Speaker 1: I mean, if they could lock him up, that would
Speaker 1: be a pre World Series type for aid in Baltimore
Speaker 1: knowing they have this kid for many years to come.
Speaker 2: All right, here's what we want to cover with Baltimore.
Speaker 2: Let's start with the starting staff. They lost Corbin Burns.
Speaker 2: They made major waves last year when they picked up
Speaker 2: Burns via trade with the Brewers, but Burns is gone.
Speaker 2: He goes to Arizona, Charlie Morton and Chicano on the
Speaker 2: back end of that rotation. Winning in October. The O's
Speaker 2: haven't won a playoff game since twenty fourteen. That needs
Speaker 2: to change. In twenty twenty five there in their winning window,
Speaker 2: and that was after that really really rough tank job
Speaker 2: that we saw for a long period of time. Show
Speaker 2: Gunner Henderson the money right now while you still can.
Speaker 2: Baltimore has new ownership. They said that no finances are
Speaker 2: going to hold them back, so that Bobby Wood junior
Speaker 2: deal would be a nice little comp something to think about.
Speaker 2: And also for Baltimore. Yeah, there it is. Yes, winning
Speaker 2: in October, and happy Holidays too, Jackson Holiday. How will
Speaker 2: the former number one overall pick performing in sophomore season
Speaker 2: after an up and down rookie campaign. He's very very young.
Speaker 2: So let's go over all this right now. We're going
Speaker 2: to bring in our guest making his FT debut, Steve Moleski.
Speaker 2: You can follow him at Steve on Baseball Covers the
Speaker 2: Ools for a long time. As I mentioned, Steve, great
Speaker 2: to have you on. I'm going to go right to
Speaker 2: Baz and this is the big question. Is the starting
Speaker 2: rotation good enough to be a division title contender and
Speaker 2: really a World Series contender because they're right in the
Speaker 2: thick of their winning window and they lost Corbin Burns.
Speaker 1: What do you think, Well, there are a few ifs there,
Speaker 1: as I think people know. I think one way the
Speaker 1: Oriols would look at this. Scott is zach Effln was
Speaker 1: really good in his nine Oriel starts sub three era.
Speaker 1: Grayson Rodriguez in his last let's say, thirty three starts
Speaker 1: after he came back, he got to the majors, really struggled,
Speaker 1: went back to Triple A in the thirty three starts.
Speaker 1: Since he has been back in the big leagues, his
Speaker 1: era is three thirty five. His whip is like one
Speaker 1: point fifteen, and I mean those stats are not far off.
Speaker 1: What Cole Reagan's has done and did last year when
Speaker 1: he was believe fourth in the cy Young. So I
Speaker 1: think the Orioles, looking optimistically, say last year they combined
Speaker 1: for twenty nine starts for our team. This year, if
Speaker 1: they can combine for sixty, maybe even a few more,
Speaker 1: then at least the front end is formidable, and we'll
Speaker 1: see how Sigano does. We'll see if Charlie Morton still
Speaker 1: has some magic at forty one, can Dean Kramer take
Speaker 1: a step forward, and then they've got some depth behind that.
Speaker 3: As a former one to one pick, Jackson Holiday had
Speaker 3: an up and down rookie year, a lot of really
Speaker 3: exciting moments for a baby to be in the big leagues.
Speaker 3: What's the outlook for his sophomore season, because he's gonna
Speaker 3: need to improve if this team is going to keep
Speaker 3: him in the lineup to go somewhere.
Speaker 1: Exactly. Talk about the smallest of sample sizes. It was
Speaker 1: the final weekend of the regular season in twenty twenty four,
Speaker 1: the Oriols at Minnesota and Jackson Holliday that weekend dropped
Speaker 1: the highlight kick he had used throughout his amateur and
Speaker 1: professional career to that point. They had behind the scenes
Speaker 1: been working on some tweaks and he was drilling the ball.
