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O's surprises & disappointments · Birdland Territory

0:06
Speaker 1: Hey, Birdland, Welcome in the latest edition of Birdland Territory
0:11
Speaker 1: Steve Maleski, Tim Barblacee and former Rose All star Brad Barrock.
0:15
Speaker 1: As we're rolling on with another show, and this time
0:17
Speaker 1: we had at least a day to catch our breath
0:19
Speaker 1: the Monday off day. We're taping this Tuesday morning in
0:22
Speaker 1: advance at the start of the Oriols Houston series at
0:24
Speaker 1: Oriel Park. So, guys, we thought a great idea would
0:27
Speaker 1: be to kind of take an overview of, you know,
0:30
Speaker 1: a forty thousand foot view here of where the Oriols
0:34
Speaker 1: are right now, thirteen and fifteen. Overall, they've lost eight
0:37
Speaker 1: of twelve. We all know a lot has to get better.
0:39
Speaker 1: We've discussed it numerous times on this show, but we
0:43
Speaker 1: thought we would start with oriole surprises and disappointments, whether
0:49
Speaker 1: it's a player or team aspect. And I'm going to
0:52
Speaker 1: let you guys get rolling here, but I mean, there's
0:54
Speaker 1: just so many candidates on both sides, you know, Leonti
0:56
Speaker 1: Taveres remarkable, Jeremiah Jackson arkable, Nunya as. We could go
1:01
Speaker 1: on on the surprises. There have been several, there's been
1:04
Speaker 1: disappointments team wise, and individuals. We know, Alonzo's got to
1:07
Speaker 1: get gall in some others and so, Brad, where do
1:12
Speaker 1: you go from here? When you think about oriole surprises
1:15
Speaker 1: and disappointments through twenty eight games.
1:18
Speaker 2: Yeah, for me, I look at Rico Garcia.
1:20
Speaker 3: To me, obviously, I'm going to go, you know, go
1:22
Speaker 3: to the bullpen guy, and he's been one of the
1:24
Speaker 3: top ones. And you look at his numbers, and his
1:27
Speaker 3: numbers on the sheet are great, and then when you
1:28
Speaker 3: get when you dive into stackcast a little bit too,
1:30
Speaker 3: his numbers are the top of the league, on top
1:32
Speaker 3: one percent of Major League Baseball across the board, whether
1:35
Speaker 3: you want to look at you know expected WHOABA expect,
1:38
Speaker 3: you know, all these crazy stats they have, but he's
1:40
Speaker 3: right there. So it's not like it's been a uh
1:43
Speaker 3: he's been getting lucky with all this hard contact. He's
1:45
Speaker 3: only given up a one hit all season. Unfortunately it
1:47
Speaker 3: was a home run, but that's part of it. It's
1:49
Speaker 3: kind of been a crazy start for him, and it's
1:51
Speaker 3: it's great to see he get off to such a
1:54
Speaker 3: great start and really bolstered this bullpen early on in
1:56
Speaker 3: the season.
1:58
Speaker 4: He's been fantastic, Brad, and it's funny when we're doing
2:01
Speaker 4: this exercise, like you could really rattle off so many
2:05
Speaker 4: names with the bullpen and we won't really get to
2:07
Speaker 4: all of them. You near Cano, I think deserves a
2:10
Speaker 4: ton of shine coming off last year in which he
2:13
Speaker 4: ended up getting sent down because he was struggling so much.
2:16
Speaker 4: But he looks back to his all star caliber form,
2:19
Speaker 4: or at least a twenty twenty four form. But it's
2:22
Speaker 4: funny you think of Rico Garcia and how he's really
2:25
Speaker 4: emerged as a true high leverage arm for this team,
2:29
Speaker 4: and then I think that the other guy that comes
2:31
Speaker 4: to mind immediately is Anthony Nunez. And you know, one
2:35
Speaker 4: of our first shows that we ended up doing, I
2:38
Speaker 4: know we talked a lot about him that day, and
2:40
Speaker 4: just what a crazy story it is. You know, a
2:43
Speaker 4: former two way player and someone that was not expected
2:48
Speaker 4: to make this club out of spring training. He ended
2:50
Speaker 4: up getting optioned to minor league camp down in Sarasota,
2:54
Speaker 4: and injuries happened. Kittridge and Keegan Aiken, they started the
2:58
Speaker 4: year on the il, so it opened up a couple spots,
3:01
Speaker 4: and Anthony Nunya is He's made the most of it. Guys,
3:05
Speaker 4: What's crazy? He played in sixteen games at the Triple
3:09
Speaker 4: A level. He pitched a whopping sixty six and two
3:12
Speaker 4: thirds innings in his.
3:14
Speaker 2: Minor league career.
3:15
Speaker 4: Brad and here he is making his debut at the
3:19
Speaker 4: beginning of this season. Sixteen strikeouts and thirteen and the
3:22
Speaker 4: third innings just three walks of one to three five ERA,
3:26
Speaker 4: and he recorded his first save last week in Kansas City.
3:30
Speaker 3: Yeah, and his demeanor on the mound is you would
3:33
Speaker 3: think the guy has ten years in the league. He
3:35
Speaker 3: got his first save and it was like you wouldn't
3:36
Speaker 3: know if he was pitching an exhibition game or in
3:38
Speaker 3: the ninth inning of a big league game. So to me,
3:40
Speaker 3: that's what's really stood out is not just his stuff,
3:43
Speaker 3: which is elite and he's pitching really well, but just
3:45
Speaker 3: his demeanor out there. It just makes you think he's
3:48
Speaker 3: going to continue having the success that he's had.
