's warranted.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

Yeah, it's not, it's it's it's it's just reality. Like you have a player that you haven't been able to win with consistently, you have a player that he hasn't been able to produce consistently. At what point do you guys just cut your losses and try and get a win in the return that you would get for a player of Gunnar Henderson's caliber? And I'm not saying to do it, like I don't want people to be like, oh, Tyler thinks they should trade Gunner. No, but the thought of it is going to become a lot more serious if this team can't turn it around quick. And that's what I want to get to here, Clay, because I I I do want to move, but I'm sure we will have further conversations about Gunnar Hendrick.

SPEAKER_00 14:59

I'm sure we'll have a YouTube episode about it where we just sit for 20 minutes and talk.

SPEAKER_01 15:03

I'm sure. And and and if the Orioles, like I just said, don't turn it around quickly, it's gonna grow increasingly likely that the Orioles could potentially trade and not maybe at this year's deadline, but maybe in the offseason or or next trade deadline. I'm not saying we should do it, but it is definitely an increasing possibility. But with that being said, I talked about how the Orioles have to turn it around quickly. And on what day do we record? We recorded Sunday. On Sunday, we kind of broke down the road ahead. You have an upcoming series against the Nationals who are who are no slouch against the White Sox, who are no slouch, against the Reds, who are no slouch. These are gritty teams. You need to win some of these, you need to win all of these series. Every single one until All-Star Break, maybe with the exception of one series loss. And you have time, you have, I think, six more series to go, five or six more to go. You gotta win all but one of them. And you and you probably have to get a sweep in there at least once. But the one thing I I will say about this team right now is that while they seem healthy, they really aren't. And there are still players that are injured that are on the injured list or that are on rehab assignments that could produce for this team when they return. And one of those players is is Dylan Beavers, obviously. He had an oblique injury his rehab assignment. He will be at Norfolk on Tuesday. So he's getting closer. We should hopefully see Beavers by the start of July. And that's a player that you have missed his bet. You have missed his production. His outfield defense isn't great, but it's probably better than what we have now with Leote. I don't think he's a very, he's a honestly been a very, very poor defender this year. And he's just another lefty that that that you can bring in for platoon situations as well. So I think Beavers, when he comes back, hopefully the offense can start to be, can start to have that constant flow of production that I was talking about in uh uh earlier. Um, and they won't get shut out for six straight innings anymore. Like hopefully beavers can be that guy that gives them a little bit of a jolt. And then a few more guys too, Dean Kramer and Kate Povich. Um Kramer with the quad injury, Povich with the elbow. Um Kramer is expected to continue down in Norfolk. Um, I'm sure he'll get maybe uh two more starts there. Um and then Povich as well. He'll he's staying down in Chesapeake. He had a pretty good outing the other day. He'll probably go longer um in his next outing. Then if that goes well, he'll be up in Norfolk, and then hopefully he can um come back to the um major league roster. So you're having guys that can come back and can hopefully help you. Um, like it would have been great to have Dean Kramer out the bullpen today if if uh Craig Albernez wanted to pull Gibson early into a bullpen game, right? Or Kate Povich. But these three guys coming back could hopefully help. But it it brings up the question, what does the rotation look like if Povich and Kramer are back? Who is the odd man now? Because Chris Bassett, too, he's injured. I would hope that he doesn't, that he isn't back in this rotation at all this year. But out of Boz, Bradish, Rogers, Gibson, and Young, it does seem like Gibson is the odd man out, which I think is foolish. So, what do you think this Orioles pitching rotation will look like once you get Kramer and Povich back?

