Inside Access with Jason LaCanfora and Ken Weinman
Jacob Calvin Meyer: I wouldn't be surprised if the Orioles were a lot less aggressive than many expect
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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, this is Zach from Upper Hand Fantasy. You don't want an embarrassing tattoo just because you lost a bet in your Fantasy Football League, right? If you do, I suggest I'm remade holding a football, but let's avoid that altogether. Bros and I are here to get you ready for your Fantasy Football Drafts with insights and advice. From sleepers to busts, we've got you covered to give you the Upper Hand on your friends. Start your Fantasy Football prep now, 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. Orioles lose last night forward and nothing. They are 8 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, they are 8 and 10 in their past 18. 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 these are the laws that happen through a season. There is still middle of the pack in 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 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 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 of 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 they're 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 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 prospect 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 even 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 at that. Worried about letting someone else pick out the perfect avocado for your perfect and press them on the third date Guacamole? Well, good thing Instacart shoppers are as picky as you are. They find ripe avocados like it's their guacamole line. They are milk expiration date detectives. They bag eggs like the twelve precious pieces of cargo they are. So let Instacart shoppers overthink your groceries so that you can overthink what you'll wear on that third date. Download the Instacart app to get free delivery on your first three orders while supplies last. Minimum $10 per order additional term supply. 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, this is Zach from Upper Hand Fantasy. You don't want an embarrassing tattoo just because you lost a bet in your Fantasy Football League, right? If you do, I suggest I'm remade holding a football, but let's avoid that altogether. Fraz and I are here to get you ready for your Fantasy Football Drafts with insights and advice. From sleepers to busts, we've got you covered to give you the Upper Hand on your friends. Start your Fantasy Football prep now. 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. You would get down there. Jacob, 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, Jacob? I didn't see Birch Smith in the piece. I know. I was picking myself today about not including Birch Smith. No, I guess I'm really surprised that the Tucker Davidson, Chase McDermott, 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 your truth or not. Yes. 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 Tate some more work in AAA. 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. Uh, since the problems came out, I 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? Uh, yes, you're nuts, but maybe not for this reason. Um, no, I, I understand those arguments. I think there's a couple factors here. One, you can't ignore the fact that the Corbin and his wife just had twins. He flew back home on Monday. He's kind of been all over the place. Um, I don't, you know, need to explain to anybody that they're probably having twins and feeling with that, uh, 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 of times in a row in the hottest month of the year. You know, might not, might not make a ton of sense. Secondly, Corbin burns is the caliber of pitcher that he probably gets a pretty heavy say in, in his schedule. And so if, if Corbin really wanted to pitch on Tuesday and Sunday, that's probably what would have happened. And that's, so he, he deserves the right to, to want to pitch in the all star game. Um, this team does have a little bit of wiggle room here. You know, they've, they've played really well this season. It's not like they're, you know, fighting for a wild card spot and every single game is kind of life or death. And then the last thing that might 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, in an ALCS. Um, you know, 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 haven't, maybe haven't faced them all season. And then, you know, he has to go out and face them a couple of times in a, in a playoff series that, 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, to perhaps maximize him. But if you really go through it, if he had pitched 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? Uh, Jacob, the Orioles, it seems like we got a couple of platoons in the outfield. Oh, the brain and hide going a little bit different. Uh, swapping out, uh, cold and calzer for Cedric Mullins against the lefty and Justin Steele today. But the Hayes, cursed at Mullins, calzer, platoons. What do you think of them? Yeah, I think it's a couple of different ones. So the, the, it seems like Hayes and cursed at is becoming a legitimate platoon. It's not, it's not that they're both, you know, it's not that they're always in lefty old every, every day. But since Hayes, since cursed at was caught up, I think they've played 15 games. And one of those guys, but not both has been in the line of 13 of the 15 games. So, so it's really a platoon between those guys with Hayes mostly playing against lefties and, and cursed at mostly playing against, against, against righties. And the production there has been, has been great. Both of those guys are tearing the cover off in the ball. The, 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. Um, although that might go into the Kobe Mayo argument. Against left handed pitchers, this line of it's 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's Cedric Mullins, but for, for Colton Calzer, who's hitting much better against righties than, than against lefties. That 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, the current construction of the team right now is, is when they face left handed pitcher who plays in center and then how much of that players playing time is, is really coming against pitchers that, 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 bar, Jacob. Yeah, there's a lot of low bars, but we 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 school ball 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 well, but I owe. 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 number two or three starter who can fill innings who have the 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 Evelyn for the race, the race. If they decide to sell the deadline, Evelyn 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 Evelyn's 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 drivers in baseball. He would be the 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 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. Trying to figure out what to eat for dinner yet again with North sides and bullion is your 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 for us 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.