Inside Access with Jason LaCanfora and Ken Weinman

How aggressive will the Orioles be at the trade deadline?

In the third hour of "Inside Access", the guys discuss how aggressive they believe the Orioles will be at the trade deadline. They also discuss if they think Justin Madubuike can have another strong season next year and listen to some Brandon Hyde audio from the day.

Duration:: 59m
Broadcast on:: 11 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

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. Hey, fantasy football fans. Do you want to be the owner who was doing a crime session the night before the draft? I didn't think so. You need to start your prep now. This is Faraz from Upper Hand Fantasy. Zach and I are here to get you ready for your fantasy football drafts with insights and advice from sleepers to bust. We've got you covered and give it the upper hand on your friends. Today is the day to start getting ready for the draft. So join us and stay ahead of the competition. Follow and listen to Upper Hand Fantasy on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 term supply. Yes, it's a Thursday. That means it's time to talk to our friend, the Hall of Famer. I a Hall of Famer, Lucy Bird from Beck QL. And Lucy, good afternoon. Thank you as always for joining us. First and foremost, how was vacation? We didn't get to talk to you last week. Yes. Well, good afternoon. I missed you very much last week. Vacation was great. I did a lot of things and a lot of it was sitting by the pool. I saw some friends from high school. I saw my godmother. I saw some people I used to work with. So it was a really, really fun kind of fill your bucket kind of time. A lot of it by the pool. But yeah, it was it was a really nice time. Did I see that throw a softball? I did. So there was one day where it was kind of raining. It didn't really have like a ton to do. And yeah, so it was like, oh, let's see if I can still throw the softball and pitch it because I missed softball pitching so much. I haven't done it since high school in an actual game. But here and there, I see if I can still do it. And the next day, my arm was very sore, which I didn't expect. You always think you're going to be fine and bounce back quickly. But no, age does catch up to you. And yeah, so I did that. And it was, I will say, started off right off the bat. No wild pitches. So I could say maybe I could still still do it. Still got it. Well, we're glad that you had a great trip, Lucy. But with all due respect, I don't think you or anyone is having a better summer than Bill Belichick right now. What is the latest summer bill? You guys, it's the summer of Bill. This is still surreal to every photo that comes out. Like, it's just this is real. This is crazy because we have never seen Bill Belichick like this before. And he was the last person you would think that would do this because he during his coaching career never famously never revealed very much about anything, but especially about himself and about his life. And now we see all at once his entire life and his entire romantic life out there. Not only that, but with someone who is 50 years younger, but also the ironic thing is that he would always say that he doesn't know much about the kids these days and snap face and all that. And then we're eating one of them. He is and and there was the talk about with Mac Jones. Can he relate to younger players? Is that his problem with coaching? He can very much relate to younger people of this age of their early 20s because he is dating one of them. This is not only, not only, oh my god, not only does he have a girlfriend who he's walking around with and pictures are taken in there or you're holding hands and she's 50 years younger than him. So this is completely surreal. She goes to cheerleading competitions for seeking selfies with our own posing for pictures. She's rubbing his chest. They're just all like hanging out riding bikes and she's all like touching everyone. We get arms with them. It's so surreal, but I love it as good for them. They're happy. That's what really matters. But it's so surreal to think that that this is going on. We're talking to Lucy Burch, who just to clarify, said no wild pitches earlier. That was pitches with a P. It's inside access here on the fan. Lucy. Yes. Any any thoughts on the Hawk to a girl seemingly comes out of nowhere. And now she's famous and getting paid 30 grand to do an opening of some nightclub. Yes. So here is my take on this whole thing is there are things that go viral that I think are great. Like, Oh, this is funny. I see why this is viral. This one is not hitting me. This I can't. It's not really. I see why it's viral, but it's not particularly like funny to me. I don't get it. It's not it doesn't hit me in the right tickle me in the right spot. Yeah. There are other things that go viral. Like, yeah, I get it. Like, oh, I would buy that hat. I would buy that shirt. This is like, okay, we're past it. The first time you see it, it's like, Oh, okay. But I don't think she should be as famous as she is right now just for that. It doesn't it doesn't scream. Oh, this is a has legs to it. I don't think she should be getting a reality show for this. That that's my thing, Lucy, where I was like, I feel like when did when did this interview drop? It's been it's been probably three or four weeks now at this point where I'm surprised that she's had the staying power and the staying power of a reality TV show. Like, what is that going to be? Right. It's not like she followed up with this with anything like, Oh, this bombshell about her life or like, Oh, this could be good. Like, like, honey booboo or something. There's nothing here where this reality show would last more than an episode warrant a reality show rather than like a, you know, like 45 minute YouTube behind the scenes of her life. I don't know how it's going to go beyond that. And I don't just because of that. I don't know. It was like, Oh, she, she was rumored to be a teacher, but she's not actually a teacher. She worked in a spring factory. Like, okay, that doesn't really, it's not grabbing me. It's not, this is this one for a second. I was like, yeah, that's funny. But now I'm like, all right, we are well past this reality show is not going to pan out can guarantee that. And I don't, I don't get it. I don't know why who was paying for this. This is not, this is not my favorite thing to go viral, but but isn't this today though, like, like Kim Kardashian famous for being famous that like, that's that's what she is true. But Kim Kardashian did become famous for something. I'm like, okay, yes, I could see why. But also her reality show, I've been known to throw that on and watch for a little bit. And I think I'm not going to watch this. And then I get hooked in. Maybe Hawke to a girl has that where you start watching and you're like, okay, maybe there's something to this. But just for that moment specifically, it's not anything also, particularly earth shattering her technique that's been done to death. I mean, we already knew that. So he wasn't reviewing any secrets like I already know that, of course. So it wasn't particularly new news here. So, you know, it's just not grabbing me. I mean, I think part of it's like the accent and just like how she like the personality part, we were speaking of Lucy Burgess inside access on the fan Lucy, we had a question earlier that was brought up