What should the Orioles do with Craig Kimbrel?

there are certainly some questions about this Orioles team right now but maybe the number one question on those fans Minds is what are the O's going to do with Craig Kimbrell well I'll try to answer that question and give you really the three possible solutions coming up on this episode of the locked on Orioles podcast you are locked on Orioles your daily Baltimore Orioles podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day hey there Orioles fans today is Tuesday August 27th 2024 and welcome back in to the locked on Orioles podcast part of the lockon podcast Network your team every day as always I'm your host Conor Nukem and coming up on today's episode we're going to take a look at what are the O's going to do with Craig Kimbrell it has certainly not been pretty in the second half of the season for Kimbrell he has lost his closer role and quite frankly he's barely even been pitching in high leverage spots but he's also the reliever in their Bullpen with the most playoff experien and the best track record so are they going to hold on to him are they going to try to make him the closer again are they going to cut him all together I'll run through the scenario right now and give you all the Orioles options and my take on the Kimbrell situation and also we'll get to another Orioles Bullpen waiver claim they made over the weekend who probably won't help to the level that Kimbrell could but could certainly get some outs for the Orioles down the stretch but that's all coming up on this episode of the lockon Orioles podcast which is brought to you by FanDuel now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a three-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV just visit fanduel.com locked on to get started so we're here on a Tuesday episode of want to be fully transparent here at the top of the episode I am recording this on Sunday actually before the Orioles and Astros get started on Sunday Night Baseball so not only is it over a day earlier there's also going to be another game of baseball played in between when I'm talking right now in in real time and when you are able to hear this episode so when we do talk about Craig Kimbrell I don't think as I record right now he'll pitch in the Sunday night game just because of his usage over the last week but if he does just know whatever he does Sunday night is not included in the stats I'm going to talk about here and of course if there's anything big with the O's uh when we're back on Wednesday uh we'll get to that on the podcast but that is the big thing to talk about is what are the O's going to do with Craig Kimbrell we're going to get to that later in the show but first I did want to talk about an Orioles roster move and a waiver claim that they made because the Orioles brought home an old friend over the weekend as they claimed right-handed pitcher Brooks krisy off waivers from the Cincinnati Reds now Krispy still did have options so the O's did send him immediately to triaa norfol and didn't have to clear a big league roster spot for him but that does not mean he won't help the O's at some point this season now krisy was DFA by the Reds last week was pitching in triaa all season with Cincinnati after he had signed a minor league deal with the Reds this off season now the reason why he was on the 40-man roster in the first place and had to be DFA even though he signed a minor league deal is that he had an opt out in his minor league contract for June 17th where he had to be added to the 40-man roster but didn't necessarily have to be put on the big league club so on June 17th the Reds actually added him to the 40 man but never called him up just continued to have him pitch out of the triaa bullpen and then just needed a 40-man spot last week and decided that Krispy krisy excuse me I'm gonna keep saying Brooks Krispy but it's Brooks krisy was the guy that they uh let go now in terms of his stats in triaa Louisville for the Cincinnati Red system this year he's been pretty great 42 appearances 49 and one-thirds innings now he only has one save he hasn't really been their closer he's been more the setup man in Triple A for the Reds and he's got a 3o one0 ER with a 41% ground ball rate the strikeout stuff has been incredible a 37% strikeout rate for chrisy is one of the best among AAA relievers however that comes with a fairly concerning 15 % walk rate and that's one of the big reasons why despite that K rate he is still in Triple A and even for a Reds team that needs some relievers and hasn't been very good this year was never called up to the big league level and they rather would DFA him than call him up but it's still been a good AAA season and let's talk about what he brings to the table in terms of his pitch mix because for krisy it is some stuff that quite honestly is very impressive for what he can do at least with his off speed stuff so let's begin with the pitch mix it is at least what baseball Savant and their minor league stat cast calls a four pitch mix and if you're watching on the locked on Orioles YouTube channel now as I am trying to get my right thing up in front of you that'll be up in a moment as we deal with some technical difficulties but We Roll Along you'll see here though that he's got a four- pitch mix and now it's interesting and this chart I'm going to show here on the locked on Orioles YouTube page again make sure you are like commenting and subscribing to lockon Orioles on YouTube as you can see it right here he classifies it as a splitter a for seamer a slider and a change up now he might have a little tweak between his splitter and his true change up those pitchers are going to do similar things so let's start with the splitter this is his main pitch the pitch he is known for he throws it 35% of the time and opponents in Triple A are hitting 077 against krisky splitter