3:50
Speaker 2: And Steve just.
3:51
Speaker 3: Talking about the offensive side, we're talking about Tavaris and Jackson.
3:56
Speaker 3: I mean, I don't know where this team is without
3:57
Speaker 3: these guys, with some of the big hits they've had
3:59
Speaker 3: and just kind of stepping up here two games under
4:02
Speaker 3: five hundred, I mean without some of the hits they've had.
4:04
Speaker 3: We're looking five six games under five hundred just specifically
4:08
Speaker 3: from them, So I think that's been such a bright
4:11
Speaker 3: spot for this offense so far. And you know they're
4:13
Speaker 3: gonna probably come back to the mean a little bit,
4:15
Speaker 3: but that's when you hope Alonso and Henderson and that's
4:18
Speaker 3: when the big names start kind of get going and
4:21
Speaker 3: pick up the offense from there. But I really don't
4:23
Speaker 3: know where this team would be recorrised without those two
4:25
Speaker 3: guys getting going early on the season exactly.
4:29
Speaker 1: And the outfield defense has been so shaky that Leonte's
4:31
Speaker 1: a plus defender and if he's going to hit, it's
4:34
Speaker 1: hard to keep him out because now he's bringing you
4:36
Speaker 1: both sides of the ball here. But you're right, some
4:39
Speaker 1: regression has got to be expected. When his OPS is
4:42
Speaker 1: eight forty one, it's so far advanced from what he's done.
4:45
Speaker 1: Last year was five thirty career six fifty one, So
4:48
Speaker 1: I mean, he's two hundred points over what you would
4:51
Speaker 1: expect now that maybe he's made gains that eight forty
4:55
Speaker 1: settles at seven twenty or thirty, that's still not solid
5:00
Speaker 1: OPS for a guy who can bring plus defense. So
5:02
Speaker 1: Leote tavares A so called fringe signing you know you
5:06
Speaker 1: didn't sign him to a big dollar thing, has proven
5:09
Speaker 1: to have great value for this club so far.
5:12
Speaker 4: Well, I think both of their emergence have come at
5:16
Speaker 4: such a critical time.
5:17
Speaker 5: Guys.
5:18
Speaker 4: Just considering Tavares Colden Calder, he's gotten off to a
5:22
Speaker 4: tough start to the season, there's no way around it.
5:25
Speaker 4: And really over the past couple of weeks he's sort
5:28
Speaker 4: of been used as if he's a part time player.
5:31
Speaker 4: So Tavers emerging is basically their everyday center fielder has
5:35
Speaker 4: been massive. Obviously, Jackson holiday, he would have hoped that
5:38
Speaker 4: he would have been back by now. The team would
5:40
Speaker 4: have hoped that he would have been back by now.
5:42
Speaker 4: But we talked about it in a prior episode. These
5:45
Speaker 4: hammate surgeries you just never know, and it's taken longer
5:49
Speaker 4: than Jackson's would have wanted. But thankfully Jeremiah Jackson has
5:53
Speaker 4: really stepped up in a big, big way. And I
5:56
Speaker 4: continue to harp on it, guys. I know he had
5:58
Speaker 4: an error on Sunday, it on the On the whole,
6:02
Speaker 4: he's been a really solid defender at second base.
6:07
Speaker 1: Exactly tim and and you know across town, the Ravens
6:11
Speaker 1: sort of had this next man up theory. That's certainly
6:14
Speaker 1: true in baseball too, And as you noted, there was
6:17
Speaker 1: an opening for Jeremiah Jackson, he jumped at it, there
6:19
Speaker 1: was an opening for Nunyaz. I mean, something happens to
6:22
Speaker 1: other players, injury or poor performance, whatever opens the door
6:26
Speaker 1: for others. And Brad you've probably been through that on
6:29
Speaker 1: a time or two in your career.
6:31
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's I love stories like this, when guys
6:34
Speaker 3: taken opportunity in season. To me, that's really all a
6:36
Speaker 3: major league career is. It's it's an opportunity and you
6:40
Speaker 3: kind of run with it. You just never know when
6:41
Speaker 3: it's gonna happen, and you just hope that you're ready
6:43
Speaker 3: when it happens.
6:44
Speaker 2: But whether it's you.
6:46
Speaker 3: Know, an unfortunate injury or underperformance, just seeing guys step
6:50
Speaker 3: up to the plate and really sees jobs is what
6:53
Speaker 3: I love seeing. And that was part of the thing
6:55
Speaker 3: in Baltimore. It was, you know, you had the guys
6:58
Speaker 3: at the back end of the bullpen, you had the
6:59
Speaker 3: big stars, but it was a bunch of other guys
7:00
Speaker 3: that stepped up when you didn't expect it. And that's
7:03
Speaker 3: what made our teams that were good. So great is
7:05
Speaker 3: that we just had these kind of unexpected guys show
7:08
Speaker 3: up and not just play well for a month or two,
7:10
Speaker 3: but for six months long. And it really just kind
7:13
Speaker 3: of jump started everything. And it allowed your superstars to
7:16
Speaker 3: have these bad stretches because you had these other guys
7:18
Speaker 3: step up and kind of carry the load for a
7:20
Speaker 3: little bit. And I think that's what you need for
7:21
Speaker 3: a one hundred and sixty two game season.
7:24
Speaker 4: And I think that's kind of another segue into my
7:27
Speaker 4: combo platter of surprises, and that's Kate Povich and Brandon Young,
7:32
Speaker 4: and I think those guys deserve a ton of credit.