because of yesterday's show can admitted that until today, our boss boss Chuck brought him in, he had never had a McFlurry until today. So I was throwing out the question, like, what's a popular fast food menu item that you've never had? I've never been the Popeyes. So therefore, I've never had the Popeyes chicken sandwich, which remember, people are killing each other for. So I never had that. Is there a popular fast food menu item you haven't had? Yes, I can tell you an entire menu. I've never, I've never been to Taco Bell. By the way, I'm with her on this. I've never, like, I've had to talk about once in my life. Yeah, I've never been to Popeyes either. I've never had the Popeyes chicken sandwich. Great. Yeah, never been to Taco Bell. So, yeah, the chalupa, the whatever is on the menu there, whatever the roll up with the cheese and at the cheesy roll up. That's insert menu item here for them. You know, beef roll up never had that. It's always, it's always funny when they trot out new menu items. And it's like, here, let's throw in Fritos and call it something else. You know, like, I appreciate it. So in my mind, I'm like, yeah, I would have a wood a taco with a shell made of made of Dorito. Like, yeah, I appreciate the creativity of Taco Bell. I just happened to never have been to one. I don't think I mean, there's been them around me. I just, it's never been. It's always McDonald's Burger King, you know, pick your place, but never, never Taco Bell, which is wild. So that's what I was going to say. What was your, like, late night college, you know, fast food spot then? Because Taco Bell, like that is talk. Oh, McDonald's. Okay. It was McDonald's. And you know what I would get though, I would get the yogurt parfait. I was, you know what they say, not going to drunk college kid likes more than a yogurt parfait. Right. Exactly. That's the go to. I was such a, like, square, I would go to, so MIT frat, which happens to be two streets over from where I live right now. We would link college, we would leave the MIT frat and we would go to the McDonald's down the street. And I would get a yogurt parfait while we waited for the bus to bring us back to Wellesley. And I got my little yogurt parfait. And I was like, yeah, everyone else getting their burgers. And I was like, yeah, I'm just gonna have this thing. And that was my go to. So you think I've been to Taco Bell now, but, but I used to, as a kid, McDonald's all the time, McFlurry after soccer games, after softball games, always. Before we get to your picks, I, and I asked this for a reason, because I'm going somewhere with it. Are you a coffee drinker? Oh, yeah. Oh, good. So, so what do you think about drinking a hot cup of coffee on a 100 degree day? I can get with that, because I do prefer cold brew. Okay. Yes. But it's, if it has caffeine in it, and that's your only way, I wouldn't, it wouldn't be my preferred way of drinking it in hot weather. But I mean, if it has caffeine in it, I will drink it. So someone said, well, your only option, then yeah. So here, here's the scenario where bone and I are in the press box last night at oral park at Camden Yards, where they do have a soda machine with caffeinated cold beverages. But he and the, and by the way, the press box is open here. It's 100 degrees with 100% humidity last night. He comes into the press box carrying a bottle of water and a piping hot cup of coffee. We were, I think, I think he's a serial killer. We were at pickles. This is a bar right across the street from Camden Yards. And it was windy as hell yesterday. So really it wasn't bad out. Yeah. And I guess I was thinking that it was going to be similar inside of the press box, which was not true fail on my part. But I still drank the coffee. He did because he's a sicko. Yeah. Right. Well, here's where you went right with this. So my dad's aunt who lived to be 102, she would always on hot days, she would say drink hot beverages, because it will make the outside temperature feel cooler. And she again lived to be 102. So she had, that was one of her secrets. And so I think you went right with this. You probably added like your two dear life. Bon, I can't wait to see your anxiety when you're 90. Let me see this. This is, this is, this is why you're the best. Yeah. This is why you're the best. I think you, I think you, you went right with that because that makes the outside. Actually, that's you, you were actually smart. And everyone else is like, oh, you know, sorry that you didn't get this trick because you, the outside feels cooler when your body is warmer. Yeah, I was sweating on the outside. He was sweating on the inside. Let's, let's get to your picks. You are the dog queen. You got a couple for us today? Yes. I have Yandy Diaz who hit a home run. He's hit one home run in his last four games. He's had eight home runs this season. But against Nestor Cortez going up against the Yankees, he is batting 400 with three home runs, four doubles, five singles against him. And Nestor Cortez has allowed a home run in each of his last three starts. I also have another one in that game in his Aaron Judge to hit a home run because he hits home runs a lot. But he has not hit one since July 2nd. So he's due and he has two home runs in his love nine games. So I think he can hit one tonight as well. Well, before we let you go, Lucy, I mean, you say it all the time on Twitter. Red Sox went in the World Series. Are they going to catch the Yankees? Yes, they are. They're going to catch the Orioles now. They're going to get into that. Yeah, they're going to win the World Series. They're going to people are asking me, oh, can they? Are they going to make the playoffs? Yeah. And they're going to win the World Series. So yeah, that's what's going to happen. Lucy Burge, let the people know where they can find you. Yes. So bet flips and bat flips on the Beck QL network weekdays, 2 to 2 30 Eastern. And you can find me on Twitter and Instagram at Lucille Burge. Lucy, always great. You're a Hall of Famer for a reason. We appreciate your time and we'll chat next week. You guys are the best. I will talk to you guys next week. Thanks so much. Hey, coming up next, Justin Matabike did a poll on ESPN where they talked to scouts and GMs and coaches. And they ranked it offensive tackles. Where was Justin Matabike will tell you? And we'll also talk about what this pass rush could look like this season that's next here on the fan. 