let me say that again 077 with a 43% swing and Miss rate and a 29% hard hit rate that is ridiculous how good that splitter has been then you add it into a slider which has been almost as good for krisy really the splitter to lefties and righties and the slider more so to righties he throws that thing about 23% of the time opponents are hitting just 148 against his slider with a 52% swing and Miss rate and a 26% hard hit rate basically all of those levels are elite elite elite for Brooks krisky then they have him with a change up at a 16% usage that tells me the change Up's a little different than the splitter probably a different grip a little bit different movement profile but it's still almost as good 121 average 47% swing and Miss rate 177% hard hit rate those three offsp speed deliveries have basically been Untouchable for AAA hitters now you may be wondering with all that stuff Connor how is he not back in the big leagues well number one the command's been an issue I mentioned a 15% walk rate and number two you still got to throw a fast ball and although his fast ball is not his number one pitch his four seamer he throws it about 27% of the time it is his only fast ball if you add up the change up in splitter that is about a 52% usage between those two pitches opponents in Triple A have hit 417 with a 792 slugging percentage against kris's four seam fastball which averages about 93 miles an hour on the season that is not good at all and that's where it lies it's like can you get away just throwing Splitters and Sliders and when you have to throw a fast ball knowing it's going to get clobbered most of the time can you pitch like that in the big leagues and the Reds thought no and the Orioles think maybe and for krisy he has pitched in the big leagues before it's not like this is something he's never done and again he had options so the Oriol sent him immediately to triaa it's not like they're going to be calling on him tomorrow but he has been in the big leagues before he was drafted by the Yankees in the sixth round all the way back in 2016 and then made his big league debut with the Yankees in the short and 2020 season then late in 2021 he was DFA by the yanes and he was claimed by the Orioles that's why I said old friend Brooks krisky he pitched in four games for the O's in September of 20121 they kind of claimed him like I mean it was literally two weeks before the season was over they claimed krisy in 2021 four appearances three and two3 five runs five hits fourks no walks and two home runs and then that offseason he he was not a free agent he was going to stay with the Orioles but he requested his release from the O's and the O's granted him his release in November because he wanted to sign a deal a guaranteed deal for more money with a team in Japan and he went and did that and actually pitched in Japan in 2022 and 23 before coming back to the States and pitching for the Royals a bit last year but he's pitched in 21 and 23ds Big League Innings with the O's Yankees and Royals it's an 11.22 big league erra and even though the strikeout stuff has been there he's walked a lot of guys and he's given up home runs but the stuff is there and this is certainly another project for the Orioles and it is a guy who they've had in their system pitched for their big league team before while Mike Elias and this front office staff were here they liked krisy once and they certainly like him again here in 2024 and again it's low risk because he does have options you can just stick him in Triple A for the rest of the year depth and never call him up and that's what he's going to be he'll be depth in Triple A the Orioles will try to tweak something probably not with the splitter and the slider because they've been so good but you know they'll try to tweak something with that fastball to at least make it closer to Major League average and usable at the big league level something they did with Colin Selby and then we saw how good his first two outings as an Oreo were last week in New York when he had really good off speeds they could do the exact same thing here with 30-year-old right-hander Brooks krisy again I'm not saying he's gonna play a big role but he's depth and if the O need another guy they could absolutely go and pull krisy up and if he throws that splitter I mean that thing when he was again it was four games for a terrible Orioles team in 2021 in September but I was hosting this podcast back then and you can go back to a September episode and an offseason episode back in 2021 where I talked about krisy and I talked back then like the Orioles can't let this guy go I was in love with that splitter in love with the stuff he showed in just those four outings and he was apparently loved him enough to bring him back and have him as some depth here this season and again I would not be surprised at all if he pitches for the Orioles out of the bullpen at some point because hey they are trying to find some more High leverage arms to help this pen down the stretch at least until you know they get Jacob Webb back and they get Danny Kone back and they get a little bit healthier in terms of the arms now to make room for Brooks krisky the Orioles did have a full 40an roster and they DFA Nick vespie now this has been something that it's kind of been writing on the wall for vasby who has appeared in the big leagues each of the last three seasons for the Orioles but it was only 12 and a third Innings this year after only 14 and 2/3 innings in Baltimore last year after he played a a much bigger role not a huge role but a much bigger role in the Orioles bullpen in his rookie year in 2022 he's just been the prototypical up down man this was his final option year so that chance for the O's to send him up and down frequently was going to be gone if he was back in 2025 the stuff has kind of played down a little bit when he's