SPEAKER_00 18:47

I I think Dean Kramer probably replaces Trey Gibson. I think that that's not a crazy thought. No, it's I I think Kate Povich honestly is either going to be just kept in triple A or he's gonna come up and replace Albert Suarez as a long reliever. I think it really depends if the Orioles want to keep him stretched out or not, especially with an elbow injury. I honestly would be fine with him just being a long reliever in the pen and just making sure that elbow really is okay. Um, you know, it wouldn't shock me if Trey Gibson sent down and and he got his cup of Joe this year, and then you know they let him just kind of work and he comes back in September, you know, barring injury. But I I think bringing Dean Cramer back into the fold will be good for this team. I don't think it necessarily makes them world beaters and it won't make them much better. But you know, when Trey Gibson, when Albert has done even trust him to go deeper into the game today. I mean, it you could say that you're trying to get your bullpen work and the bullpen's rested, and you don't want him to go through you know a third time, but that just screams to me, you know, read behind the lines. I mean, they don't trust him to go through a lineup three times, right? If you're trying to call back into a wild card race, you're not gonna start a guy knowing that you're gonna have to use your bullpen for five innings out of the game. Dean Kramer, I mean, as much, you know, as much grief as I will give him, you can usually count on him for five or six innings. It'll be three run ball, four run ball, but you'll get your six innings, you'll you'll get everything you need. So it's I think that'll be fine as a five starter. I think the other four are kind of at a point where it's you know kind of untouchable in a sense in the rotation. I mean, you're not obviously Bradish Rogers, Boz, you're not, and uh Brandon Young, you're not you're not moving them. I mean, you you brought up, and we'll talk about this. You brought up uh whether uh whether Shane Bosch should have an opener. Shane Boss has a 6.75 ERA in the first inning. That's a perfect role for Kate Povich to maybe go out there and throw two or three innings, and then Boss. I think that's the perfect combination, and I wouldn't shock me. And I think giving that having that, and then have I and I would split it up in the rotation where you know I would have Boz go, you know, one day, and I would say two days in between, and then you have Kramer or you know, whoever go, have you know, have whoever go that you're gonna say, okay, who do we think is gonna need a long reliever? Maybe Trevor Rogers. I mean, if Trevor Rogers gets deep in counts and all of a sudden a couple walks and he needs to be out by the fifth inning, spacing out those K Povich appearances. I mean, it's there's something strategically that you can do.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

And I think with the current state of this Orioles bullpen with guys that have inflated ERAs like Andrew Kittridge, like Keegan Aiken, like Albert Suarez, why not give a chance to Cade Povich as a reliever, as a guy that could give you two to three innings in relief every third day or every fourth day. That's what we thought Tyler Wells was going to be, and he's starting to, you know, cruise into form a little bit here in June. But why not do it again? Because it seems like Craig Albernez loves like pulling guys early. Like, I still thought Shane Ballas could have gone another inning yesterday. To rest the bullpen more because we were already down and out. He had 91 pitches through five. Why don't just give him the sixth at that point? He's he there was 105 pitches. Who cares? Right? Like it it it's analytics.

SPEAKER_00 22:13

It's analytics. It's it's it's it's the Microsoft office, Microsoft Excel. It's I I mean, it's a story as old as time, and we joke that I talk about the front office or analytics too much, but analytics run this team, analytics runs baseball nowadays. It's it's it's a problem. Back in the day, Bobby Cox isn't pulling Shane Boss in that situation. Buck Show Walter's not pay pulling Shane Boss in that situation. You say, you know what, you pitch every five days, you're gonna go out there and pitch till your arms fall off. And I'm not saying that needs to be the situation, but you know, that this this softball BS that you know, these guys can't go through a lineup three times, they can't throw more than 90 pitches. I mean, what are we doing, Tyler? Um we're six games under 500 and your bullpen stinks. If Shane Boss is gonna retire 12 out of 13, you let him go for 15 out of 16.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

1000%. And and what if I'm comical too at points with the front office and even coaching or and even uh managerial decisions by Alvarez is that like Keegan Aiken, he's a three-pitch pitcher as a reliever, and he doesn't throw faster than 90 or higher than 95.

SPEAKER_00 23:20

His balls don't move.

SPEAKER_01 23:21

Right. Like, like, like Aiken, why not give Cade Povich, who has five pitches, the opportunity to be a reliever? He has a higher strikeout rate. His best, his best pitch is better than Aiken's best pitch. I'm talking about that kick change. Then he also has the curveball. Why not give Povich an opportunity to be that lefty, right? Or why not let Kramer be your long relief guy instead of Albert Suarez, who you DFA every other month? It seems like this team is just so stuck in their ways of old that they're not adapting to the new. And that is why I think the Orioles are six games below. One of the many, many, many reasons why they're six games below. The fundamentals aren't there. They're still so analytic analytically driven. When, dude, if a guy looks good, keep him in. Like Trey Gibson, keep him in. There's no excuse to pull him. He threw the best inning of his major league career, the inning prior to when he was pulled out the game. Why? I would love a legitimate explanation. And if any of the uh viewers are scrolling through Twitter and they're seeing Craig Abernez post-game interview, and a reporter asks him a question on why he pulled Gibson so early. Please comment it down below and I will put it on screen and I will read it because I'm so interested to see what the decision-making process was there. And it's it's like Billy Bean in Moneyball telling art Michael Ice's favorite movie. Clearly, it's it's genuinely. Right. Like, no, you're gonna play Hat Hattenberg. Oh, you're not okay. We're gonna trade Pena. Like, come on, dude. Like, it's it's it's childish, and the Orioles, they just seem like a team that has been so stuck in the past.

