Inside Access with Jason LaCanfora and Ken Weinman
Mike Bordick: I personally think Dean Kremer is valuable to this rotation
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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. This season, the W is going to new heights. And that means the queens are ready to take it to court and the court. Welcome to Queens of the Court, an Odyssey original podcast. I'm your girl, Cheryl Swoops. And I'm Jordan Robinson. All WNBA season long. You can count on us to bring you interviews with some of your favorite WNBA stars, analysis of all teams and hot takes you can only find in this courtroom. Listen to Queens of the Court, a WNBA podcast presented by AT&T on the free Odyssey app. Or wherever you get your podcasts. It's a hot day of pickles. Fortunately, there's a nice breeze, that wind tunnel we've got here across the street from Memorial Park at Canby Yards is feeling pretty good. It's inside Access Jason on vacation. Myself and the bone taking you till 5.30 and then it's Baltimore baseball tonight. Tim Barbelase and Jim Haunter enjoying us now. Another member of our BBT crew. He's the Oriole Hall of Famer, Famer. He's Mike Bortick and Boardy. Thank you as always for joining us. Let's start with Dean Kramer and what did you see last night with him? Like the difference throws five shutout innings in Seattle. And last night he seemed to be fighting his control. Yeah, I guess so. I mean, yeah, left the pitches in the middle of a plate. Had a hard time, you know, finishing some hitters. I think there were a couple, you know, two strike big hit. I think the home runs were on two strikes. And yeah, so he just had a hard time finishing off hitters. And it was a little funny, you know, listening to his interview after the game. It kind of caught me off guard a little bit. Like he didn't think like there was much of a problem with it. He felt like he executed. And I mean, man, when you give up, I don't know, five runs, you know, four innings, I would think you'd want to reevaluate, you know, each pitch and see how you did afterwards. Yeah. I don't know, man. I think he ought to be a little bit harder on himself. Well, Boardy, I feel like there's two sides of this and I'm with you. But like he gives up the home run in the first and that was crushed. And then he gives up the home run to end his day. Well, basically he got morale and then his day was over to happen the fourth. The runs he gave up in between was a lot of soft contact. Maybe he was referring to that. But yeah, you gave up four runs on two bombs. You got to reevaluate where you put the ball. No, absolutely. Yeah. So it's the location. It might even be pitch selection, you know, that gave up the home run. So there's got to be, I mean, you can't be happy with it. I don't care if you made a great pitch. The guy hits the home run. There had to have been a better pitch in that mix somewhere. You know, to get that guy out. So yeah, I think it has to be some, just some evaluating. Listen, he was throwing strikes. He wasn't hurting himself with walks. I just, you know, Ben McDonald said last night that he just needed an out pitch. It's just something to get a swing and miss. And just didn't quite have it last night. Boardy, we're bigger Dean Kramer people than Jason and most. But doesn't last night just kind of reaffirm that Kramer can't be your starter in game three of a playoff game? Well, I personally think Kramer adds a lot of value to this rotation. And I think he's a big reason why they were in the position they were in last year. I think my hope is that he can kind of write the ship a little bit because, you know, this is obviously a pretty inconsistent start. The start before was nice. I mean, I don't think anybody knew what to expect, right? Especially after his rehab assignments. And then the start before he went on the IL wasn't even that good against St. Louis. So I don't know. You just kind of wonder where he is right now. Is it going to be inconsistent the rest of the way? Is there still something lingering? You know, I mean, it doesn't seem like you've got any health concerns or anything like that. And I'm sure they wouldn't run him out there if he was hurting a little bit. Just just needs to tighten it up a little bit, you know, whether it be his pitch mix or just location and, you know, find ways to try to get out of those tough situations. We're talking to Mike Bortick. It's inside access here on the on the fan and Borty, let's follow up on that. We are 20 days till the trade deadline. We had Bob Nightingale from U.S. today on a Monday. He said a lot of trade business won't really start heating up until after the draft, which ends on the 16th. That's in six days. Like how aggressive would you like to see the Orioles be at the trade deadline? I would love to see them be aggressive and send a message. Like we're not messing around now. We're going to be the kings of the East, not just, you know, last year and this year, but, you know, for a couple of years to come. And that could mean making a deal to land a picture that they have control of. I think, yeah, there's some really kind of sticky areas, right? Because there's some good arms out there, but you don't really want to burn up a couple more, you know, players in the organization just to get a rental player. Yeah, you might be able to hoist the trophy, but you wonder about the depth. Is that going to be it? Or is it going to hoist one and that be it? So I think the Orioles want the fans success. I think they're, I think, yeah, they're definitely going to, the moves won't be made until after the draft. But the foundation has been laid. Calls have been made. Potential partners have already been reached out to. And things are being talked about. And I believe the Orioles have definitely been in contact with teams. I know they keep a lot of stuff close to their best. Nobody leaks it out of that, out of the warehouse now. So it'll be interesting and I think fun to see how the Orioles work the next couple of weeks. How cool was it to see Jordan Westbrook make the All-Star game, boarding, following Devers back in the house? Yeah, that was great, man. You know, I think, I think me personally, I'm just a huge fan of Westbrook. And I, when I saw him, you know, come into the Orioles organization and just kind of followed him through and then had a chance to watch him do his work and go about his business. He's just like, he's just like the ultimate pro. And I know Brandon Hyde alluded to that. And that's just every manager's dream. You just don't even care. Put Westbrook's name in the lineup. You know he's going to be prepared. He's going to care about, you know, putting the best foot forward to not only make himself as good as he possibly could be, but for the betterment of the team. And, you know, Westbrook is just the perfect mold for that. And what a great example. I think humility, great talent and with a knack for just winning and being a clutch performer. Yeah, he should have been on initially. I think there are a couple guys that should be on, you know, that all-star game lineup. And, you never know, there's still a few days left where things could happen and the Orioles could be represented even once more. But, yeah, I'm super happy for Westbrook and the Orioles organization. Temp check. What kind of summer are we having this year? A family road trip summer? A beach bump summer? Or a wake 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, sunscreened to the pool, or cold brewed 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. 