been here this year and remember he used to go down and just dominate Triple A and then come back up to the big leagues and be okay that kind of changed this year as well ves's got a 7.71 ER in Triple A norfol this season so you can tell some of us just like getting bored of pitching in Triple A but a little bit the stuff has fallen off a bit for the Leander and he always was an uphill battle with the stuff because his fast ball is a at best 90 M hour pitch with some cut movement now for vasby because he's had his struggles this year there's a good chance he does not get claimed on waivers and the Orioles get to keep him and just outright him off the 40 man and keep him in in Triple A in norfol in the bullpen and still be a depth option if the O's would need it down the stretch of this season but because of where he was and where the O's roster is more than likely he was going to be a 40-man crunch and be DFA this off season anyway so the O's found a chance to maybe do it now and and hope he can slip through waivers which is the same thing that happened to Bruce Zimmerman when the O made those roster moves last week Zimmerman was DFA and he did officially clear waivers so he is off the 4 man but does stay in the Tria norfol rotation and in the Orioles organization I would expect similar for vasby but he's a little more enticing for another team to claim than Bruce was so we shall see if vasby does stay with the Orioles but hey it would be nice for him if he lashed on with another team and they gave him a more of a solidified run in the big leagues but I'm just not sure with the way he's been pitching recently that that will happen right now but that's kind of the the Orioles news off the bat at the top of the episode now let's get to what I really wanted to talk about today and that is Craig Kimbrell it has been a large topic of discussion among Orioles fans over the past few weeks and I've touched on it many a times especially when he's been pitching in games here and there and in different kind of spots certainly not in the closer role for the Orioles but I want to dedicate the rest of this episode really to Craig Kimbrell how bad it's been versus how good it was early in the year and what the Orioles options are for him right now and what they could do and should do with Kimbrell down the stretch of this 2024 season as they try and go out there and and win a division here in September but first this episode of the locked on Orioles podcast is brought to you by FanDuel you've heard us talk about FanDuel a lot America's number one sports book well we have something a little bit different for you now through September 22nd all FanDuel customers can bet $5 and get a 3-week free trial of NFL Sunday Ticket from YouTube and YouTube TV then with a YouTube TV base plan you'll be able to watch every regular season Sunday afternoon out of Market game all you need is a Google account and a current form of payment and you can cancel anytime listen it is a fantastic deal with football season coming up you don't want to miss out on that so just visit fanduel.com lockon to download America's number one Sportsbook so for the O's there's been a bit of a Craig Kimbrell issue lately we all know it we've all watched it happen there's been the es and flows let's talk about it now for Kimbrell again these are stats entering Sunday as I mentioned earlier his full season 51 appearances 46 and two3 innings for the Oriol for the 36y old a 3.86 ER with a 4.29 FIP he's got still a pretty Elite strikeout rate at 33% his walk rate though at 133% is the second highest of any full season in his big league career only back in 2016 with Boston did he walk more batters he also struck out more batters that year and did much better at avoiding hard contact and just had an overall better season that year with the Red Sox and there's multiple layers to what to do here with Craig Kimbrell but specifically it's been really bad in the second half and he has not really been in a save spot in a while now the last time he got one was when he blew that three-run save in Miami that was kind of it he got the ninth inning the next day in a tie game and since then it just hasn't been any kind of normal closer is role for Craig Kimbrell he's gotten into a few High leverage spots since then but nothing where like the ninth is his to keep it tied or close it out and in total since the All-Star break it's been nine earned runs on 13 hits allowed and 11 in a third Innings 13 K 10 walks a hit batter and four home runs allowed in that stretch and the issue has been not just the walks 10 and 11 in third Innings bad not just the four homers he's been a long ball machine it's also been what the stuff has looked like and just for this full season his average fastball velocity is 93.9 miles per hour by far the lowest of any season in his career now some of that is not surprising he is 36 years old he is clearly on the downtrend of his career the Orioles knew that when they signed signed him to the one-year deal in the off season to kind of fill in for Felix Bautista this year they knew that they knew the velocity had been going down year-over-year took kind of a bigger jump this year but you know you're not going to get 97 98 Craig Kimbrell that's not what he's been for a long time but this is much lower and in the month of August it is down to a 92.9 miles per hour average fastball velocity that is the lowest of any single month of his career and for pretty much almost every month this year it's been dropping month-to month that fastball velocity that is not a good sign obviously the runs he's giving up and the fact that he's out of the closer roll that's not a good sign for him but overall for how this looks in the future even just for the next month with the Orioles and for Kimbrell's future career if he wants to continue pitching into 2025 and Beyond the velocity