7:35
Speaker 4: Now they've only started to combine four games for this club,
7:38
Speaker 4: but I was super high on this starting rotation coming
7:42
Speaker 4: into the year, and I still believe the best is
7:45
Speaker 4: yet to come for that starting five. But right now,
7:47
Speaker 4: it's been a tough start to the season for the
7:49
Speaker 4: majority of those guys. And when Kate Povich and Brandon
7:53
Speaker 4: Young had been called upon because of injuries, and you
7:56
Speaker 4: know Zach Eflin, unfortunately for him, he underwent Tommy on
8:00
Speaker 4: surgery after his first start of the season. Povich just
8:04
Speaker 4: starting with him. He pitched right before our first ever
8:09
Speaker 4: episode when the O's were taken on the Pirates and
8:13
Speaker 4: Chris Bassett had a really tough outing. I think he
8:15
Speaker 4: only went two innings in that game, and Kye Povich
8:17
Speaker 4: he came in in relief when it looked like he
8:20
Speaker 4: might start that Monday, went five and two thirds innings there,
8:24
Speaker 4: only gave up two ironed runs. And then he started
8:26
Speaker 4: against the Giants, went six and two thirds innings, giving
8:29
Speaker 4: up one Aron run. And then Brandon Young where now
8:32
Speaker 4: he's back into the rotation. Dan Kramer, he's on the
8:36
Speaker 4: il michah Elias said that he's gonna miss several weeks.
8:39
Speaker 4: Young had that start in Chicago where he was extremely
8:42
Speaker 4: pitch efficient, went five shutout innings and just sixty six pitches,
8:47
Speaker 4: and then you look at his last start earlier, you know,
8:51
Speaker 4: last week excuse excuse me against the Red Sox where
8:54
Speaker 4: he went five and two thirds against the Red Sox
8:57
Speaker 4: and gave up three earned runs, kept the Orioles in
8:59
Speaker 4: the game.
9:00
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, I think about those two guys that
9:02
Speaker 3: think about we've we've kind of talked on the show,
9:05
Speaker 3: just a little bit of shruggles of command on the
9:07
Speaker 3: normal five starters. Those guys to me, their command has
9:10
Speaker 3: been the best of the entire staff so far to
9:12
Speaker 3: this point, and it kind of just harps on the
9:15
Speaker 3: point again that I mean, without those couple starts they've had,
9:19
Speaker 3: without the surprises that we've had, I mean, where's this
9:22
Speaker 3: team standing in the standings? And I think I think
9:25
Speaker 3: it's a it's kind of a silver lining thing. This
9:27
Speaker 3: season could be way different looking than it is now.
9:29
Speaker 3: I know it's not exactly where fans want it, and
9:31
Speaker 3: they're two games under five hundred, but without some of
9:34
Speaker 3: these surprises here, I mean, you're looking five to six,
9:36
Speaker 3: seven games under five hundred, and that's a tough that's
9:39
Speaker 3: a tough gap to kind of climb up there and
9:41
Speaker 3: get yourself back in the playoffs. So I think without
9:44
Speaker 3: those guys and the surprises we've talked about.
9:47
Speaker 2: This season could be very bleak looking very fast.
9:51
Speaker 1: So there have been disappointments too, as we know, or
9:54
Speaker 1: else you're not thirteen and fifteen, as the Oriols are.
9:56
Speaker 1: We will get into those in a moment here on
9:59
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11:02
Speaker 1: Bergland Territory part of the Foul Territory network. Here glad
11:05
Speaker 1: you joined us today on YouTube. Hope you'll subscribe to
11:08
Speaker 1: our channel and keep us going and growing. So, guys
11:14
Speaker 1: on the disappointment for me. I mean, obviously individuals. We
11:16
Speaker 1: could point out ped Alonzo way under his norm Colton
11:19
Speaker 1: Cowser five to eleven ops, too much swing and miss
11:22
Speaker 1: right now, he knows that for me, defense is going
11:26
Speaker 1: to top this list. And it's not just a disappointment,
11:28
Speaker 1: it's a big disappointment. So much attention to detail in camp,
11:32
Speaker 1: so many things looked better. Fundamentals were going to be better,
11:36
Speaker 1: Attention to detail was going to be better. And the
11:38
Speaker 1: season started and it hasn't happened. And defensive statistics like
11:43
Speaker 1: team defensive run saved, team outs, above average fangrafts, overall
11:48
Speaker 1: team defensive rankings, the ores are twenty one, twenty two,
11:51
Speaker 1: twenty three, you know, and that's where they're ranking right now.
11:54
Speaker 1: They're in the bottom third of baseball. Now, can you
11:57
Speaker 1: overcome that and win? Yes, if the offense scoring five
12:01
Speaker 1: runs a game, if the rotation's pitching better, if Bradish
12:05
Speaker 1: and Rodgers look like Bradish and Rodgers all of a sudden,
12:08
Speaker 1: the ills of defense can be overcome. But if that
12:11
Speaker 1: doesn't happen, that puts more pressure on the defense in
12:14
Speaker 1: my mind, and I think how this plays out in
12:16
Speaker 1: the next one hundred and thirty games is going to
12:19
Speaker 1: have a lot to say with where they go from here.
12:23
Speaker 2: I think you're right.
12:24
Speaker 3: I think, yeah, when you're playing a lot of close
12:27
Speaker 3: games like they have earlier this year, you can kind
12:29
Speaker 3: of gloss over some of those mistakes and they.
12:32
Speaker 2: Don't really rear their ugly head.