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. Hey, fantasy football fans. Do you want to be the owner who was doing a crime session the night before the draft? I didn't think so. You need to start your prep now. This is for us from upper hand fantasy. Zach and I are here to get you ready for your fantasy football drafts with insights and advice from sleepers to bust. We've got you covered and give it the upper hand on your friends. Today is the day to start getting ready for the draft. So join us and stay ahead of the competition. Follow and listen to upper hand fantasy on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 zero dollar delivery fee for your first three orders while supplies last. Minimum $10 per order additional term supply. How do they fair here on their opening drive at the second half? They go play action fake here, go off to Pierce Rousdral running for his life. Except men to be gay. A tones for that critical face mask late first half. Second sack of straw for the Ravens. Justin Matabique getting a sack against Houston last year. He had 13 of them. He also had 33 quarterback pressures. And according to the scouts slash coaches slash execs that Jeremy Fowler talked to, only Chris Jones, Quinn and Williams, Derek Lawrence and Dexter Lawrence and Jeffrey Simmons were considered better. They were he's the fifth ranked defensive tackle in football. It's good to see that Justin Matabique is getting some well deserved respect from those around the NFL. And in the blur of the Jeremy Fowler put out about Matabique. After three years as a complimentary player, Matabique took his star turn in 2023, had more opportunities because no clay is Campbell ties Bowser's hurt. 13 sacks leads all the players on the list. Matabique also ranks second among defense attacks and pressures with 33 unnamed AFC executives says disruptive in both phases. But power was his most improved tool playing with a ton of confidence. Another AFC coordinator said mindset and opportunity. The kid put in the work with his body and overall football information. He was locked in all year and he absolutely was. He tied an NFL record with 11 consecutive games in which he recorded half a sack. And that that is in the 11 game stretch. He had 37 tackles, nine tackles for a loss, 11 sacks, 29 quarterback hits in 11 games, Ken. That's almost three a game. I mean, he was just, he was afraid he had an Aaron Donald type season last year. And it was massive for Eric to cost to get that contract done where you didn't have to worry about the July deadline. Or is he going to have to play on the tag? And how would the franchise tag have hamstrung this team a bit? Maybe they would have had to have had more roster cuts or more restructures if Matabique was still on the tag. So to get him done was huge. And you locked up an ascending player because he was coming off his best year. His numbers across the poor got better year after year after year. And now he's still just 27 years old. Is he going to match the 13 sacks? I don't know if that's fair expectations, but I think he will get double digit sacks again. Yeah. And I just wonder what this means for the pass rush, which led the league in sacks a year ago. Obviously you lost Jamie and clowny patch queen. You know, Calvin noise is back, but he doesn't have clowny on the other side. Like, what's this whole thing going to look like away? We talked to Jonah Shafer earlier this week. He thinks the metrics predict a breakout season for away. Don't know what a job is going to give him. But like, can this pass rush while not leave the league in sacks can at least be feared? Yeah, I think regression is inevitable for this group and defense as a whole. And that's not to say that this defense is going to be bad next year. I still think it'll be good, but they led the league in turnovers. They led the league in sacks and points per game. And that was the first time that ever happened before. But the sack aspect was something that none of us saw. I mean, we were talking pass rush pass rush pass rush leading into it. And you had guys have career years clowning nine and a half sacks that tied a career high. Van Noy had nine sacks. Is he going to reach that again this year? Patrick Queen, three and a half sacks. You got to replace those as well. So clowny and queen, that's 13 sacks right there. And that's where you're looking at other guys to try and eat into that total away was a name we brought up earlier. Is this finally the year where he can take the next step? He got close. The metrics liked him, but is he going to be able to finish this year? Can a job go get three and a half sacks? Can he match Patrick Queen sack total? If I set a jobo sack total with three and a half, are you going over or underbump? I mean, it all depends on his health, right? And even, even if he plays in a bunch of those things, healthy, are you going over three and a half sacks? If he's healthy, I, I'd say over maybe that's maybe an optima like, that's not a big sack total for an outside linebacker. And I know can I not impress yeah, last year. What, what have you seen that leads you to believe he can get more than three and a half sacks? I think I'm just asking a hypothesis. Sure. No, no, I think I'm just being optimistic. Like maybe Chuck Smith can unlock some things another year here. But no, it was bad last year. And, and he's going to be one of those players when we're all out there during training camp, that's going to be under a microscope because it's a pivotal year three for him. It's put up or shut up time for David, a jobo. And even last year, when he was healthy during training camp throughout the preseason, he didn't impress. He failed to set the edge. Well, he failed even during one on one drills against the commanders, the joint practices, Orioles back in action and I tried to salvage one game of this three game series against the Cubs. They're not hitting with runners in scoring position. They're eight and 10 in the last 18 games. How concerned is Jacob Calvin Meyer? We'll ask him next year on the fan Orioles lose last night forward and nothing. They are eight and 10 in their last 18 games and they seem to be allergic to hitting with runners in scoring position and joining us now to talk some Orioles baseball. Our buddy Jacob Calvin Meyer covers the Orioles for the Baltimore Sun. So Jacob, thank you as always for joining us. They are still in first place. They have one of the best records in baseball. How concerned are you about what you're seeing with the Orioles right now? Yeah, I would say the concern level is pretty low, but at the end of the day, you know, they're eight and 10 in their past 18. They're not the offense is not scoring as many runs as it was earlier in the season. And I don't need to remind anybody about the struggles with runners in scoring position. So, you know, these are the laws that happened through a season. They're still middle of the pack in, you know, offensive production with runners in scoring position. You expected coming into the season a little bit of regression in that area after they led Major League Baseball in production in clutch situations last year. And I think they've been able to overcome some of that regression because of the increase in home runs. But when you go through a little bit of a drought with the home runs, you're kind of seeing the result of that. And so, you know, there's some fear of being too home run dependent when you get to October, but actually studies have shown that the teams that are more home run dependent actually perform better in October than the teams who aren't. Now, that's not going to help anybody if they get swept in the postseason again, and they don't hit any home runs. But I don't think it's too much of a call for concern at the moment. Would you say that this team is too home run reliant? No, I don't think so. But a couple more weeks of this than yeah, but I would not say that at the current moment. I think this team has still shown that they can pass the torch, whatever cliche you want to use. I do think at times it's not as prolific as it was last year. I remember last year, there were multiple instances where they, you know, batted around in a game, and it just felt like they were singling and walking teams to death. Whereas this year, it feels more of a powerful approach. At the end of the day, I believe there's still tops of the league in runs per game and a lot of other