00:00Cordell, you were at a rookie camp over the weekend.
00:02What stood out with you?
00:04Because I know you're not one of those guys that always follows the ball.
00:08So what stood out with you at the camp this weekend?
00:12Yeah, I mean, you know, it wasn't a whole lot because the access was limited.
00:19I think we only saw about 40, 45 minutes of practice.
00:21So it was a lot of individuals, some special teams, some drills against air.
00:30So it really wasn't the type of day to really get a great feel of, like, how good a player
00:35is necessarily.
00:36But for me, it was just about kind of getting that introduction look at these dudes,
00:42seeing who at least looks the part.
00:44And, like, Zion Young jumps off the field.
00:49Like, he's a big dude, really big dude.
00:52Very aggressive in everything he does.
00:55He was just paying attention to kind of, like, his effort running his drills.
01:00And it was max effort every single time.
01:04Awane, obviously, is a huge dude himself.
01:08It was cool to see guys, like, we got to watch some of the receivers individuals,
01:13so watching, like, Surratt and Lane go through their drills, seeing their footwork and stuff,
01:18seeing these guys go high point the ball.
01:20So that was cool.
01:21And also, you know, it was our first chance getting to see Jesse Minter on the field,
01:26like, during a practice.
01:27I was kind of just watching his demeanor a little bit.
01:30And he's just, I mean, he might have just had a smile glued to his face the entire practice.
01:36I mean, every time you see him looking at a drill,
01:39every time you see him talking to somebody, player or coach,
01:43at some point in that interaction, he's got a big smile on his face.
01:47So he seems like a guy that's, right now, still enjoying what he does.
01:52And I would imagine that's going to be the case for a while right now.
01:56He's got a pretty good team, as it sits there today.
01:59But, yeah, it was just kind of really just getting a feel for a lot of the newness that's around
02:04his team.
02:05You kind of touched on the wide receivers.
02:07I was going to ask you what you thought about some of the young quarterbacks
02:09and those wide receivers and what you saw in just a short period of time.
02:13Yeah, I mean, well, you know, Pavia demands so much attention because, you know,
02:19he's a big name and small in stature.
02:22He is a small guy.
02:25But immediately you do kind of look to see what he's doing
02:30because the dude has shown the ability to play.
02:34He's a Heisman finalist.
02:35I mean, hate him or like him, he has produced at the college level.
02:41So, you know, he is an intriguing case right there.
02:45Everybody else is out there.
02:46I mean, in all honesty, it's kind of tough to put stock in to anybody, even including Pavia.
02:53I mean, I don't know how long he's even going to be around right now,
02:56but at least he's an interesting name as it sits right now.
03:00And with the receivers, I mean, I'm huge on Elijah Surratt.
03:05But him and Lane, neither of them, like, necessarily look like tower figures to me.
03:11Lane isn't as filled out as Surratt.
03:14But both of those guys, obviously, they came in as two big contested catch receivers.
03:20And you see that when you see them go and high point the ball.
03:23Those dudes can get up off the ground.
03:25I thought Surratt had really good footwork going through his drills too.
03:30So, you know, like, again, it was a very small sample size,
03:34but just really good to kind of get that first look at these guys.
03:39Our man on the scene, Cordell Woodland, joins us.
03:42One half of Fresh Take Along with Ben Hall.
03:44Baltimore's Big Bad Morning Show on the fan.
03:46Let's go to our other birds.
03:47That's the Baltimore Orioles.
03:49Losers of five in a row.
03:50And it was bad up in New York.
03:53Cordell, I'll ask you what we asked the listeners just before you came on.
03:57Did the New York Yankees series expose a lot of warts for this team for you?
04:03No.
04:04No.
04:05I mean, I don't think that we saw anything from them that we didn't know coming into the series.
04:12We knew they couldn't play defense.
04:14We knew that before they got out there.
04:18Offensively, they've been inconsistent all year.
04:21That was before they got out there.
04:23Starting pitching has been up and down.
04:25Mostly, it was down in that series.
04:27And they're going up against arguably the best lineup in baseball.
04:31I mean, I'm not making any excuses for them.
04:33But I also understand they're not as good as that team out there.
04:38So, I mean, even going into that series, I remember telling Ken and those guys as we were doing the
04:42transfer on Thursday night,
04:44like, yeah, they're about to get swept.
04:46And it's going to be bad.
04:48And sure enough, I mean, five straight losses, five runs or more.
04:51I mean, they're not even being competitive right now.
04:55And if anything, maybe that's the thing that maybe they, I don't want to say exposed, but maybe showed they
05:03kind of beat the life out of them out there.
05:05But we have seen the cardiac O's show up at various points this year, not in New York.
05:13I mean, the Yankees just took their heart from them starting from game one all the way through game four.
05:19So maybe that's the one thing that showed up.
