Inside Access with Jason LaCanfora and Ken Weinman
Mike Elias I'm so happy for Jackson Holliday
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Purple has a wide variety of mattresses from the original purple mattress to the Restore Hybrid Collection. It combines gel flex grid with coils and the Rejuvenate Lux collection, the height of luxury with over 112,000 to five star reviews to prove it. Visit purple.com to find the perfect purple for you and enter code podcast 10 to get 10% off. And we are in fact joined by Orioles General Manager Mike Elias. And we have a lot to get to. And before we do that, Mike, I just wanted to say personally, I tend to get a little overly emotional at times, especially around the trade deadline and I probably went a little too far in my commentary at times. So I wanted to apologize to you for that. And thank you for being a good sport and coming on with us, especially at a time like this where you've got a lot of transactions happening. And I guess we'll start with Grayson Rodriguez. And last time this happened, I guess it was a grade two lat issue. And that ended up being a few months. Were you able to get any clarity from the initial testing back in Baltimore today? With that, thanks, Jason. And yeah, the Grayson development is still very fresh. You know, we all saw what happened on the field. He didn't feel like he should pitch that night. He had a complaint of some soreness in a new spot. We scratched him. We're getting our arms around it medically right now. That takes a couple of days for me to really have a responsible answer on it. But he's on the IL to fight it to stay. That's going to mean he misses a couple of starts at a minimum and will be helpful that it's short. But I really don't know as of this hour. And it's just something that we're still navigating. Well, Mike, in the short term with at least a couple of starts of him missing. Is Albert Suarez going to slot into that spot in the starting rotation? You know, we haven't made a final decision on that. But you know, you saw what he did last night. He saw what he's done throughout the season. And you know, we jerk this guy around a little bit too. So to speak between the rotation and he started off in Triple A. And then he goes right to the bullpen and he's just posting with the best attitude imaginable and doing really good things for us. It's hard to picture with all the injuries that we've had. It's hard to picture ourselves. The half came out of first without Albert. So he's right at the top of the list. But that said, you know, we're still kind of sitting down as a staff and working through all this, we've had other transactions today. And there's a few balls in the air in terms of how we want to set up the pitching staff. But I think that Albert has put himself in the position to kind of carry the torch there in the fifth spot for as long as you've needed. We've seen Kate Povich and Chase McDermott to one degree or the other get to sort of toggle into this rotation as well. Do you guys have any more clarity on Chase McDermott, the extent of his injury and absence at the Triple A level? And with Povich, would you consider him kind of deal hauling it a little bit and seeing how that plays in the bullpen a little bit at Norfolk? Or does the injury to Grayson just mean we need all the pitching, starting pitching depth we can get? Well, I don't have too much to add, unfortunately, on the Chase McDermott timeline at this time. Like I said, this is all kind of happened at once in the last few days. And it does take a few days, a few opinions, imaging to kind of get your arms around a prognosis on an arm injury. But look, his shoulder area is bothering him and that's going to be a while. So I think he's kind of out of our depth picture for the moment until he gets healthy. And then the ones, the other guys that have started for us this year that are still up and running in Triple A, arcade and Cole Irvin, who cleared waivers. And I think at this point in time, whoever's not in the five-man rotation, we're going to lean towards keeping them at starter depth because the trade deadline is over. We need all the starters we can get to make it through the finish line. And that's probably what's going to happen. But certainly, as things evolve, we'll consider different scenarios. And as you get into September and you get an extra man, I think there might be some different things on the table. But right now, my best estimation is that we're going to try to preserve all of the healthy, majorly experienced starters that we have in the organization and keep them a starter role. Mike, a really scary situation. A couple of weeks ago, a Camden Yards, when Hester Kerstab was hitting the head, ended up having a stint on the concussion IL. And then today, placed back on the 10-day concussion IL, I guess, did he experience setbacks in recovering from the concussion? Yes, always a case-by-case basis with these concussions. So what happened is we optioned him and the symptoms that he's currently experiencing are mild. And he did not report recurrent symptoms until a couple of days after he was optioned. We immediately had him checked out by our doctor, our team doctors, and then a concussion specialist outside the organization. And it was determined that he should return to concussion protocols. So I think it's just one of those things, but fortunately, we reacted quickly. I don't have a timeline on that, but hopefully it's mild and it's not too long. And we'll adjust his activities accordingly in the near term, but hopefully we'll have him back in the picture. But yeah, these things are tough, and you saw him get 97 to the back of the head a few weeks ago. And that's not insignificant. Yeah, and