Speaker 1: He went like four for five that weekend. He hit
Speaker 1: one four hundred feet off the left center field wall
Speaker 1: in Minnesota. And so again that's the ultimate small sample size.
Speaker 1: But Brandon Hyde said he was incredibly encouraged by that change,
Speaker 1: and he had all winner to be at home at
Speaker 1: Oklahom with his dad working on it. He reported to
Speaker 1: Florida even bigger and stronger, added some weight, and so
Speaker 1: I think we know this kid's makeup, mental makeup is
Speaker 1: incredibly strong. So the struggles he had, I don't think
Speaker 1: that's going to bother him in the least. I think
Speaker 1: he remains very confident what he can do.
Speaker 4: For me.
Speaker 1: It's a matter of guys, does he improve to league
Speaker 1: average or does he take a step beyond that, which
Speaker 1: I think eventually he is going to do.
Speaker 4: Another guy, Gunner Henderson, who's been absolutely spectacular these first
Speaker 4: couple of years here just coming into his own time
Speaker 4: to lock him up. Man, I got a feel and
Speaker 4: this is one of those guys that should be there
Speaker 4: for a long time. I think he will be there
Speaker 4: for a long time. He's got comps to you know,
Speaker 4: Bobby Wood junior kind of look and feel and play
Speaker 4: and money wise, what's holding them back here a little bit?
Speaker 1: Well, you know, I think the first year of the
Speaker 1: new ownership with David Rubinstein and his group was a
Speaker 1: fact finding year, learning what it's like to on a
Speaker 1: major league club. You'd never done that. There are a
Speaker 1: lot of ballpark improvements and the ools are making so
Speaker 1: there are things happening beyond just the major league roster.
Speaker 1: But Michael Isias has said he's got their full support.
Speaker 1: Their payroll did grow to fifteenth from near the bottom
Speaker 1: this year. A lot of that with arbitration raises, but
Speaker 1: they also added O'Neil. They have athlete at eighteen million,
Speaker 1: so there is some spending not seen in Baltimore in
Speaker 1: several years to this point. But you're right, fans and
Speaker 1: media wonder when will be the big signing. They didn't
Speaker 1: re sign Burns, they didn't get Max Free, they haven't
Speaker 1: extended any of the young guys. And I mean, you
Speaker 1: got Adlie, you got Gunner, you got Westburg, you got Grace,
Speaker 1: and you got Galzer. Everywhere you look there's a young
Speaker 1: guy who might be part of their long term future.
Speaker 1: But Gunner heads that list I mean, if they could
Speaker 1: lock him up, that would be you know, that would
Speaker 1: be a pre World Series type parade in Baltimore, knowing
Speaker 1: they have this kid for many years to come.
Speaker 4: Steve.
Speaker 3: In twenty fourteen, I was in the dugout for the
Speaker 3: two games in Baltimore where our Royals pounded the Orioles,
Speaker 3: and a security guard while we were leaving said we'll
Speaker 3: see you guys in four days, meaning they were gonna
Speaker 3: beat us in KC and we're gonna come back. Well,
Speaker 3: now we're in twenty twenty five. Still haven't seen a
Speaker 3: playoff victory since then. So whoever that security guard was
Speaker 3: is probably sick and tired of this. And how's it
Speaker 3: going to turn around in twenty twenty five because you've
Speaker 3: seen it, You've seen this tank job, and it's built
Speaker 3: up for this team. They need to change it in
Speaker 3: twenty twenty five. How are they gonna do it?
Speaker 1: Well, you know, when someone asked me this week, what's
Speaker 1: going to determine this season? I said, you know, it's
Speaker 1: going to be six months of the grind of baseball
Speaker 1: to get to October, which when we look a year
Speaker 1: from now, that's how we'll look at their season in
Speaker 1: October go team has been swept out two straight years,
Speaker 1: ten straight playoff losses. They have not won a playoff
Speaker 1: series since the series before that ALCS in twenty fourteen
Speaker 1: against the Tigers. So that is the next stepping stone
Speaker 1: for the Orioles. They have rebuilt the team. They went
Speaker 1: from one hundred and fifteen losses to one hundred and
Speaker 1: one wins. They showed they could win the Aled East
Speaker 1: in twenty twenty three. They've still got a fertile farm.