SPEAKER_00 25:19

And Tyler let's not mention, you know, we talk about help is on the way. Where's Dietrich Hens? Where's Dietrichens at? Why is Keegan Aiken still here? We've been saying this for six years. Six years we've been saying why is Keegan Aiken on the major league roster? And and mind, I just looked it up because I was gonna say I was trying to make sure that Dietrichens hadn't gotten hurt in triple A. I didn't realize he was 35 years old.

SPEAKER_01 25:45

It doesn't matter how how how old no, I obviously don't matter how old he is.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

I just blew my mind.

SPEAKER_01 25:50

I thought it was I mean Albert Smart is is 35, but front office. These guys are fossils, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:57

These guys are fossils, and it's not about age, I was just I just couldn't believe how old he was. But I mean it I and I don't know what the analytics say about Keegan Aiken. It's the same thing I said three years ago about Ryan McKenna. There was no analytics saying that Ryan McKenna was was of any value to this roster, and I mean obviously there's been few and far times in between that I've ever agreed with Michael Ayas, but at what point is he gonna say, you know what, these guys are costing me my job? At what point is he gonna look at himself and say, you know what? If Keegan Aiken's gonna have a five ERA and I can't trust him to go get three outs, why is he here?

SPEAKER_01 26:37

One thing I do want to say about Keegan Aiken is that he looked good today. The way that the Angels scored was just complete defensive malpractice. I mean, like Visayo trying to tag a runner, and by the way, didn't he not go out the baseline like clearly?

SPEAKER_00 26:55

Like when the story of the Orioles C.

SPEAKER_01 26:58

Yeah, Justin genuinely just said it was the Angels guy out of the base path. I like I remember watching the game. As soon as I saw that Basio was trying to tag, I immediately turned the other way, walked upstairs to get ready for this. Now that I'm thinking about it, again, I'm like, did he not run fully out the base path? Oh, but you want to know what's funny? We couldn't even challenge it because Craig Albernez blew his challenge uh on Blaze Alexander's slide.

SPEAKER_00 27:22

I want to mention too, we blew our, you know, we the Angels used their challenge and challenge that uh when Tyler O'Neill slid in a home plate Monday night that the you know that he was out and whatever and he was. But why was Craig Alberna? I don't give a shit how many runs were up. Why are you in the dugout laughing? Why are you not thinking, hey, wasn't he blocking the plate? Why were we not challenging that? Because let's not forget, let's not forget when you blew a five-run lead to Toronto earlier this year, shit happens. Let's not forget you blew a five-two lead today. Shit happens. But hey, at least we're having fun in the dugout laughing, and Miguel Cairo and Craig Albert are having their giggles, you know. I like what is this? Like it's at the point where I know this team sucks. I'm just trying to get to September. This is the team that brings me happiness. That's all I want. This the Orioles disappoint me constantly. We're gonna sit here, we're gonna talk about who deserves to be an all-star. None of them, you're six games under 500. Win some goddamn ball games, and then we can go talk about who's an all-star.

SPEAKER_01 28:28

I mean, I didn't mind my language, but no, we're not even gonna talk about all-star anymore. I just didn't know.