being that low is not good and he can still get guys out like I've got some charts here again if you're watching locked on Oreo's YouTube page you can see here this is Craig kimberland 2024 this is courtesy of stat cast and baseball Savon This is Swing and Miss percentage on just places in and around the strike zone and you can see when he gets that fast ball up high it's still like in the strike zone but up he's got whiff rates above 40% you get it up and out of the Zone he's well above 50% so if he can locate that fast ball even though he's been you know 94 instead of 96 this year that 94 with that high spin rate that Kim has that makes the fast ball almost look like it's rising on you no matter what velocity he's throwing it at if he can still locate it at the top of the Zone it's still good and we still see him getting swings and misses at the top of the Zone the issue is the command has also taken a step back along with the velocity now he's never been a command artist really at any point in his career he's always sprayed the ball around a little bit but as I mentioned second highest walk rate of a full season in his career it's taken another step in the wrong direction in terms of his fastball command and you see when the ball leaks down to the lower part of the zone or the middle of the Zone those whiff rates I mean you got nothing higher than like 20% that is not good and Kimbrell's been a guy throughout his career who has always been generally hit hard on average but he's been so good because he rarely gets hit he avoided contact so well that like yeah if one out of every five batters hits a hard ball off me that's okay because I feel like I'm striking out the other four that was the you know lock down hall of Fame closer part of Craig Kimbrell's career now we're at the point where he's not whiffing as much and the command is having the ball leak down in the zone and guys are hitting it and when they hit it this has been the case 10 years ago and now they hit it hard and that is a true issue but the question is you know how much different is this from last year well I just showed again here's that 2024 whiff rate now let's go to the 2023 whiff zones it wasn't a a banner season for Kimbell last year with the Phillies I think overall he was a little bit better and they they trusted him at least until they got to the NLCS in the playoffs but you can see the whiff rates here and they're still very good up in the zone but look at them as they go lower in the zone even lower in the zone he's got whiff rates you know in the higher 20s in the 30s in the middle of the Zone what that tells you right there is that the higher velocity fastball when he was missing last year was still playing better if he missed his spot when he was trying to go up and he could still get outs in the middle of the zone or still get outs low in the zone now as we flip back to 2024 you see all that blue he just can't do it anymore and I think a lot of that is because of the lowered velocity listen 94 is a big difference from 95 or 96 especially when you're throwing it in the middle of the plate so what does it all mean well here's a 2024 chart again and these are these slugging percentages against Kimbrell's pitches and again you see when he throws the ball up in the strike zone guys don't Slug it at all if he throws it up and away or up and in they basically don't hit it still even though he's throwing 93 but look what happens when he gets into the middle of the Zone those slugging percentages get up among the 400s and 500s and things get unfortunate for Craig Kimbrell so basically what am I saying he can still be good with this velocity now it's harder for him to be good but he can still be good with this velocity his issue is he can't lose the command to you can lose one of the two if the velocity stayed with a little worse command he could still be good if he still had good command with the velocity slipped a bit he could still be good because of that high spin rate but he's lost them both a little bit at the same time and that's why it's gotten so bad 93 down the middle it can't play 93 at the top can play 95 down the middle can play for curry Kimbrell but he's not getting either so the question kind of becomes now what do you do after you see all that what do you do with Craig Kimbrell I think there are three options that the Orioles can do with CRA Kimbro right now as we sit here number one is you just kind of let him try to figure it out again and this is what the Orioles did early in the season remember he had that bad stretch he blew the two saves against the A's he had the back troubles they you know gave him like four or five days of rest then they started easing him back in now he didn't necessarily pitch in low leverage spots when he came back it was more like Hey we're winning by a couple of runs but you'll get the sixth or the seventh for a few weeks instead of the ninth and then they just eased him back in towards the ninth inning and he pitched really well and it worked out great Kimbrell even said publicly like he was buying into he understood why the Orioles were doing it it honestly worked out fantastically and he came back to get to the point where he had a run of 22 appearances where in 21 of them he did not allow an earned run that's how good he was for like a TW month stretch once the Oriol started easing him back in and then inserted him back into that closer roll so you could try it again you could continue to kind of pitch him fairly regularly in these like lowish Leverage situations where you give him some spots where it's like hey two run lead in the seventh three- run lead in the eighth Craig go out there and it maybe it looks better and better and then you ease him back into a save spot in the ninth inning and and maybe you could you know they gave him like a four or five day rest last time maybe