12:34
Speaker 3: But when you're playing these close games and all these
12:36
Speaker 3: tight the ball games they've been playing, it's just kind
12:39
Speaker 3: of at the end of the thing, at the end
12:40
Speaker 3: of the game, you look back, you're like, man, if
12:41
Speaker 3: they only made that one play, if they turned the
12:43
Speaker 3: double play here, And it's not these huge mistakes. It
12:46
Speaker 3: more so seems not getting the lead out which ends
12:49
Speaker 3: up leading to iron, or just certain things that have
12:51
Speaker 3: been happening so far this season, it just kind of
12:53
Speaker 3: rears its ugly head and it leads to losses unfortunately.
12:58
Speaker 4: Yeah, the two big concerns that a lot of Orioles
13:02
Speaker 4: fans had coming into the year were bullpen, and I've been.
13:06
Speaker 2: Really wrong about the bullpen.
13:07
Speaker 4: The bullpen's been the best part of this team so
13:09
Speaker 4: far this season, but the defense, and I think my
13:14
Speaker 4: concern is, guys, I just wonder how much this can
13:18
Speaker 4: improve over the course of the season, because at the
13:22
Speaker 4: end of the day, these guys are who they are,
13:25
Speaker 4: and I think that they can certainly tighten things up.
13:28
Speaker 4: I'm not, you know, dismissing that fact, but for the
13:32
Speaker 4: majority of these guys, they're not exactly known as plus defenders.
13:37
Speaker 4: And and Steve brought up Leody Taveres, and of course
13:41
Speaker 4: he's a really good defender in center field, but there
13:44
Speaker 4: really aren't many Gold Glove caliber guys on this roster.
13:49
Speaker 4: And and I think it's a lot of the instances
13:52
Speaker 4: in which plays aren't ruled as errors. For example, a
13:57
Speaker 4: couple of plays yesterday, Taylor Ward there was a situation
14:00
Speaker 4: in left field. It was a ninety five percent catch probability.
14:03
Speaker 4: He ended up getting turned around heading towards that jut
14:07
Speaker 4: in the left field wall, but you know that was
14:09
Speaker 4: role to hit. Dylan Bieber's had a situation in center
14:12
Speaker 4: field on Sunday where the ball got beyond his glove,
14:17
Speaker 4: ended up giving the runner an extra ninety feet turned
14:19
Speaker 4: a double into a triple. It's those type of plays
14:22
Speaker 4: that are really difficult. I still have faith in the
14:26
Speaker 4: offense bouncing back. I have faith in the starting pitching
14:31
Speaker 4: bouncing back some but unfortunately I just think that this
14:35
Speaker 4: is going to be an issue for this club just
14:37
Speaker 4: considering the makeup of it.
14:41
Speaker 1: Yeah, might be, And I mean, how they You're right, Tim,
14:44
Speaker 1: they got to tighten it up. Gunner I say is
14:47
Speaker 1: a plus defender, Adlie I say is a plus defender.
14:50
Speaker 1: Leote Cowser in the corners can be After that, you
14:55
Speaker 1: have to see, you know, you hope Jackson's improvement is real.
14:57
Speaker 1: He had a recent error. These other things can overcome that. Toronto,
15:02
Speaker 1: I think I'm maybe I'm not wrong here. They were
15:06
Speaker 1: like tenth in the American League pitching last year, So
15:08
Speaker 1: you don't have to be top three or four in
15:10
Speaker 1: every stat across the board to be a winning team.
15:13
Speaker 1: Some teams are right now. The Yankees are pitching well
15:16
Speaker 1: and hitting well, and that's why they're starting to open
15:19
Speaker 1: some gaps here. So the Orioles have to find ways
15:22
Speaker 1: to take these underperforming elements and get a couple of
15:26
Speaker 1: them going. And Brad, there's plenty of time. We're going
15:29
Speaker 1: to get into that later in the show, exactly what
15:31
Speaker 1: we mean when there's plenty of time with a specific
15:33
Speaker 1: example of one of your former teams. And Tim, at
15:36
Speaker 1: a great point in our little text exchange amongst ourselves
15:40
Speaker 1: that we're going to bring to the show here in
15:41
Speaker 1: a few minutes. But what about pressure the players? Are
15:45
Speaker 1: they feeling it right now or is it too early
15:47
Speaker 1: for that? Or is it never too early for some
15:50
Speaker 1: of that.
15:51
Speaker 3: I think it's a little bit too early. I think
15:53
Speaker 3: they at least have not lost the season. I've always like,
15:57
Speaker 3: as I went through seasons, I felt like you could
15:59
Speaker 3: lose the season in April, but you can't win it.
16:02
Speaker 3: And it's it's one of those things where you just
16:05
Speaker 3: don't want to fall too far behind because now you're
16:07
Speaker 3: playing catchup and you get in July where the it
16:09
Speaker 3: just gets tougher, it gets harder every day to go
16:11
Speaker 3: out there and perform at the level that you're used
16:14
Speaker 3: to performing. And I just I feel like they haven't.
16:17
Speaker 3: They haven't fallen enough behind to say, ah, man, it's done.
16:20
Speaker 3: You know, like they got no shot to come back.
16:22
Speaker 3: So that's that's a positive I'm taking in this regard.
16:25
Speaker 3: And I don't think the players are feeling the pressure yet.
16:27
Speaker 3: I think you start pushing closer to seven eight games
16:30
Speaker 3: under five hundred, and now you're ten games behind the
16:32
Speaker 3: Yankees in the division. I think that might be when
16:35
Speaker 3: you start to feel the pressure a little bit, like
16:37
Speaker 3: we need to get this going now. But I don't
16:39
Speaker 3: think it's at that point yet, and I don't think
16:41
Speaker 3: the players are quite feeling it as much as maybe
16:44
Speaker 3: the fans might be feeling at this point.