Speaker 1: Now they have to win in October. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: the next step for this team. And as we know,
Speaker 1: the Yankees will tell you, even the Dodgers could tell
Speaker 1: you many bites of the apple before you actually get it.
Speaker 1: It is the crapshoot, they say, October baseball now in
Speaker 1: Major League Baseball. But that's the next hurdle for this team.
Speaker 1: And when October comes, the pressure will be on the
Speaker 1: Orioles if they make it, which they look like they
Speaker 1: have a good chance to do.
Speaker 3: Steve, did you say a fertile farm. I just want
Speaker 3: to make sure I heard you right.
Speaker 1: It has fallen in the farm rankings. I'll grant you that,
Speaker 1: but they still have two times fifteen guys here Besio
Speaker 1: and Mayo, two top fifteen, top twenty who we have
Speaker 1: barely seen, and some guys behind that they like, like Bradfield.
Speaker 1: So I think it was a natural progression. You cannot
Speaker 1: stay number one forever. The Braves have sort of done it.
Speaker 1: The Dodgers. It's hard to win at the major league
Speaker 1: level and have a top farm. So yeah, it's probably
Speaker 1: not as fertile as it was when they were ranked
Speaker 1: number one, when guys like Jackson Holliday were in the
Speaker 1: farm and going further back, Adalie and Gunner. But I
Speaker 1: think they still feel good about it, and they really
Speaker 1: feel good about their international program, which if you look
Speaker 1: at their top thirty right now, it's almost half international.
Speaker 1: There are very few teams that can say that, so
Speaker 1: they do have some next wave or two coming they feel.
Speaker 3: I love that you said fertile farming. The issue is
Speaker 3: what happens from a fertile farm. You build beautiful, beautiful produce,
Speaker 3: but if it never gets picked, it rottens and all
Speaker 3: of these prospects could be rotting. Is michae Elias going
Speaker 3: to be able to create all these beautiful prospects and
Speaker 3: never get rid of him? To get over the hump
Speaker 3: or is he going to be able to change his
Speaker 3: evaluation and say, you know what, it's okay, we got
Speaker 3: rid of Norby. He's going to have success. But we
Speaker 3: believe in in you know, we picked up we picked
Speaker 3: up Rogers, whether it's good or bad. Is he going
Speaker 3: to be able to get away from that evaluation or
Speaker 3: is it going to be the same old, same old.
Speaker 1: Well, I think the pressure on the Oil front of
Speaker 1: office is Okay, you rebuilt it. You said you wanted
Speaker 1: to make an elite farm system. You did. You said
Speaker 1: you wanted to get back to winning, you did, and
Speaker 1: now can they win in October? That pressure's on the
Speaker 1: entire organization from Micha Elias on down. And I think
Speaker 1: Mike is a first time general manager. And while he's
Speaker 1: been very good in Baltimore, he would probably even tell you,
Speaker 1: uh that. Now the test for him and his staff
Speaker 1: is to keep it going, keep winning. He said, I
Speaker 1: only want to rebuild this once. We don't want to
Speaker 1: go through this twice. And stay relevant, stay winning, stay good,
Speaker 1: keep the window vast, and kick the door in. So
Speaker 1: that's the test for Mike two. He got him to
Speaker 1: this point. Now what does he and his staff do
Speaker 1: to take the next steps.
Speaker 2: I'm with you, Hey, we're waiting for it. I know
Speaker 2: Baltimore is very very anxious for that next step, so
Speaker 2: we'll see what happens. It's great to have you on
Speaker 2: here for the first time. Really appreciated Steve. Everyone can
Speaker 2: give Steve a follow if you don't already. Steve on
Speaker 2: Baseball covers the oriol super super well, so we appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Great to have you all right, Thanks Scott, Thanks guys,