offensive categories, specifically slugging percentage and home run. But I wouldn't say they're too home run reliant, but you know, I do think they can improve in terms of the quality of their a bad moment on a nightly basis. Jacob, they're facing another lefty tonight and it brings up the fact that it'd be a nice time to have Kobe Mayo in the major leagues. It just seems clear and clear that Ramon Arias and to me, at least that Ramon and Jorge Mateo just don't look like everyday players. How soon do you think we see Kobe Mayo? Yeah, I said a couple weeks ago that I would be surprised if he wasn't up here by the end of the month. I would probably still stick by that. This week did seem like a perfect opportunity given how many lefties are going to see on the home stand. But alas, it's not the case, but I think there's a lot of, not a lot. There's a couple factors here that maybe not everybody knows for sure. And the big one is, and it's kind of a quagmire and it's, if Kobe Mayo's defense good enough to play up here on a regular basis. And if he is up here, how do you play him, where do you play him? And if his defense isn't good enough, do you still call him up, still play him a third every once in a while, and then D.H. in a significant amount of time. It's a question mark because you look at the prospects that they've caught up in the past, you've got Adley and Gunner. They got caught up and played every day. And then you have the guys like Calzer and Joey Ortiz and Connor Norby, and they got caught up and did not play a ton. I think Kobe Mayo would probably slot into where Jordan Westbrook did last season. If you remember, he started around two thirds of the games, played most of the games either pinching or coming in as a defensive replacement. I would think Kobe Mayo whenever he does get caught up, gets a similar treatment to what Westbrook got last year where he's going to maybe play two thirds of the games, and maybe they don't want to call him up too soon and have him, you know, maybe not get as many add-backs as he would get down there. Jake, if the Orioles made a roster move, bringing up Birch Smith from AAA, Optioning Dylan Tate, I believe last week for the Sun, you put out an article just of all the other options. Yeah, where's Birch Smith, Jake? I didn't see Birch Smith in the piece. I know. I was picking myself, I was picking myself today about not including Birch Smith. No, I guess I re-surprised that the Tucker Davidson, that they didn't opt for one of those guys in your piece. No, well, slightly a little bit of inside baseball. There were like eight or nine names that I had listed, and I was like, you know what, it's probably more compelling if I keep this list of like four players instead of eight. So I can, you know, you guys don't know if I'm telling the truth or not. No, I'm not necessarily surprised. I think if you're going to send out a right-handed reliever, it makes sense to call up a righty. And then if you look at the other righties that were candidates, Chase McDermott, one of them, he came off one of his worst outings of the season on Saturday, and perhaps they still see him as a starting pitcher right now, or they don't want to make that move yet to bring him up and pitch him out of the bullpen. And Birch Smith is a guy that at least for the short term, you know, he has a significant amount of professional experience. And so if you're going to say, hey, we need a bullpen arm, maybe we want to get Dylan Tait some more work in triple A, you know, it makes sense to call up a veteran who can, you know, probably maybe have a lower ceiling, but a higher floor than a younger guy that doesn't have as much experience. We're talking to Jacob Calvin Meyerton side access here on the fan. Jacob, maybe this is my lunacy, but I am curious to get your thoughts on this. And I've been talking about it since the problems came out. Like, for me, I want Corbin Burns pitching on Tuesday so that he can pitch in the Yankee series. I don't personally care about the All-Star game. He's pitching on Wednesday. And then maybe I'm way off on this. I feel like he wants to pitch in the All-Star game. So he's pitching Wednesday. So he's eligible for the All-Star game. Am I nuts? Yes, you're nuts. But maybe not for this reason. No, I understand those arguments. I think there's a couple factors here. One, you can't ignore the fact that Corbin and his wife just had twins. He flew back home on Monday. He's kind of been all over the place. I don't, you know, need to explain to anybody that they're probably having twins and dealing with that is probably something that takes a lot out of you. And so maximizing him to an extent where he's going to start on four days rest a couple times in a row in the hottest month of the year might not make a ton of sense. Secondly, Corbin Burns is the caliber of pitcher that he probably gets a pretty heavy say in his schedule. And so if Corbin really wanted to pitch on Tuesday and Sunday, that's probably what would have happened. And so he deserves the right to want to pitch in the All-Star game. This team does have a little bit of wiggle room here. They've played really well this season. It's not like they're fighting for a wild card spot. And every single game is kind of life or death. And then the last thing that might have played a factor here is, I don't know how many times you want Corbin Burns to really pitch against the Yankees this year. If that's your most likely opponent in an ALCS, I know it's looking ahead a little bit too much. But man, it could be nice to have Corbin Burns go into a potential seven game series against the Yankees. And maybe haven't faced them all season. And then he has to go out and face them a couple of times in a playoff series. That actually could be a benefit. So there's a lot of factors to this one. I do understand that it would have been nice to perhaps maximize him. But if you really go through it, if you hit pitch on Tuesday, I know not everything's equal, they probably still lose that game because of the offense. And then who knows what's going to happen on Sunday? Jacob, the Orioles, it seems like we got a couple of platoons in the outfield or the brain and hide going a little bit different. Swapping out, Colton Calzer for Cedric Mullins against the lefty and Justin Steele today. But the Hayes-Cursedad Mullins-Couser platoons, what do you think of them? Yeah, I think it's a couple different ones. So it seems like Hayes and Cursedad is becoming a legitimate platoon. It's not that they're both, it's not that they're always in lefty old every day. But since Cursedad was called up, I think they've played 15 games and one of those guys, but not both, has been in the lineup of 13 of the 15 games. So it's really a platoon between those guys with Hayes mostly playing against lefties and Cursedad mostly playing against righties. And the production there has been great. Both of those guys are tearing the cover off in the ball. The challenging thing with this team at the moment is, I don't know if you could say that they're down a right-handed bat. Although that might go into the Kobe Mayo argument. Against left-handed pitchers, this lineup is kind of weird because Colton Calzer has been playing a lot. Most of his playing time recently has come against left-handed starting pitchers. He's not in the lineup tonight that Cedric Mullins, but for Colton Calzer who's hitting much better against righties