16:47
Speaker 4: Brad, I want to touch on a guy in particular, though,
16:51
Speaker 4: Pete Alonso, and we know that Pete's not off to
16:54
Speaker 4: the start that he hoped for. In heck, I can
16:57
Speaker 4: still think back to that press conference a couple of
16:59
Speaker 4: weeks ago where you could see how emotional he was
17:02
Speaker 4: and it seemed like he was starting to turn the corner.
17:05
Speaker 4: He had that big double down the line that drove
17:07
Speaker 4: in a couple runs, he had to go ahead home run,
17:10
Speaker 4: and that crazy comeback against the Diamondbacks.
17:12
Speaker 2: But Pete scuffling.
17:14
Speaker 4: You know, he's batting below the Mendoza line a full
17:16
Speaker 4: month into the season, one ninety six batting average, six
17:20
Speaker 4: thirty seven ops and three home runs to ten RBIs
17:26
Speaker 4: and guys. I pulled his twenty eight game average because
17:30
Speaker 4: that's how many games the O's have played so far.
17:32
Speaker 4: His twenty eight game average through twenty nineteen through twenty
17:35
Speaker 4: twenty five, and he traditionally gets off to hot starts.
17:39
Speaker 4: Eight eighty one ops is his average first twenty eight
17:43
Speaker 4: games of the season, eight home runs, twenty two RBIs
17:48
Speaker 4: brad you've experienced. You were in Baltimore from twenty fourteen
17:53
Speaker 4: through twenty eighteen, and I know things were funky obviously
17:57
Speaker 4: at the trade deadline. But so it's not like for like.
18:01
Speaker 4: But Pete spent you know, his career in New York
18:05
Speaker 4: and coming over here. How difficult is that a player
18:09
Speaker 4: in a new organization. Obviously you want to hit the
18:12
Speaker 4: ground running. Obviously you want to make a great first impression.
18:16
Speaker 4: And Pete got the Mega contract, the biggest long term
18:20
Speaker 4: contract given out by this organization since Chris Davis, and
18:24
Speaker 4: that's been a while. So what what is that like
18:27
Speaker 4: from a player's perspective.
18:29
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think he's putting a lot of pressure on himself.
18:32
Speaker 3: He's putting a lot of pressure of the fan base.
18:33
Speaker 3: He's putting a lot of pressure of the organization. When
18:36
Speaker 3: they invest that kind of money in you. They he knows,
18:38
Speaker 3: he's he's talked about in his press conference. He knows
18:40
Speaker 3: what they expect, and he's not He's not playing up
18:43
Speaker 3: to that standard right now. And I'm sure the added
18:45
Speaker 3: pressure of himself is worse than any of the other
18:47
Speaker 3: pressure that's coming around. He wants to perform at the
18:50
Speaker 3: level player he knows, and it's tough. I think when
18:53
Speaker 3: you go from your first organization, he only knows the
18:55
Speaker 3: New York mess is the team he played for, So
18:58
Speaker 3: anytime you switch organizations, it's just it takes a little
19:01
Speaker 3: bit of time. And I think when I first got
19:04
Speaker 3: traded over to Baltimore, I was in Triple A for
19:05
Speaker 3: the first month, so it's I had a little bit
19:08
Speaker 3: of a time to adjust and you kind of get
19:11
Speaker 3: a feel for what they expect of you, what the
19:13
Speaker 3: new organization's like. But when you sign a contract like
19:16
Speaker 3: that and you're a player like petere Lonzo, you don't
19:18
Speaker 3: have that luxury of going down to Triple A to
19:19
Speaker 3: kind of ease yourself in. So I think it's just
19:23
Speaker 3: I think it's just the pressure of the contract and
19:26
Speaker 3: the added pressure of himself what he expects of himself.
19:28
Speaker 3: And I think it's just kind of one of those
19:30
Speaker 3: things where I thought I saw him kind of taking.
19:34
Speaker 2: Going from trying to.
19:36
Speaker 3: Make things happen and kind of letting them kind of
19:38
Speaker 3: come to him and I feel like the last kind
19:40
Speaker 3: of weeks has been going back more towards like trying
19:42
Speaker 3: to just make things happen, and.
19:44
Speaker 2: It's gonna come.
19:45
Speaker 3: I just hope it happens in the next couple of
19:47
Speaker 3: weeks so we can kind of lay off of himself
19:49
Speaker 3: a little bit and know that the power didn't go anywhere.
19:51
Speaker 2: He's still the same player.
19:53
Speaker 3: He's just got a different uniform on and it's it's
19:55
Speaker 3: way easier said than done. So I think it's just
19:57
Speaker 3: kind of the combination of all that stuff. And hopefully
19:59
Speaker 3: for Oriel Oriols fans, he gets going here and gets
20:01
Speaker 3: hot in May, and we know what the ballpark can
20:03
Speaker 3: do here in the summertime, and he's gonna be hitting
20:05
Speaker 3: homers left and right. So I just hope that he
20:07
Speaker 3: gets going in the next couple weeks and kind of
20:09
Speaker 3: just takes that pressure off himself because he's still the
20:12
Speaker 3: same player.
20:13
Speaker 2: Nothing's changed.
20:16
Speaker 1: Exactly, and you know, in terms of things like exit velocity,
20:19
Speaker 1: hard hit percentage, he is at twenty twenty five levels
20:23
Speaker 1: that speed, which was much discussed a couple of weeks ago.