SPEAKER_00 28:34

We don't deserve it, we don't deserve all-stars. The only guy that deserves to be an all-star is Brandon Young because he's the only guy on the roster that this year that wasn't supposed to be here and said, you know what, I'm gonna work my ass off, and these guys are gonna talk about me and say, Hey, I earned it. You know, it's it's a shame to me that MLB teams have to have one all-star because this team should not be rewarded for any of the bullshit that they've done for the last three years. And I'm sick of pretending that that this is this is all right, it's not. Yeah, my worst nightmare is is is happening in front of me. This team hasn't won a World Series in 43 years, and we're worried about Trey Gibson not being able to, you know, go through a lineup three times, right? That's our concern. Not not why why are these go guys that went top five? And and Gunner Henderson is still a first-round pick. Why is Gunner Henderson hitting 230? It's not, you know, yeah, we changed the coaching staff for our third manager in two years now. Obviously, it's not coaching, and the coaching staff we have now isn't exactly helping, but what what is this organizational issue? Why where did David Rubinstein go? Why is he not throwing hats anymore? Why is he not out in the crowd? The only guy I'll give credit to is Cal Ripkin. At least Cal Ripkin has the has the balls to sit front row every night. You know, shout out Cal Ripkin. He cares. Cal Ripkin cares about the Orioles. He's trying to Rubenstein's collecting a check. Michael Eyes is collecting a check. He's gonna look nice and comfy in Denver next year if I get my way. Like, and I know we weren't gonna talk about Elias, dude, but you can't have games like today and then sit here and go, Well, what's the problem? When the outlier problem is the organization, it's an Oriol issue. The Orioles aren't playing the Oreo way anymore. This is why you brought in Mike's show. This is why you you have Kyle Ripkin being hands-on. They really need a systemic issue, Tyler.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

There is, and and and I'd be very interested to see Mike Elias address the media sometime soon. Like he rarely does it. I would love for him to talk about his deadline approach, his his draft approach. I will be attending MLB All-Star Weekend through the MLB fan council. I'll be at the draft and a lot of the events, and I'm interested to see if Mike Elias is there, if he's talking to you. You're gonna mediocre what he's talking about.

SPEAKER_00 30:56

I worked the All-Star uh All-Star event last year. It was it was a crap. I met Rob Manfred, and funny enough, as much as if I think if he's a bad commissioner, I thought Rob Manfred was more hell of a guy. Oh, I'll say that. I shared a beer with him. Really cool.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

Look at that. Well, I will not be sharing a beer with Mike Elias, that is for sure. But I don't wanna I don't want to stick too too much on you know the bad things that are going on on this team because everyone knows that the Orioles just aren't playing good baseball, they're not playing consistently good baseball. They play great baseball for five days, and then they play shitty baseball for five days.

SPEAKER_00 31:30

It's like the most bipolar team I've ever seen.

SPEAKER_01 31:33

Yeah, it's Kobe Mayo, they'll play great baseball for five days, awful baseball for the next five. And Trevor Rogers, he'll play great baseball for two months, awful awful baseball for the next two months. They're like the Ravens in a sense to where when the offense plays great, the defense can't play great, and when the defense plays great, the offense can't play great. There's a play going on in Baltimore. At least the Ravens find a way to still win. The Ravens find a way to still win, and I'll be interested to see if they can continue to do that without Harbaugh, which I'm sure they will, but it's a Baltimore thing, dude. Like choking, losing in devastating fashion, not being able to close out games. And I mean, like, I would like if the Orioles had Felix Baltista, they're probably at 500 right now. Like a healthy, prime dominant Felix Baltista, they're probably sitting dead at 500. But the right the reality of it is that Ryan Felsley was out for over a month. Allie Rutschman's been on the I. L and off the I. L, then on the I. L and off the I. L. You have a rookie manager who never had any head managing experience prior to his call up and and rise through the MLB. He was a minor league manager. It just seems like this team can't.

SPEAKER_00 32:55

And yeah, and answer the question, Tyler. Answer the question. Why why did they hire a rookie manager?

SPEAKER_01 33:03

I can't tell you. I mean, like his accolades were very impressive, and he was sure that he was highly highly talented. Like, it's not a guy that you hire, and then you're like, oh, I don't like it.

SPEAKER_00 33:14

Like his No, I mean, I was all in on it, but we were we both I was all in on it because I knew that they weren't gonna hire an experienced manager. You're supposed to be in the middle of a window, you're not supposed to hire a rookie manager. Like, you know what? And it's different, it's different what the Ravens did hiring Jesse Miner because it's a completely different thing. I mean, these guys, these coordinators are it's just a completely different world, right?

SPEAKER_01 33:36

I agree.

SPEAKER_00 33:36

When you're talking about baseball, I mean, I've said this for two years. Terry Francona should have been your guy. Terry Francona, I mean, he got the regs of the playoffs last year, and then Terry Francona was I mean, what else do you have to say? I mean, this guy has such a resume. This guy brings winning out of these guys, and and when you've spent, you know, going back to 2025, when you've spent a year and a half not winning, not playing to your potential, the answer shouldn't be let's go to the rookie manager. It should be let's find a guy that's gonna, you know, make a play. And you know, I I think what ruined that re more recently was the White Sox hiring Tony LaRusso, but I also don't blame the White Sox for hiring Tony LaRussa.