than then against lefties, his easiest pass to playing time at the moment is playing center field against lefties because you need to have either Mullins or Calzer in center. But they're both left-handed hitters. So that's kind of the weirdest part about the current construction of the team right now is when they face a left-handed pitcher who plays in center and then how much of that players playing time is really coming against pitchers that they don't match up well again. Jacob, before we let you go, be remiss. We're 19 days away from the deadline. How aggressive are you expecting the Orioles to be as we're less than three weeks out? Probably not as aggressive as fans would like them to be, but maybe a little bit more aggressive than last year. That's a low bar, Jacob. Yeah, there's a lot of low bars, but who won't get into that? I think it's unlikely from where I sit. Again, this is just speculation that this team goes out and gives up one of their top prospects to get a pitcher like Garrett Crochet or Scooble who has maybe a little bit of a track record, but for Crochet specifically, might have to be a reliever this year, has already had a history of arm injuries. It doesn't have a track record of pitching in the postseason for being any sort of inning-seater, and you give up one of your top prospects for a guy that you just never know what's going to happen to these pitchers, and then you lose six years of COVID-19 or Samuel Visayo. And so I think there are a lot of pitchers on the market who fill a blended role of being good enough to be this team's number two or three starter, who can fill innings, who has a track record, but will not cost you a ton. And so just one name, again, total speculation, but I think it makes some sense, is a guy like Zach Efland for the race. If they decide to sell the deadline, Efland has a contract. He's do 18 million next year, so that's a factor for the Orioles if they want to pay that. But Efland's a guy that has experience in the playoffs. He's a veteran. He has a track record of staying healthy. He's one of the best strike throwers in baseball. He would be this team's number three starter. And so I think that fits a lot of the things that you're looking for. And so that's my guess is what they do is they go out and get a pitcher that can slot in as a credible number two or number three starter in this rotation. Orioles try to salvage one or three against the Cubs tonight. Jacob Calvin Meyer covers the O's for the Baltimore Sun. Jacob, always great, man. Thank you so much for your time. We appreciate it. Always a pleasure. Thanks guys. Hey, coming up next, we'll take a look at some of those numbers we talked to with Jacob about the runners in scoring position. Just how bad have they been hitting with runners in scoring position of late? We're going to tell you next here on the fan. Yeah, I just think once you know, once you start leaving runners out there, I think it's natural. Once you start leaving runners out there, you get in a situation again. I think when the next guy comes up, you're trying to, you're trying to make it happen. A little bit of said letting it happen. I think our guys just swings just get up possibly, you know, the last couple nights, maybe a little bit too big and maybe expand a little bit, but more of talking about more of just kind of the approach and the swing, trying to drive in two or three instead of just taking the at bat and being short to the ball, continuing with the same really good approach at middle the other way. So many RBI situations, you know, the most beautiful thing is a runner score position to base hit the other way. And we're just not really allowing ourselves to do that because I feel like our swings are just a little big. Brandon Hyde speaking to the media earlier today and talking about the struggles with runners in scoring position, the Orioles over the last eight games bone. They are 12 for 68. That's a 176 batting average of the last eight games with runners in scoring position. It's been ugly in the last 11 games. They're averaging just three and a half runs per game. But if you just look at the chances that they had temp check, what kind of summer are we having this year? A family road trip summer, a beach bump summer or awake me when the sun sets summer with Instacart choose your own adventure and skip the shopping side quests where available, you can get ice cream delivered to your hotel, sunscreen to the pool or cold brew to your bed. Well, door in as fast as 30 minutes. Wherever you find yourself this summer, you can get the goods. Download Instacart for free delivery on your first three orders. Offer valid for a limited time. Minimum $10 per order excludes restaurants. Additional terms and fees apply. Hey, fantasy football fans. This is Faraz from Upper Hand Fantasy. We're here five times a week to get you ready for your fantasy football drafts with top notch insights. Get the upper hand on your fantasy football season. Follow and listen to upper hand fantasy on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts. 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. Orioles lose last night forward and nothing. They are eight and 10 in their last 18 games and they seem to be allergic to hitting with runners in scoring position and joining us now to talk tomorrow's baseball. Our buddy Jacob Calvin Meyer covers the Orioles for the Baltimore Sun. So, Jacob, thank you as always for joining us. They are still in first place. They have one of the best records in baseball. How concerned are you about what you're seeing with the Orioles right now? Yeah, I would say the concern level is pretty low. But at the end of the day, you know, they're eight and 10 in their past 18. They're not the offense is not scoring as many runs as it was earlier in the season. And I don't need to remind anybody about the struggles with runners in scoring position. So, you know, these are the these are the laws that happen through a season. There's still middle of the pack in, you know, offensive production with runners in scoring position. You expected coming into the season a little bit of regression in that area after they led major league baseball in production in clutch situations last year. And I think they've been able to overcome some of that regression because of the increase in home runs. But when you go through a little bit of a drought with the home runs, you're kind of seeing the result of that. And so, you know, there's some fear of being too home run dependent when you get to October. But actually studies have shown that the teams that are more home run dependent actually perform better in October than the teams who aren't. Now, that's not going to help anybody if they get swept in the postseason again, and they don't hit any home runs. But I don't think it's too much of a call for concern at the moment. Would you say that this team is too home run reliant? No, I don't think so. But a couple more weeks of this than yeah, but I would not say that at the current moment. I think this team has still shown that they can pass the torch, whatever cliche you want to use. I do think at times it's not as prolific as it was last year. I remember last year there were there multiple instances where they, you know, batted around in a game and it just felt like they were singling and walking teams to death. Whereas this year it feels more of a powerful approach. At the end of the day, I