05:21You just didn't see that same fight, especially later on in the game that we've been accustomed to seeing from
05:28these guys.
05:28Do you think changes happen anytime soon?
05:33Probably. I don't know necessarily what that change is.
05:36I mean, you could send Couser down to AAA.
05:38What does that really do?
05:39Your defense doesn't change.
05:40If anything, it probably gets worse.
05:43You could send Kobe Mayo down, but, like, you need them, number one.
05:49And I just don't know what these changes could be in terms of player-wise that's really going to have
05:57an impact on the team.
05:59Who are you going to fire from the personnel that is going to get a jolt out of this team
06:04right now?
06:06It's still the first week in May.
06:09So it's just tough for me to think that there is just this one or two moves that they can
06:16make that's all of a sudden going to get this team back on track.
06:20I just think they kind of are who they are.
06:24They're a poor defensive team.
06:27You're just not all of a sudden going to have eight gold glovers out there.
06:31So defense, I just think it's something we're just going to have to bear with all year.
06:35It may get marginally better at times, but overall, this is kind of what it's probably going to look like.
06:43Offensively, they can get better.
06:45They have to get better because if they're going to do anything, it's going to be on the backs of
06:49their offense.
06:50And some of these guys show flashes at times.
06:53I mean, a lot of people get on Alonzo, and I'm not saying he's been perfect,
06:59but I do think the times that he has stepped up for them at the plate, it gets overshadowed
07:04because they end up getting their butts beat as the game goes on.
07:06So, you know, out here, Gunnar hasn't been great, but then you've got guys like Adley that has been great.
07:14Taylor Ward's been great at the plate, not great at the field.
07:16I mean, really, nobody's been great in the field outside of Alonzo these days.
07:21So, yeah, it's just tough for me to look at this team and have,
07:27especially when I watch other teams around Major League Baseball
07:30and I see them doing some of the bare minimum things, especially on defense.
07:35It's tough for me to look at them and think that they'll be able to right this ship
07:39and be consistent enough to make a push.
07:41I see, Cordell, I agree with you about Colton Couser.
07:45You kind of cut off your nose to spite your face if you send him down
07:48because your outfield gets bad.
07:50But I disagree about Mayo.
07:52I think you can get someone to get better defensively.
07:55He's not really hitting the baseball.
07:56He hit a little flash there.
07:59But you have to have someone in your organization that's better defensively.
08:03If Blaise Alexander needs more at-bats, let him play your third baseman.
08:06Let him be that guy.
08:07But I just think you have to have someone who can make you better defensively
08:12than a guy who's not hitting and who isn't very good defensively.
08:16No, I don't disagree with that at all.
08:18I mean, but I guess my thing would be, even if they do send Mayo down
08:24and they go with Blaise at third and Jackson at second for that foreseeable future,
08:31how many wins is that getting them?
08:33You know, and I agree.
08:35Blaise is absolutely an upgrade defensively over Kobe Mayo
08:39and at the plate these days he is.
08:41He just seems like a better player today than Kobe Mayo.
08:44But again, when you look at the wins lost at the end of the day,
08:49how many more wins is that going to get them?
08:52I don't know if it'll get them any.
08:53In New York, none.
08:55But when you have a three-game series in Pittsburgh
08:57where you lost 5-4 and 3-2, that makes a difference in one of those games.
09:00When you lose 4-3 to Arizona, that makes...
09:03In New York, you're right.
09:04There's nothing.
09:05An act of Congress couldn't have helped them out there.
09:07But I think that if you look at the resume of losses,
09:11their games with better defenders could have helped you win those games.
09:14Sure.
09:15I mean, and they have lost games strictly because of their defense.
09:19Exactly.
09:20Without a doubt.
09:21I will give you that.
09:24But it's not like...
09:26And I'm only saying this because we're talking about Kobe Mayo.
09:28It hasn't been Mayo in every single one of those losses.
09:32Sometimes it's been the outfielders.
09:34Sometimes it's been Jeremiah Jackson having the ball go off his glove
09:38or Gunnar overthrowing Pete Alonso.
09:41So it's all of them.
09:43You know what I'm saying?
09:44So we could beat up on Mayo.
09:46I'm fine with that.
09:47But then we'll look up tonight, and it'll be two other people making errors.
09:52It's just a problem down the line for them.
09:55Good.
09:55Thanks a lot, my friend, for your time this morning.
09:57When can we hear you again on these airways?
09:59Yeah, me and Ben will be back Thursday night from 6.30 to 8.
10:04Orioles play, I think, a regular Thursday night game at 6.30 that night.
10:08So our time will be to cut into a little bit, but we'll still try to get to as much
10:12as we can.
10:13We'll recap Ricky Minicamp.
10:14We were both out there.
10:15We'll talk a lot about the Orioles and a ton about the NBA playoffs, for sure.
10:20My man.
10:20Thanks a lot, Cordell.
10:21What's up, man?
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