20:25
Speaker 1: The gap has lessened. He's almost where he was last
20:29
Speaker 1: YEARK percentage is a little up.
20:32
Speaker 5: The production is the big thing.
20:33
Speaker 1: Obviously, fans know that it's just way off, So Pete,
20:36
Speaker 1: hopefully we'll find it soon and we will find the
20:39
Speaker 1: rest of our show. In a minute with an interesting
20:41
Speaker 1: take on one of Brad's teams and how we can
20:44
Speaker 1: sort of discuss the current team in relation to that.
20:48
Speaker 1: That's coming up on Birdland Territory.
20:51
Speaker 6: Todd Father, it's getting a little warm out. That means
20:54
Speaker 6: let's hit some concerts, let's hit some baseball games. And
20:57
Speaker 6: where am I going to go to find those tickets?
20:59
Speaker 6: If you want to sing the answer, you can.
21:01
Speaker 7: We're going to see gee, hey, hey, listen. Ultimately, at
21:05
Speaker 7: the end of the day, it is getting warmer and
21:06
Speaker 7: people want to leave the house, and it's time to leave,
21:09
Speaker 7: go see a ball game. I guess where you can
21:11
Speaker 7: find the best tickets, best spots, best places to go seat.
21:15
Speaker 5: Geeks got it.
21:15
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21:18
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21:20
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21:23
Speaker 7: at the end of the day. For a guy like
21:24
Speaker 7: me who's running around, I just need five minute thing,
21:27
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21:28
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21:54
Speaker 1: Tim, you had a great point the other day text
21:57
Speaker 1: exchange amongst us one of Brad's teams and relating it
22:02
Speaker 1: to the twenty twenty six Orioles.
22:05
Speaker 4: Yes, I was just thinking when I was driving home
22:08
Speaker 4: from the station yesterday, just this team you're trying to
22:12
Speaker 4: tread water right now, and I was thinking back to
22:16
Speaker 4: your playing days, Brad. And obviously that twenty fourteen team
22:20
Speaker 4: is very beloved, the most successful Orioles team making it
22:24
Speaker 4: to the alc As since two thousand. But that team
22:29
Speaker 4: at the end of May was just five hundred and
22:32
Speaker 4: you guys ended up running away with the American League Ees,
22:35
Speaker 4: clinching it pretty early on in September. Just how important
22:41
Speaker 4: is it during this difficult stretch to just stay in
22:45
Speaker 4: the fight, just tread water. That way you can make
22:49
Speaker 4: it to the other side and go on a run
22:51
Speaker 4: like the twenty fourteen team did.
22:53
Speaker 2: Yeah, without a doubt, it's huge.
22:55
Speaker 3: It's just like you said, you're expecting the compos of
23:00
Speaker 3: the team that you had originally to kind of just
23:02
Speaker 3: show up, and you expect certain numbers by the end
23:05
Speaker 3: of the year, and when things aren't going exactly how
23:07
Speaker 3: you think, you just you know it's gonna come. So
23:11
Speaker 3: I think you look at that twenty fourteen team. It
23:14
Speaker 3: was I was telling Steve before the show that I
23:16
Speaker 3: didn't get called up till May first, and when I
23:18
Speaker 3: got there, it was kind of the same thing. We'd
23:21
Speaker 3: have one good start in a good offensive game, we'd
23:23
Speaker 3: have a bad start and bad offensive game, and it
23:25
Speaker 3: just kind of we just couldn't get on a roll.
23:28
Speaker 3: Couldn't win two out of three, we couldn't win five
23:30
Speaker 3: in a row. It was just kind of just staying
23:32
Speaker 3: right around five hundred, and we kept our heads above
23:37
Speaker 3: water until June and we caught fire and I think
23:40
Speaker 3: we went on like a two month stretch where we
23:42
Speaker 3: didn't lose a series and we just got things going,
23:44
Speaker 3: and there are some comparables when you look at it, think,
23:47
Speaker 3: I think this offense is pretty comparable. They have superstars
23:50
Speaker 3: like we had on that team. We had talking with
23:52
Speaker 3: Steve before the show too. We had injuries. Matt Wieters
23:55
Speaker 3: was hurt. May First had to get Tommy John. You
23:57
Speaker 3: had Man Machada who missed half the season. I think
23:59
Speaker 3: a lot of teams just assume that those guys were
24:02
Speaker 3: a part of that team for the entire year, and
24:04
Speaker 3: they weren't. We had some big injuries that happened, and
24:06
Speaker 3: we had guys step up. Steve Pierce is one name
24:08
Speaker 3: that came to mind. The guy might have been our
24:10
Speaker 3: best player on that team. It was amazing when guys
24:13
Speaker 3: like that step up. And I think the bullpen. The
24:16
Speaker 3: bullpen was very good that year and it kept us
24:18
Speaker 3: in games even when starting pitching didn't go well. We
24:21
Speaker 3: had myself, I pitched in long relief that year for
24:24
Speaker 3: a majority of the season, pitched two or three innings
24:26
Speaker 3: and kind of just gave our offense a chance to
24:28
Speaker 3: get going. And I think when you look at this team,
24:30
Speaker 3: and I look at this roster up and down, it
24:33
Speaker 3: can be very comparable. You have a good starting rotation
24:36
Speaker 3: I think is going to be up towards the top
24:38
Speaker 3: by the when it's all said and done at the
24:39
Speaker 3: end of the season. This bullpen, to me, I don't
24:41
Speaker 3: see it going anywhere. I think they're going to stay
24:43
Speaker 3: right here. They have weapons up and down this entire bullpen,
24:47
Speaker 3: and the offense is going to show up. I'm clearly
24:49
Speaker 3: convinced watching this team that it just can't continue to
24:52
Speaker 3: go this way. And like you said, they're not out
24:54
Speaker 3: of it. They're right there around five hundred. You just
24:56
Speaker 3: got to wait for it to kind of get rolling.