believe there's still tops of the league in runs for game and a lot of other all kinds of categories, specifically slugging percentage and home run. But I wouldn't say they're too home run reliant, but you know, I do think they can improve in terms of the quality of their a bad moment on a nightly basis. Jacob, they're facing another lefty tonight and it brings up the fact that it'd be a nice time to have Kobe Mayo in the major leagues. It just seems clear and clear that Ramon Arias and to me at least that Ramon and Horiam Mateo just don't look like everyday players. How soon do you think we see Kobe Mayo? Yeah, I said a couple weeks ago that I would be surprised if he wasn't up here by the end of the month. I would probably still stick by that. This week did seem like a perfect opportunity given how many lefties are going to see on the home stand. But alas, it's not the case, but I think there's a lot of not a lot. There's a couple factors here that that maybe not everybody knows for sure. And the big one is, and it's kind of a quagmire, and it's Kobe Mayo's defense good enough to play up here on a regular basis. And if he is up here, how do you play him? Where do you play him? And if his defense isn't good enough, do you still call him up, still play him a third every once in a while, and then DH in a significant amount of time? It's a question mark because you look at the prospects that they've caught up in the past. You've got Adley and Gunner, they got caught up and played every day. And then you have the guys like Calzer and Joey Ortiz and Connor Norby, and they got caught up and did not play a ton. I think Kobe Mayo would probably slot into where Jordan Westbrook did last season. If you remember, he started around two-thirds of the games, played most of the games either pinching or coming in as a defensive replacement. I would think Kobe Mayo, whenever he does get caught up, gets a similar treatment to what Westbrook got last year where he's going to maybe play two-thirds of the games, and maybe they don't want to call him up too soon and have him maybe not get as many add-backs as he would get down there. Jake, if the Orioles made a roster move, bringing up Burch Smith from AAA, Optioning, Dylan Tate, I believe last week for the Sun, you put out an article just of all the other options. Yeah, where's Burch Smith, Jacob? I see Burch Smith in the piece. I know. I was picking myself, I was picking myself today about not including Burch Smith. No, I guess re-surprised that the Tucker Davidson, Chase Mcderre, that they didn't opt for one of those guys in your piece. No, well, slightly a little bit of inside baseball. There were like eight or nine names that I had listed, and I was like, you know what, it's probably more compelling if I keep this list of like four players instead of eight. So I can, you know, you guys don't know if I'm telling the truth or not. No, I'm not necessarily surprised. I think if you're going to send out a right-handed reliever, it makes sense to call up a righty. And then if you look at the other righties that were candidates, Chase Mcderre, one of them, he came off one of his worst outings of the season on Saturday, and perhaps they still see him as a starting pitcher right now, or they don't want to make that move yet to bring him up and pitch him out of the bullpen. And Burt Smith is a guy that at least for the short term, you know, he has a significant amount of professional experience. And so if you're going to say, hey, we need a bullpen arm, maybe we want to get Dylan Tate some more work in triple A, you know, it makes sense to call up a veteran who can, you know, probably maybe have a lower ceiling but a higher floor than a younger guy that doesn't have as much experience. We're talking to Jacob Calvin Meyer at Inside Access here on the fan. Jacob, maybe this is my lunacy, but I am curious to get your thoughts on this, and I've been talking about it. Since the problems came out, like, for me, I want Corbin Burns pitching on Tuesday so that he can pitch in the Yankee series. I don't personally care about the All-Star game. He's pitching on Wednesday. And then maybe I'm way off on this. I feel like he wants to pitch in the All-Star game. So he's pitching Wednesday. So he's eligible for the All-Star game. Am I nuts? Yes, you're nuts. But maybe not for this reason. No, I understand those arguments. I think there's a couple factors here. One, you can't ignore the fact that Corbin and his wife just had twins. He flew back home on Monday. He's kind of been all over the place. I don't, you know, need to explain to anybody that they're probably having twins and dealing with that is probably something that takes a lot out of you. And so maximizing him to an extent where he's going to start on four days rest a couple times in a row in the hottest month of the year might not make a ton of sense. Secondly, Corbin Burns is the caliber of pitcher that he probably gets a pretty heavy say in his schedule. And so if Corbin really wanted to pitch on Tuesday and Sunday, that's probably what would have happened. And so he deserves the right to want to pitch in the All-Star game. This team does have a little bit of wiggle room here. They've played really well this season. It's not like they're fighting for a wild card spot. And every single game is kind of life or death. And then the last thing that might have played a factor here is I don't know how many times you want Corbin Burns to really pitch against the Yankees this year. If that's your most likely opponent in an ALCS, I know it's looking ahead a little bit too much. But man, it could be nice to have Corbin Burns go into a potential seven game series against the Yankees and maybe haven't faced them all season. And then he has to go out and face them a couple of times in a playoff series. That actually could be a benefit. So there's a lot of factors to this one. I do understand that it would have been nice to perhaps maximize him. But if you really go through it, if you hit pitch on Tuesday, I know not everything's equal, they probably still lose that game because of the offense. And then who knows what's going to happen on Sunday? Jacob, the Orioles, it seems like we got a couple of platoons in the outfield or the brain and hide going a little bit different, swapping out Colton Cowser for Cedric Mullins against the lefty and Justin Steele today. But the Hayes-Cursedad Mullins-Couser platoons, what do you think of them? Yeah, I think it's a couple different ones. So it seems like Hayes and Cursedad is becoming a legitimate platoon. It's not that they're both, you know, it's not that they're always in lefty old every day. But since Cursedad was called up, I think they've played 15 games and one of those guys, but not both, has been in the lineup of 13 of the 15 games. So it's really a platoon between those guys with Hayes mostly playing against lefties and Cursedad mostly playing against righties. And the production there has been great. Both of those guys are tearing the cover off in the ball. The challenging thing with this team at the moment is I don't know if you could say that they're down or right handed bat, although that might go into the Kobe Mayo argument. Against left handed pitchers, this lineup is kind of weird because Colton Calzer has been playing a lot. Most of his playing time recently has come against left handed starting pitchers. He's not in the lineup tonight