SPEAKER_01 34:22

I look at the now like it's like it's not I mean Tony LaRusso.

SPEAKER_00 34:28

So Tony LaRusso was it was wrong place, wrong time, honestly, wrong roster. It's the same thing when um you know when one soto was a padre. I mean, bob melvin was not meant to coach that team. Bob Melvin was not meant to coach that team. I don't really know who could have got that team to be successful. Maybe Alex Korra, maybe you know, I don't even know Dave Roberts. It would have taken the best of the best to get these guys to play that way.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

The one thing I will say about the whole manager cycle is like you like you brought up the White Sox, they had what like Grady Sizemore as their interim manager, and then they hired Venable, I think his name was from San Diego Padre Legend. Like, and and this is the second season, I think he took over midway through through last season. But and then and this is my one small defense on out on Albie, which is why I'm not completely sold off of him yet. I'm not sold off either, but neither am I, and it's it's because a guy like Venable comes in, he has half a season to know the players, understand their their personnel, how they like to operate in the box, off the field, and you start to build that relationship. This first half of the season is kind of like Albernez figuring it out. How they look post-all-star break heading into the trade deadline, those final three weeks building up to the trade deadline or two and a half weeks, that will paint the whole picture as to whether or not this team is a playoff team or not. Oh that yeah, and and and and that's why like I I made a tweet. I was like, Craig Albert is day by day losing me. And he is, he is day by day losing me. But it's not like I'm one of those guys where I'm just so turned off by him because I think his pedigree is very impressive. I like what he stands for. He's a family man, he's young. The players seem to want to play for him, they like him, but the production isn't there, which is why I'm waiting another month to make my decision as to whether or not I think Albernez can lead this team back to the playoffs and to have playoff success. And I think these next couple weeks are gonna be extremely telling. We have foreshadowed it throughout the whole entire season, Clay. The month of June and July are going to be the slum months for this Baltimore team. Like they're gonna have to make it out the mud if they want to be successful. And right now, it's not looking like they will be, but I'm not, but I'm gonna pump the brakes a little bit because there still is optimism in the back of my head, because this team is so damn talented. I know they are.

SPEAKER_00 37:16

Yeah, they are.

SPEAKER_01 37:24

But at the same time, we have now gone through two full seasons, like half of 24, all of 2025, and now half of 2026. Two full seasons of just sub 500 baseball.

SPEAKER_00 37:36

Mediocrity.

SPEAKER_01 37:39

Do we at what point do us fans say this team was one of the best teams in baseball for two years? And now they've been one of the worst teams in baseball for two years. What side are you taking the window closed?

SPEAKER_00 37:58

Well, Tyler, I'm gonna I'm gonna play the pessimistic side because you have to protect yourself. Yeah, exactly. But you know, you know, we you know, we bring up Will Venable, we bring up the White Sox, and and the difference between Will Venable and Albi, and I think Albi's gonna be a great manager. I I I'm not questioning that. He's a rookie manager, he's gonna make mistakes, and we've said that all year. We foreshadowed that. Bad mistake. But the difference with Will Venable and Craig Albernaz right now is Will Venable is kind of in that Brad Pitt and fight club role where when you have nothing to lose, you have everything to gain. The the Chicago White Sox were meant to be barn, they're hungry, bro. They're hungry, they're a hungry young team fighting. These guys are fighting to be major league baseball players. We have to have 26 guys fighting to be major league baseball players. The Orioles have 26 guys, and 16 of them have first round pick or you know, accolade next to their name. And it's it's these guys aren't hungry. And you know, we talk about what's missing. Maybe maybe it's hunger. These guys aren't hungry. These guys don't maybe winning isn't important to them. Maybe, maybe it's getting paid, maybe it's whatever it is. They're not hungry. You know, the White Sox, you know, they have guys like Kyle Teal. I mean, Kyle Teal's a top prospect, but these guys are coming up and contributing, knowing that you know, you can be run out of this game at any time. Baseball, and I and I tell people this all the time, whether it's you know, whether you're 16, 14, 18, 20, 40 years old, being told you can't play a child's game anymore is the worst feeling you will ever feel in your life. I've been told that I had to have elbow reconstruction surgery, it's the worst feeling in the world. You know, the White Sox, you know, these guys, the Colorado Rockies, they've screwed me three straight games that I've bet against them. They have a bunch of guys, whether they stink or not, they're fighting for a role, they're fighting for a contract next year. The Orioles are got guys that were like, Well, Gunnar's hitting 220, but we'll still pay him 400 million dollars. Why not? You know, he could hit one. They know that or 100, they'll get paid whether it's Baltimore or 29. There's 29 other teams that will give Gunner Henderson whatever the hell he wants. There's 29 other teams that will give Adley Rutschman anything he wants under 90 million dollars, you know, and it's a lot of money. So what are these guys hungry for? What is you know who is hungry? Blaze Alexander. He's 25 years old, he's fighting to be in the big leagues, he's in 300. Brandon Young, yeah, Brandon Young fighting for a contract, Trevor Rogers.