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. It's the most anticipated WNBA season in history. And you know what that means. Court is back in session. Welcome to Queens of the Court, an Odyssey original podcast. I'm your girl, Cheryl Swoop, and I'm Jordan Robinson. All WNBA season long will be bringing you interviews with star athletes, analysis on your favorite team, and lots of hot tape. Order, order in the court. Follow and listen to Queens of the Court on the free Odyssey app, or wherever you get your podcast. Boardy, did you envision him taking this type of leap in his first full season in the bigs, though? To be honest with you, no, because last year, there were still a lot of question marks. I think everybody liked who he was, but the power wasn't translating. At least it didn't show up a lot last year. Nobody knew if he was going to have the pull power. Could he use all fields? Was he going to be able to be a consistent hitter? And man, oh man, has he proved himself and then some? You talk, I don't know. In my opinion, might be the Orioles' best clutch hitter. And I don't know if anybody that's gotten bigger hits, you know, at the end of ball games than Westburg. So, yeah, there's a lot of trust in him, man. And I do. I agree. I think this is a big surprise this year. I felt like he was going to be a really good big leaguer, but I think this is really impressive. And now you've got, you know, you've got three of the best young players in the game. Here you go. Westburg, you know, Gunner and Adley. Line them up, man. I don't know if you're going to find a better threesome than this. 40. So, Westburg gets in the Ulster game. It was a third base. Somebody also plays a lot of second. Was it second? Last night. And with that in mind, if you were the GM of the Orioles, and I just named you GM of the Orioles, how quickly are you getting Kobe Mayo up here to play third base? Well, man, oh man, that would be pretty fun, too. Would that stick Westburg over there second base with Mayo? Just let these guys run with it for about six years and see what happens. Now, it's pretty exciting, right? Because that could happen tomorrow. That could happen any second. And you talk about potentially a big deal, a big trade, you know? But how do you know? That's the thing, you know, until, you know, they do something in the big leagues. Like Westburg's no longer a suspect. He's a prospect. I mean, he's a legit major league dude. Mayo's tearing it up in Triple A, but we see how the ups and downs go. Do the Orioles have the patience to be willing to withstand, you know, maybe a month and a half or two of maybe a Mayo not being the productive bat that, you know, everybody had hoped for. So that may take a little bit of time. I still think the question mark is defensively as good as any of the gloves that the Orioles have right now. And man, oh man, that's going to be tough to beat. And I know Mayo's got to, you know, everybody talks really highly on them, but our Orioles defense is pretty special. So I'm putting you down for hold the Mayo at the moment, correct? Hold the Mayo. I love it. Yes. Yes. 40, or are you seeing anything different out of Ryan Malkas? So we know that he's a streaky hitter and he was dealing with an illness, but he's in a four for his last 32 stretch. Yeah, that's my fault because on baseball tonight, I had a lot to really have a monster month of July and he's actually gone the other way. Yeah, a little inconsistent right now. I don't know, man, he goes to these stages, doesn't he? Where he locks in, he starts to use the whole field. You know, he stays on the slider down in a way, stays on that outside pitch and works with the other way. And then there are times where he feels like he might need an extra home run. So he just starts hacking, makes free swing in, expands his own a little bit. And then every now and then gets himself in between. So I think, unfortunately, that's where he is right now. And, but he could, you know, Malkas will get turned any second, any day. And next thing, you know, carry this team like he did last year. That's what we talked about on the spotlight. For a month and a half, he was one of the Orioles' best offensive players that really helped them through the dog days. And they're going to need his back to help them through the dog days again. This ain't going to be easy. I know the Orioles in a great spot right now, but these are the tough months, man. It's really tough to push through and you need guys to find a little bit of consistency. Boardy, before I let you go, what are you expecting from Corbin Burns tonight? It looks like I'm going to make his last start before the all-star break. Yeah, I think it's going to be, he's going to put an exclamation point on things here to round out this first half. Just so deserving. And, I mean, my gosh, the last two, one of the best moves, right? I think in the off season, a nice surprise by landing Corbin Burns. And when you make a move like that, give up a couple of your top prospects. You only hope and pray that he'll have an all-star-type year. And Corbin Burns has not disappointed. I mean, it's been exceptional every time out. And I expect him to be great again. Mike Bortick, you're always great, man. We always appreciate your time. Thank you so much. And we will chat next week. All right, you guys. Have a great afternoon. Trying to figure out what to eat for dinner yet again. With North 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. It's the most anticipated WNBA season in history. And you know what that means. Court is back in session. Welcome to Queens of the Court, an Odyssey original podcast. I'm your girl, Cheryl Swoop. And I'm Jordan Robinson. All WNBA season long will be bringing you interviews with star athletes, analysis on your favorite teams, and lots of hot tape. Order, order in the court. Follow and listen to Queens of the Court on the Free Odyssey app, or wherever you get your podcast.