that Cedric Mullins, but for Colton Calzer who's hitting much better against righties than against lefties, his easiest path to playing time at the moment is playing center field against lefties because you need to have either Mullins or Calzer in center. And so but they're both left handed hitters. So that's kind of the weirdest part about the current construction of the team right now is when they face left handed pitcher who plays in center and then how much of that players playing time is really coming against pitchers that they don't match up well again. Jacob, before we let you go, be remiss. We're 19 days away from the deadline. How aggressive are you expecting the Orioles to be as we're less than three weeks out? Um, probably not as aggressive as fans would like them to be, but maybe a little bit more aggressive than last year. So I don't, that's a little barge. Yeah, there's a lot of low bars, but who won't get into that? So I, I think it's unlikely from where I sit. And again, this is just speculation that this team goes out and gives up one of their top prospects to get a pitcher like Garrett Crochet or or Scooble who, you know, has maybe a little bit of a track record, but for Crochet specifically, might have to be a reliever this year, has already had a history of arm injuries, doesn't have a track record of pitching in the postseason for being any sort of ending leader. And you give up one of your top prospects for a guy that you just never know what's going to happen to these pitchers. And then you lose six years of Kobe Mayo or Sam Wellbeth I/O. And so I think there are a lot of pitchers on the market who fill a blended role of being good enough to be this team's number two or three starter, who can fill innings, who has a track record, but will not cost you a ton. And so just one name, again, total speculation, but I think it makes some sense is a guy like Zach Efland for the race. The race, if they decide to sell the deadline, Efland has a contract. He's, he's do 18 million next year. So that's a factor for the Orioles, if they want to pay that. But Efland, the guy that has experience in the playoffs, he's a veteran, he has a track record of, you know, staying healthy. He's one of the best strike throwers in baseball. He would be this team's number three starter. And so I think that fits a lot of the things that you're looking for. And so that's, that's my guess is what they do is they go out and get a pitcher that can slot in as a credible number two or number three starter in this rotation. Orioles try to salvage one of three against the Cubs tonight. Jacob Calvin Meyer covers the O's for the Baltimore Sun. Jacob, always great, man. Thank you so much for your time. We appreciate it. Always a pleasure. Thanks, guys. Hey, coming up next, we'll take a look at some of those numbers we talked to, which, which, Jacob about to the runners in scoring position. Just how bad have they been hitting with runners in scoring position of late? We're going to tell you next here on the fan. Yeah, I just think once, you know, once you start leaving runners out there, I think it's natural. Once you start leaving runners out there, you get in a situation again. I think when the next guy comes up, you're trying to, you're trying to make it happen. A little bit instead of letting it happen. I think our guys will swing, just get up possibly, you know, the last couple nights, maybe a little bit too big, and maybe expand a little bit. But more of, talking about more of just kind of the approach and the swing, trying to drive in two or three instead of just taking the hit bat and being short to the ball, continuing with the same really good approach of middle the other way. So many RBI situations, you know, the most beautiful thing is a runner's scoring position of base hit the other way. And we're just not really allowing ourselves to do that because I feel like our swings are just a little big. Brandon Hyde speaking to the media earlier today and talking about the struggles with runners in scoring position. The Orioles are the last eight games bone. They are 12 for 68. That's a 176 batting average of the last eight games with runners in scoring position. It's been ugly in the last 11 games. They're averaging just three and a half runs per game. But if you just look at the chances that they had last night, and it started in the bottom of the first, Anthony Santon dares up runners on first and second one out, strikeout Westberg strikeout, then a second inning, Hayes let off the inning with a double Mateo grounded out. Cowser flight out McCann fouled out and then more strikeouts where McCann hit the ground world double Henderson struck out. Rochman and Adley had a strike out in between the rain delay as well. So a lot of these situations not even putting the ball in play against these guys. And on the season, there's 16th in batting average with runners in scoring position 13th in batting average with runners in scoring position and two outs. So obviously, this is a dreadful stretch, but even season long, despite this offense as potent as they are, middle of the pack in terms of runners in scoring position numbers. So I'll ask you what I asked Jacob Calvin Meyer last segment. Are you concerned? He's not concerned are you? I know what Jason would say he's obviously out. Yeah, I'm I'm not super concerned. I just think this offense has so much talent in it to be struggling like it is right now. But I do understand like some of the parallels to last year and that offense was really scuffling in September that carried over into October. And then they had that nightmare series against the Rangers. I just think this year's offense is way better than last year's offense. Obviously has more pop in it. I don't know. The reality is yeah, the reality is that you're going to go through a stretch like this. Yeah. Yeah, I'm not saying I'm thrilled with what they're going right now. I mean, it's it's been bad. It's been rough to watch. We were sitting there in the heat last night. You're chugging a hot coffee and I'm looking at you going, they can't get a hit with runners in scoring position. And then we see Westburg hit a ball we think's a homer. It's off the top of the wall. And I just like second and third one out Austin A strikes out like you just they're not taking advantage of opportunities and they're getting hits. But when it's time to get the it like they had nine hits last night. When it was time to get the hit, it's just not there. They just haven't gotten the hit recently. And that's kind of why I asked Jacob the question. 