you put him on an i stin you give him a 15-day ilil stint he's 36 he's had back issues earli this year the velocity is down it would be very easy to say something's wrong enough to go on the injured list you just just give him a two week break he can rest his arm he can work on some things and then you come back and ease him back in that could be part of that plan number one number two is you could make some sort of change with the pitch mix and what he's throwing so he was at times this year throwing a little more of a sweeper he actually threw two of them in his outing on Friday night when he did put up a zero against the Astros and you can just have him throw more of a sweeper and his breaking ball more often at times so you could switch up the pitch mix and that's a little bit what he did on Friday and I mentioned it on yesterday's episode but Kimbrell when you know he he got a couple of strikeouts let a couple Runners on but did put up a zero now it was low Leverage The O were down five to2 in the top of the eighth on Friday but he was the winning pitcher because santon there hit the Grand Slam in the bottom of the eighth but Kimbrell went in there and he threw more breaking balls than we have seen all season 15 breaking balls were thrown by Craig Kimbrell that tied for for the most breaking balls he has ever thrown in any appearance in his career that is how many curveballs and a couple of sweepers we saw from Kimbrell that is clearly a change in Pitch mix and philosopy philosophy from Kimbrell on the mountain that's a good sign that tells me okay the Orioles and Drew French and Mitch plasm and you know all these guys are working with Kimbrell and he's making some sort of change there's also that change up right that change up I talked about it in spring training when he was throwing it it's a change up for the last like five six years that he's been working on in spring training debuted in regular season games a few times but it's never really stuck to it to add a third pitch besides his fastball and his knuckle curve so maybe you could put him on the iil have him work on the change up and come back with a third pitch that could help him get lefties out maybe help him get a few more ground balls which would be helpful because he's getting hit so hard he's an extreme flyball pitcher some more grounders would certainly help him out that could work I mean this is the like the worst stretch he's had at times in his career maybe this is the time to make a big change like adding a third pitch that you've always toyed around with and then there's the third option and the third option is you just cut him loose you DFA him you release him I think he has a little more leash and the oros have shown that by the fact that they're still using him out there not the highest leverage scenarios but still using him to get outs but if the V stays at like I mean he's been throwing some pitches at 92 if the V stays at 92 and he's still not throwing strikes or when he is he's spraying it around the strike zone leaving it down or in the middle of the plate and giving up homers like if it's looking and the last couple of outings have been better which is good but if it's looking like it did for that stretch like a week or two ago and it was like you threw him in there and that game against the Red Sox where was just it looked like batting practice that game that he threw last Friday night against Boston if it's looking like that for you know the next week or two and the Orioles just can't even touch him anything close to high leverage and he's just like wasting away and not helping them in the middle of a September race for the Al's title you maybe just cut him loose like that's that's a possibility I don't think we're here yet as we sit here in August but it is a possibility of just cutting your losses and giving his spot to a guy who could at least a guy like Brooks krisky who could maybe pitch some big outs whereas you know at this point Kimbrell won't I'm not saying that's the case now but it could come up now for me I think number one is most likely of just letting him figure it out although the ozer may be leaning towards number two with throwing more breaking balls on Friday night and what would I do I would do option number two that is making a change so whether it is continuing to throw more curveballs more sweepers until he gets that fastball command back or whether it's adding in that change up I'm totally on board for that it's not a brand new pitch he's always thrown it in spring training and always toyed around with it for like the past decade of his big league career I'm in for that because there is still even with the vlo down the stuff of an All-Star closer in there for Craig Kell we saw it earlier this year he arguably should have been an All-Star this season like Klay Holmes is an Allstar kimber's been better than him at least for most of the year it's still in there I think and sometimes in the postseason a hot reliever a group of three hot relievers can carry you we we certainly saw it with the Rangers last year we saw it with the Nats in 2019 you shrink your Bullpen to the guys pitching well and some guys just randomly get hot we saw Kimbrell get hot I mentioned that stretch from May to July 22 appearances 21 of them without an earned run if he could do that again closer to the postseason you could turn it back over to them and maybe he's never the closer again this year but at the very least he's got to be able to help you in some way in something close to high Leverage The orios will need that from him and it's not like you have you know this Bullpen of arms in Triple A just chomping at the bit to throw High leverage eighth inning pitches and get strikeouts in the majors if the move on from Kimbrell like with that Elite strikeout rate which is the best in the Orioles Bullpen even with the struggles