SPEAKER_01 40:32

He's had his ups and downs, but you know, Tyle Brad is proving that he's a good pitcher post post-elbow surgery.

SPEAKER_00 40:40

Yeah, the guys they have they have their trials and tribulations, and they have to, like you said, Tyler, make it out the mud, and and they're finding a way. But the but the guys that the the I don't want to say prima donnas because they're not assholes, but these guys that have the labels, you know, first round pick, all-stars, you know, it's they're not hungry.

SPEAKER_01 40:59

Yeah, and that seems like the story of the Oriol season so far. No hunger, no drive, no pride. They're not playing for each other. And um, until you start to see the gears shift a little bit, um, I think this team is just going to be stuck in that, you know, three to eight game below 500 mediocrity.

SPEAKER_00 41:21

They are.

SPEAKER_01 41:21

Yeah, and and and and they'll have an opportunity to come back home for two series. I'll be at the game on Saturday, I'll be at the game on Tuesday. I am undefeated at Orioles games this year, so hopefully I'll bring some of the the uh good juju back. But yeah, I mean, we're just gonna have to wait and see. But an upsetting loss, nonetheless, uh, today. Hopefully they just go out and and and they can find a way to win a series at home against the Nationals, who embarrassed them um only like a month ago. So we'll have to see, but that's gonna wrap things up. Sorry, we didn't really talk about a lot of the things that I wanted to really dive into. I wanted to talk about all-star voting and um Kyle Bradish's start on Monday and Basayo hitting two homers today and Alonzo's good game. And I wrote the script when the O's were up 5-2, thinking that it would be like a positive, like, oh, they just won graphics.

SPEAKER_00 42:20

We had a great episode planned.

SPEAKER_01 42:21

We had a great episode planned, and then obviously the O's just wanted to completely ruin that. So you guys can blame blame them for the um negative show that we had today. But that's what we do here on Orioles Theory. We're raw, we're authentic, very opinion-based.

SPEAKER_00 42:36

Um, shout out everybody in here, too. Yeah, shout out Yeah, it's been great.

SPEAKER_01 42:41

Um, but before we close things off, let me give one more quick shout out to our sponsor, O Squared Residential Design. Just like we build winning sports content, O Squared builds winning kitchens and bathrooms. They're a woman-owned, family operated right here in the state of Maryland. Excellence in every square inch. Check them out at osquedesign.com. That's osquaredesign.com. All right, ladies and gentlemen, we're gonna wrap things up here. Expect us to be live Sunday uh after the Nationals. Well, all right, it may just be me solo then. But what I wanted to get into, though, is that we are doing a ticket giveaway for that game on Sunday at 1.35. Very, very nice seats. They're right behind the home plate um line. You if you look straight, you're viewing the first baseline. You're right down the first baseline, about 12 rows back. Um, very, very good seats. They're my season ticket seats, actually. So I collaborated with uh Wizards and Nationals on the round table to get you guys some good seats. All you guys have to do is go to our uh Instagram page or Twitter page, follow the steps below, and you guys will have a chance to win two free tickets to the Orioles Nats game on Sunday. Um, obviously, if you guys don't want to go after the game that transpired today, I do not blame you, but we always want to give an opportunity for some of those that maybe can't afford tickets um to these Orioles games to get out and watch the boys play. Um, but that's gonna be it for today's episode. Make sure to follow us on all socials at Orioles Theory on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok. You guys can listen to the Orioles Theory podcast on all social on all platforms, excuse me, for the whopping price of free ninety nine. Uh Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Podcasts, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. We got you guys covered. For Tyler Barbarous, Clay Seljan. We'll see you guys in the next episode. Peace out and goos.