24:58
Speaker 3: And when guys start feeling good and they feel good
25:01
Speaker 3: at the plate, they feel good on the mound, really
25:03
Speaker 3: good things can happen.
25:04
Speaker 2: So there's definitely not hope loss.
25:05
Speaker 3: And especially with the new playoffs system, eighty nine used
25:08
Speaker 3: to be the number and I think it's now shifted
25:10
Speaker 3: more towards eighty seven, eighty six, eighty five wins to
25:13
Speaker 3: get into the playoffs. And I think it sounds like, oh,
25:16
Speaker 3: it's only three or four games, but that's big over
25:18
Speaker 3: a long season that you know the difference in wins there,
25:21
Speaker 3: So I think the hope's not lost at all. I
25:23
Speaker 3: think this team has a lot of talent, and I
25:25
Speaker 3: think if you can kind of stay right there, you
25:27
Speaker 3: just never know what can happen come June in July,
25:29
Speaker 3: and it's I'm excited to see what happens the rest
25:32
Speaker 3: of the way. But that was a great comparison. When
25:33
Speaker 3: I was thinking about that team, I went back and
25:36
Speaker 3: started looking at the numbers. I was telling Steve before
25:38
Speaker 3: the show, I think we were forty three and thirty
25:40
Speaker 3: nine at one point, so really not in a first
25:42
Speaker 3: place position, and just kind of got hot and next
25:45
Speaker 3: thing you know, you look at the stands, it was
25:46
Speaker 3: like sixty two and forty and it was we just
25:48
Speaker 3: got really hot there, and you just I can see
25:50
Speaker 3: that team.
25:51
Speaker 2: This happened with this team.
25:52
Speaker 4: And Brad it's funny you bring up the bullpen of
25:55
Speaker 4: that team, which was unbelievable, especially after the deadline when
25:59
Speaker 4: Andrew Miller got brought in. But I can remember at
26:01
Speaker 4: the beginning of that year where Tommy Hunter, I remember
26:05
Speaker 4: he blew a couple of saves and then Zach Britten
26:07
Speaker 4: made the transition to being a closer and it was
26:11
Speaker 4: just it was dynamite at that point.
26:14
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it was like a lot of guys just
26:15
Speaker 3: kind of stepped up, you know, like Tommy ended up
26:17
Speaker 3: playing a bigger role, but not as a closer. He
26:20
Speaker 3: was minuting guy that every team needs, and it was
26:23
Speaker 3: kind of it was a really cool camaraderie. And every
26:26
Speaker 3: time you hear these guys talk about this team, that's
26:28
Speaker 3: what you hear about is how every guy has each
26:30
Speaker 3: other's back. And I love hearing that stuff. And as
26:32
Speaker 3: a fan, you should be really excited about that kind
26:34
Speaker 3: of thing because I don't think they're gonna get too down.
26:36
Speaker 3: I don't think they're ever gonna think they're out of it.
26:38
Speaker 3: We've seen some big comebacks. Yes, we wish they had
26:41
Speaker 3: kind of followed up with wins after that, but the
26:43
Speaker 3: fact that they're able to win those games when they're
26:45
Speaker 3: down late in games is an encouraging sign because that
26:48
Speaker 3: doesn't go away. When you have fight like that in
26:50
Speaker 3: a team, you know it's going to be there for
26:52
Speaker 3: the entire season. And that's what we did a lot
26:54
Speaker 3: of times in twenty fourteen. We were behind Laighton games
26:57
Speaker 3: and when the bullpen came in, we just didn't think
26:59
Speaker 3: we were gonna let up a run. And I think
27:00
Speaker 3: that's kind of where this team is at They don't
27:02
Speaker 3: think the lead's going to get extended when the bullpen
27:04
Speaker 3: gets in the game, and that's huge for an offense
27:06
Speaker 3: from a mental standpoint.
27:08
Speaker 1: What a fun team to watch and cover ninety six
27:12
Speaker 1: wins in the end, so hot in the second half.
27:15
Speaker 1: Nelson Cruz had forty, Steve Pierce nine to thirty ops.
27:20
Speaker 1: The pitching is so good. And oh, by the way,
27:22
Speaker 1: one thing that team did this team may not achieve
27:24
Speaker 1: will see. I don't think they led the American League
27:27
Speaker 1: of Defensive run, saved three Gold Glove winners, Hardy Jones
27:30
Speaker 1: and Marquakis Man. When they could get it out, they
27:33
Speaker 1: got it. So a lot of great things in twenty fourteen.
27:36
Speaker 1: Great going down, going down. Some reminiscing here with Brad
27:40
Speaker 1: about the twenty fourteen Orioles. We'll get back to the
27:44
Speaker 1: twenty twenty sixth version and wrap up this edition of
27:47
Speaker 1: Birdland Territory. Next Big Bad Morning Show Vinnie and Haney
27:54
Speaker 1: Inside Access Live on YouTube weekdays six till six.
27:58
Speaker 6: Search Baltimore one to five in the Fan.
28:01
Speaker 4: Subscribe for daily shorts right to your phone, and never
28:03
Speaker 4: missed what you missed one five seven the.