it's hard to argue that he's not one of their best eight relief options that they have in the system healthy right now like I don't think you can argue against that point so that's kind of where we are with Kimbrell you just got to Hope and work to get him better now and maybe if Jacob Webb and Danny kulum come back healthy and look good and Gregory stto figures it out and gets right then maybe there's enough good pieces that Kimbrell does get pushed out where maybe even if he doesn't get released he just gets moved to super low leverage and like they don't put him on the playoff roster the Dodgers did that a couple of years where he was pitching in a high Leverage all year then struggled in September and they just left him off the postseason roster that's a possibility as well for the Orioles and Sir Anthony Dominguez is certainly certainly the Orioles closer right now it is not Craig Kimbrell and there's a good chance it's Dominguez for the rest of the year and it's not Kimbrell but if Kimbrell can get to a point where it's back to the sixth and seventh and you can trust him a little bit that would be huge for this o team what would I do i' I'd keep with the more breaking balls maybe add the change up and just see if it can work because as bad as it's been at times again you need to miss bats in the postseason and nobody misses bats in this Oreo Bullpen statistically better than Craig Kimbrell and I think for me that's at least holding on to for a little longer and just seeing maybe if he can get back close to his normal self but that's the Kimbrell thoughts let me know in the comments here on the lockon 's YouTube page what would you do with Craig Kimbrell as we move down the stretch of this OC season got a couple of housekeeping podcast notes to get to to finish off the pod on this Tuesday episode coming up right after this but first this episode of the locked on Orioles podcast is also brought to you by Supply housee get supplies from the site that's made for the skilled trade supplyhouse.com supplyhouse.com is the reliable way to order Plumbing HVAC and electrical products online their easy to ous website is packed with helpful resources in the latest product info to help you get the job done right shop a complete inventory of over 200,000 parts from over 400 top brands and get your order delivered right to your door with fast shipping from coast to coast need help with an order get expert support and industry-leading service from the friendliest folks in the business and talk to a real person every time and Pros in the skilled trades can get a Competitive Edge by joining supplyhouse.com free trademaster program every tradem gets access to a dedicated phone line free shipping and discounts on every order join the thousands of trade Pros already benefiting from their free membership at supplyhouse.com TF and Order Plumbing HVAC and electrical supplies from anywhere with just a few clicks at supplyhouse.com so to finish off the Pod today just wanted to get to a couple of housekeeping notes as we sit here on a Tuesday going to be a little bit of a different podcast schedule this week if you've been with the show for a long time first of all thank you so much for sticking with us as we get down the stretch here in the season you know because I do work a separate full-time job when the Orioles go on the west coast during the week is really really tough for me to keep up the level of coverage that I do at other times on a daily basis and the Orioles after the off day Monday they go to La they are taking on the Dodgers for a three-game series starting tonight and all three games are starting at 1010 PM eastern time and because of that I am just not able to record an episode after that game ends at 1:00 a.m. get it all up for you go to bed have a good night's sleep sleep go to work come back do another podcast it's just unfortunately impossible to do that so because of that I am still going to have episodes this week but they are going to look a little different so this episode dropping here on Tuesday morning here tonight Tuesday night I'm going to do a live mailbag episode here at the lockon Oro YouTube page so make sure we like commenting and subscribing it's probably going to be around 800 p.m. eastern time but look for the announcement on the YouTube page for the precise time but it's going to be a live mailbag what does that mean hop in the comments ask your questions I'll be answering questions for 30 or so minutes and the plan is going to be something close to that for episodes Tuesday night Wednesday night and Thursday night you'll get to listen to them live and early on YouTube and they'll be posted to your favorite audio lising platform the next morning so for example tonight's live mailbag will go live on YouTube and then be on Apple podcast on Spotify on Wednesday morning and kind of counting as my Wednesday episode now I may potentially jump in on Friday and kind of recap the entire Dodgers series because unfortunately all three games are at 10 and you'll hear a little bit from me each day like the you know the evening after a game of a series if something big happens for the O and I'll get to any news and notes and anything happening on those episodes as well but again look for a live mailbag tonight won't be your usual you wake up and there's a recap of the game just not able to do it so we'll talk about some other things they'll still be related to this o season they'll still be very important with this stretch run but just because of the timing other things in the life just not able to do it luckily this is the final West Coast road trip during the week of the season so we'll be back to regular programming next week on the Pod but still join us on the live mailbag tonight until then I'm Conor Nukem and this has been the lockon Orioles podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day