we're talking to Mike Elias here on Inside Access. Well, thankfully, it hasn't been all bad news for you guys. And Lord knows you're dealing with a lot as we just went through, including, again, if you missed it, Jacob Webb, also on the 15-day aisle. Jackson Holiday has obviously come back with a vengeance. Are there some mechanical things that he did? He obviously still has the toe tap. I'm not positive if it's as pronounced, but he seems to be much more on time. He's obviously crushing things the other way. Vilo hasn't been a problem to strike counts. Haven't been a problem. How many boxes did he check for you guys that last stint in Norfolk? Well, I'm so happy for him. You know, after having that abrupt and rough debut and like I said at the time, I mean, he went down and took a positive takeaway from that experience and he applied himself and worked with our hitting coaches. And, you know, I think a lot of it was, as you said, is some of his physical movements. They're a little more subtle, but you know, the same guy in the same swing. But I also think a part of it is just the reset. And ultimately, you know, it's on me. I think we called him up a little quick and he hadn't spent a lot of time in Triple A. And even top prospects that are spending 600 plate appearances in Triple A are coming up and struggling the big league. So that was a lot to ask of a 20-year-old. But even now you can see the talent that he is. And, you know, we don't want to, he doesn't need to keep going like this. He's helping the team. He takes good at bat. He's playing good defense. We've got guys hurt. So I think this is a good stretch where he can enjoy himself and we're going to take what we can get from him. But so far, he's been amazing. So kudos to him. With all that's already on his plate. Do you do you rep him at all at short, you know, before games? Or would that be Ramon at this point? Because, you know, obviously, Hori Mateo is not here and Gunner can't play every single inning. Yeah, we've got a situation now with not only Jorge, but Westburg down that our shortstop coverage before Jackson came up with basically just Gunner. And Gunner's been playing a lot. And in addition to the all-star game, in addition to the homerun derby, he plays so hard. Yeah, you do have to worry about that. So we had Lavon Soto up for a couple of days. And we do have him in the organization as well as some other guys in Triple A. But holiday is a shortstop. He's been playing there his whole life. And the staff with the team, the coaching staff are going to make sure he's ready. You should that be called upon. But hopefully that's something not something that we need to lean into too hard because we need both of those guys up the middle right now. But it is a possibility and it is part of our on roster shortstop depth chart right now. This season Instacart has your back to school. As in, they've got your back to school lunch favorites like snack packs and fresh fruit. And they've got your back to school supplies like backpacks, binders and pencils. And they've got your back. When your kid casually tells you they have a huge school project due tomorrow. Let's face it, we were all that kid. So first, call your parents to say, "I'm sorry." And then download the Instacart app to get delivery in as fast as 30 minutes all school year long. Get a $0 delivery fee for your first three orders while supplies last. Minimum $10 per order additional terms apply. We all belong outside. We're drawn to nature, whether it's the recorded sounds of the ocean we doze off to or the succulents that adorn our homes. Nature makes all of our lives, well, better. Despite all this, we often go about our busy lives removed from it. But the outdoors is closer than we realize. With all trails, you can discover trails nearby and explore confidently. With offline maps and on trail navigation, download the free app today and make the most of your summer with all trails. Nothing is more important than getting a good night's sleep. And when you don't get the rest you need, your whole day is thrown off. That's why it's so important to choose the right mattress. Sleeping on a purple mattress is truly a unique experience because purple mattresses are made with a gel flex grid. The gel flex grid is an innovative material that moves with your body to relieve pressure in areas like knees and hips and support in others like your back. It feels soft where you want it and supports where you need it. Purple mattresses instantly adapt when you move. You don't sink in and get stuck like with memory foam. And thanks to over 1,400 air chambers in the gel flex grid, you will sleep cooler on a purple mattress. Purple has a wide variety of mattresses from the original purple mattress to the Restore Hybrid Collection that combines gel flex grid with coils and the Rejuvenate Lux Collection, the height of luxury. With over 112,000 to five star reviews to prove it, visit purple.com to find the perfect purple for you and enter code podcast 10 to get 10% off. We're speaking of Michael I's that's inside access on the fan. Mike Kobe Mayo recently got the call up and we know that working on his defense in the minors was a big priority from him. Where have you seen him make strides in that area and what have you seen from him thus far? Well, he hasn't gotten too much action so far in the majors, but all we're really asking him to do right now is to make the routine play not 100% of the time, but just make the routine play and give good about. And he's doing that. He's a really big guy. It's hard to play the infield when you're as tall as he is, but he's so athletic that he's been able to do it at a high level. And I think he can do it at the major league level at