28:06
Speaker 1: Fan, Great discussion of twenty fourteen. That was really fun,
28:11
Speaker 1: and we'll be doing some of that throughout the summer
28:13
Speaker 1: of course. So, well, here's a stat on the oil offense.
28:16
Speaker 1: I don't know if I'm overstating it, probably so they
28:19
Speaker 1: rank very well in exit velocity and hard hit percentage.
28:23
Speaker 1: Where they don't rank well is barrel percentage. Well, what
28:27
Speaker 1: is that? That's defined as ninety eight miles an hour
28:31
Speaker 1: plus with a almost a perfect launch angle twenty six
28:35
Speaker 1: to thirty degrees, So you're hitting the ball hard at
28:38
Speaker 1: the perfect angle.
28:39
Speaker 5: If you do that, you get a call.
28:41
Speaker 1: It's called a barrel and the oils are nineteenth and
28:44
Speaker 1: the majors in those, So they're not just crushing these
28:47
Speaker 1: balls like some of the top teams. When you hit,
28:50
Speaker 1: when you hit a barrel, stat show your batting average
28:53
Speaker 1: is five hundred and you're slugging is fifteen hundred.
28:56
Speaker 5: Those are damage. They do damage often.
29:00
Speaker 1: So maybe there's a fine line, guys between hitting the
29:03
Speaker 1: ball hard, which they're doing, and really hitting the ball hard,
29:07
Speaker 1: which they're not.
29:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, I mean when I look at the
29:12
Speaker 3: roster I'm looking at you know, Taylor Ward's homer numbers
29:15
Speaker 3: are down. Pete Alzo homers are down, but I just
29:18
Speaker 3: you know they're gonna be there. These guys are proven
29:21
Speaker 3: veterans that you know what their numbers are going to be,
29:23
Speaker 3: somewhere twenty five thirty homers.
29:24
Speaker 2: It's what they've proven to do.
29:26
Speaker 3: So to me that that's the encouraging sign of that
29:28
Speaker 3: is I feel like that's got to turn up. And
29:31
Speaker 3: we know Cami Yard starts turning into a bandbox once
29:34
Speaker 3: May hits you. I mean you I would see it
29:36
Speaker 3: in batting practice April and May. These balls, you know,
29:40
Speaker 3: are ten rows deep, are a warning track and once
29:42
Speaker 3: June comes around, it's you know, you got to hit
29:44
Speaker 3: the You gotta get guys a hit ball on the
29:46
Speaker 3: ground because when the ball goes up in the air,
29:48
Speaker 3: they're gone. So I think, I'm just I'm hopeful that
29:51
Speaker 3: that's what's gonna happen. And I think when you look
29:53
Speaker 3: at Taylor Ward and Peter Lonzo, I just I can't
29:55
Speaker 3: imagine that their homern numbers stay where they're at, stay
29:58
Speaker 3: on this trend.
30:00
Speaker 4: And Steve, you gave the numbers for Pete, he's top
30:04
Speaker 4: five percent. I believe in MLB and average eggs of
30:07
Speaker 4: velosity and hard hit percentage it's just not falling, it's
30:10
Speaker 4: just not leaving the yard right now. But I also think, Brad,
30:14
Speaker 4: you made a great point when it seemed like Pete
30:17
Speaker 4: was getting out of it. He was walking a lot,
30:20
Speaker 4: like you know, it seemed like he wasn't expanding the
30:23
Speaker 4: zone and that was part of the reason why the
30:25
Speaker 4: bat speed was down. I remember Craig albern As talking
30:28
Speaker 4: about that. I just think Pete needs to get back
30:32
Speaker 4: to that point and then hopefully you start seeing the
30:35
Speaker 4: results when you are squaring up those balls.
30:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, I completely agree. I think when he went through
30:41
Speaker 3: that stretch there started hitting ball.
30:43
Speaker 5: The other way.
30:43
Speaker 3: He would take his hits the other way, he'd take
30:45
Speaker 3: his walks, and it kind of just gets you rolling.
30:47
Speaker 3: You get your confidence up, and that's that's I think
30:50
Speaker 3: the biggest thing is just the confidence is just they
30:52
Speaker 3: know it, they know what is expected of them. I
30:55
Speaker 3: just think the confidence is lacking just a little bit.
30:58
Speaker 3: You get a couple of games where you're rolling, and
31:00
Speaker 3: that's why I was with the game on Friday.
31:02
Speaker 2: You just were like, this is it. This is the
31:03
Speaker 2: team we expected.
31:04
Speaker 3: The home runs, the you know, putting up these big
31:07
Speaker 3: numbers on the offensive side and that's where you just
31:09
Speaker 3: kind of hope gets rolling just two, three, four games
31:12
Speaker 3: and then you can kind of make up for bad
31:15
Speaker 3: starts and bad pitching and it kind of just gets
31:18
Speaker 3: rolling from there. And that's my biggest hope for this
31:20
Speaker 3: team moving forward.
31:23
Speaker 1: Gentlemen, great show, if we don't mind saying so ourselves.
31:27
Speaker 1: I enjoyed this conversation. Big week for the Orioles, Birdland, Houston.
31:32
Speaker 1: They got to get a going here after Boston Series
31:35
Speaker 1: and the Yankees, Oh, the Bronx Bombers, the Evil Umpires
31:38
Speaker 1: looming late in the week.
31:39
Speaker 5: We're gonna be here to talk about all of it.
31:42
Speaker 1: Glad you joined us today, Please subscribe, follow us on
31:44
Speaker 1: the podcast networks too, and for Brad and Tim on
31:48
Speaker 1: Steve Mleski. We'll catch you next time on Birdland Territory
32:01
Speaker 4: Video