52.8% of runs scored have been off Homer. I mean, do you think this offense is too Homer line? It's not the 2016 Orioles. That's that's where I'm at too, where that that's different. I mean, that that was all or nothing, you know, home run your straight. I used to say it was a barely softball team. Like there was no athleticism really on that team. Adam Jones could run. But they're like the rest of it. Like, yeah. So, um, it, I think that this team has shown in the past, it can get it done doing other things. I think they will get back to that. It's unfortunate. And it seems to happen every year. And I'm sure it happens with every team. We just don't pay as close attention. But there's a point in time in every season where a team goes into a slump. The Yankees are like, they can't hit. Like there's a period and you you try to, you try to hope that the slumps don't happen together. So one guy kind of carries you for a while until the next guy, because guys will slump. Otherwise, everybody's sitting 500. But am I concerned? I'm not happy, but I'm not concerned yet. Yeah. That's where I'm at too. And this is a tough stretch. I mean, they're eight and 10 in their last 18 games. And what this Orioles team has done so well since bringing up Hadley, Richmond in May 2022 is, of course, they don't get swept much. They've been swept twice in the regular season, of course, in the ALDS last year against the Rangers. And now it's about trying to avoid that third sweep this year. Pick up a win tonight and then head into that Yankee series, which should be a lot of fun. We'll come coming up next here on the program. Brandon Hyde, you heard a little taste of what he said earlier today, but Brandon I'd met with the media today. We'll get you the lineup. And you'll hear what Brandon Hyde has to say as the Orioles try to avoid the sweep tonight, Albert Suarez on the mound Baltimore baseball tonight, coming up at five 30 Bob Haney, Jim Hunter, live at Pickles here on the fan. Yeah, I just think once, you know, once you start leaving runners out there, I think it's natural. Once you start leaving runners out there, you get in a situation again. I think when the next guy comes up, you're trying to, you know, trying to make it happen. A little bit instead of letting it happen. I think our guys with swings just get a possibly, you know, the last couple nights, maybe a little bit too big and maybe expand a little bit, but more of, talking about more of just kind of the approach and the swing, trying to drive in two or three instead of just taking the at bat and being short to the ball, continuing with the same really good approach at middle the other way. So many RBI situations. You know, the most beautiful thing is a runner's scoring position to base hit the other way. And we're just not really allowing ourselves to do that because I feel like our swings are just a little big. Brandon Hyde speaking to the media earlier today and talking about the struggles with runners in scoring position, the Orioles are the last eight games bone. They are 12 for 68. That's a 176 batting average of the last eight games with runners in scoring position. It's been ugly in the last 11 games. They're averaging just three and a half runs per game. But if you just look at the chances that they had last night and it started in the bottom of first, Anthony Santon dares up runners on first and second one out, strikeout, Westbrook strikeout, then second inning, Hayes let off the inning with a double, Mateo grounded out, cows are flight out, McCann fouled out and then more strikeouts where McCann hit the ground role double Henderson struck out. Rodchman and Adley had a strikeout in between the rain delay as well. So a lot of these situations, not even putting the ball in play against these guys. And on the season, there's 16th in batting average with runners in scoring position 13th in batting average with runners in scoring position and two outs. So obviously this is a dreadful stretch, but even season long, despite this offense is potent as they are middle of the pack in terms of runners in scoring position numbers. So I'll ask you what I asked Jacob Calvin Meyer, last segment, are you concerned? He's not concerned are you? I know what Jason would say he's obviously out. Yeah, I'm, I'm not super concerned. I just think this offense has so much talent in it to be struggling like it is right now. But I do understand like some of the parallels to last year and that offense was really scuffling in September that carried over into October. And then they had that nightmare series against the Rangers. I just think this year's offense is way better than last year's offense. Obviously has more pop in it. Um, I don't know. The reality is, yeah, the reality is that you're going to go through a stretch like this. Yeah. Uh, yeah, I'm not saying I'm thrilled with what they're going right now. I mean, it's, it's been bad. It's been rough to watch. We were sitting there in the heat last night. You're chugging a hot coffee and I'm looking at you going, they can't get a hit with runners in scoring position. And then we see Westberg hit a ball. We think so Homer is off the top of the wall and I just like second and third one out. Austin A strikes out. Like you just, they're not taking advantage of opportunities and they're getting hits. But when it's time to get the hit, like they had nine hits last night, when it was time to get the hit, it's just not there. They just haven't gotten the hit recently. And that's kind of why I asked Jacob the question 52.8% of runs scored have been off Homer. I mean, do you think this offense is too Homer reliant? Uh, I, it's not the 2016 Orioles. That's, that's where I'm at too, where that, that's different. I mean, that, that was all or nothing, you know, home run or straight. Well, I used to say it was a beer league softball team. Like there was no athleticism really on that team. Adam Jones could run, but they're like the rest of it. Like, yeah, so, um, it, I think that this team has shown in the past it can get it done doing other things. I think they will get back to that. It's unfortunate and it seems to happen every year. And I'm, I'm sure it happened with every team. We just don't pay us calls attention, but there's a point in time in every season where a team goes into a slump. The Yankees are like, they can't hit like it. There's a period and you, you try to, you try to hope that the slumps don't happen together. So one guy kind of carries you for a while until the next guy, because guys will slump, otherwise everybody's sitting 500. But am I concerned? I'm not happy, but I'm not concerned yet. Yeah, that's where I'm at too. And this is a tough stretch. I mean, they're eight and 10 in their last 18 games. And what this Orioles team has done so well since bringing up Hadley Richmond in May 2022 is, of course, they don't get swept much. They've been swept twice in the regular season. Of course, in the ALDS last year against the Rangers. And now it's about trying to avoid that third sweep this year, pick up a win tonight, and then head into that Yankee series, which should be a lot of fun. We'll come coming up next year on the program. Brandon Hyde, you heard a little taste of what he said earlier today. But Brandon, I met with the media today, we'll get you the lineup. And you'll hear what Brandon Hyde has to say as the Orioles try to avoid the sweep tonight. Albert Suarez on the mound, Baltimore baseball tonight, coming up at 530, Bob Haney, Jim Hunter, live at Pickles here on the fan, trying to figure out what to eat for dinner yet again. With nor sides and bullion as you're not so secret ingredient, you can skip the drive through and do dinner at home. Nor taste combos provide a menu of delicious, affordable, and well-balanced meals that you can prepare in 30 minutes or less. Visit nor.com to get quick and easy recipe ideas for your home cooked weeknight dinners. It's not fast food, but it's so good. Hey, fantasy football fans. This is Faraz from upper hand fantasy. We're here five times a week to get you ready for your fantasy football drafts with top notch insights. Get the upper hand on your fantasy football season. Follow and listen to upper hand fantasy on the free Odyssey app or wherever you get your podcasts.