third base and stay at the position, but it doesn't mean he's a finished product. It doesn't mean he's going to play it as well as we've seen Urias and Westburg do it in years past, but we haven't asked him to do that. And he does have a really strong arm. So it enables him to make some tough plays and for a big guy. He's really good at the body control play too. So I think we're going to see some really good flashes from him there, but he is coming up and helping us at third base at a time when he's badly needed. And I hope just like Jackson did, he's soaking everything in and learning from this experience. And I do think is that that have looked good even though the numbers aren't there. So we'll see what he does here the next few days. But I think it'll be nice for him if he can get a ball to fall in the graph. Mike, obviously, when you guys acquired Gregory Soto, you know, he's got some pretty extreme splits. And he's a guy that really you just need to be super tough on lefties. Is it a matter of command with him to lefties? Are there things that you guys think you can do to weaponize him differently to try to get him to harness that velocity? Yeah, I think it is command. I mean, these early struggles that we've been seeing, it's he's getting behind an account of lefties and then he's either walking them or getting a base head. And that's always been part of his game, but he appears to be in a particular funk in that regard right now. And we know the talent that's in there, so he'll work out of this. But it's just it's tough when somebody comes over in a trade and we all want to see them hit the ground running and make a positive impression. So it's hard on the player, it's hard on me, it's hard on the manager when a guy gets off to a really rough start like this. But like anything in baseball, I think more of it is luck than we realize and we do need him. We brought in all those pitchers at the trade deadline for the reason that you just thought today, like we're going to have injuries. We need more major league quality pitchers in the organization. And he's going to help us and we want the velocity and the tough look from the left side that he provides. So we'll get him going. Mike Eloy Jimenez is off to a strong start as an oriole, but coming in from the White Sox at ground ball rate was really, really high this year. What underlying metrics did you see with Jimenez for you to pull off that move? Yeah, I think underlying is kind of a good word. I mean, it's having a down year on the surface, but the quality of the at bats remain good. The threat that he kind of presents when he's standing in the batter's box was always there, particularly against left handed pitching, which is something that we were lacking, especially after deciding to trade off the haze for pitching. But he can hit right handed pitching too and he uses the whole field and particularly gap to gap. So it's hard to defend against and we've seen it in the first few days. He hit the ball really hard and there's just a lot there to like. And he's not 100% healthy and he hasn't been. So that's still being worked through, but he's healthy enough to DH, give good at bats, and we'll try to grow it from there as he gets out of this injury mode. But so far, the quality of bats and I think the pennant race has lifted his spirits and I think it's more representative of the type of hitter that he is than what he did with the White Sox for the first half. Mike, before we let you go, one last thing, and this is itself as a testament to the job you guys have done because I don't think we've ever had to ask you a question like this before, but Anthony Santander is getting to a point where he's an impending free agent and he's obviously one of the best switch hitters in baseball and clearly loves being here and clearly is a bit of the heart and soul of your team and a leader. Do you guys have any philosophical sort of differences about trying to extend anybody in season? You've obviously got a ton going on to keep this thing going with all these injuries, et cetera, but do you even entertain something like that now or do you just have to table it to the off season? Yeah, I mean, I would echo the compliment that you made about Tony. Whatever you guys see on the screen, when you're at the park, behind the scenes, he's just a great guy and he's really putting together a great season. I've been kind of boring on this extension topic in the past, but for reasons that I've already said, and then also the fact that our new ownership group has just settled in as of opening day, early April, we've got so much going on in season. It is something that is more typically tackled in the off season and there's a lot that goes into it and it can be tough while season is going on, but he is a great player. Like you mentioned, the switch hitter is something that is rare and valuable, but there's a lot that goes into the business of baseball and ultimately things come down to case by case in certain circumstances. And it's hard for me to make sweeping statements about what we may do in season or not do, but we love Santan there and he's really been a big part of where we are right now despite some of the challenges that we've had health lives throughout the year. So I'm sure he's going to finish really strong and we'll see where we're at. He's GM Mike Elias. Mike, thanks so much for taking the time, especially in the stretch wrong. Thanks, guys. You get it. Coming up next, 410-583-1057. If you want to join us now to react to anything that Mike Elias said, we will react, have our own reactions to what Mike Elias told us, but 410-583-105-7, we'll take your phone calls next on the fan. 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