The Yankees and Orioles are no strangers to heated rivalry. Baltimore fans aren’t quick to forget about Darryl Strawberry flying into the dugout to sucker-punch Armando Benitez or Jeffrey Maier reaching over the right-field wall of Yankee Stadium to alter the course of the 1996 ALCS — or, more recently, a grueling 2012 ALDS in which the Orioles were ultimately sent packing.
Last week, another chapter of bad blood opened up. It started with Juan Soto failing to get out of Jordan Westburg’s way on a ground ball, leading to Westburg leaving the game with a hip injury. It spiraled into four hit-by-pitches in two games, one of which briefly sidelined Aaron Judge with a hand injury – and plenty of tension between the dugouts.
But former All-Star catcher and current “Foul Territory” host A.J. Pierzynski has a more nuanced take on the beef. He doesn’t deny the brewing rivalry, but doubts the beanballs were malicious. To him, it’s all part of competition.
“You’ve got to pitch Judge inside. … I don’t think it was anything egregious,” Pierzynski said on Glenn Clark Radio June 19. “I just think it’s part of the game. Especially in a division where you have to play each other so many times, I think you run into these kinds of things, and they become bigger than what they should be.”
“Especially when it’s a rivalry, which the Orioles and the Yankees have now become because the Orioles are good, things get made out of nothing,” he added.
Looking ahead to this summer’s pennant race, Pierzynski sees one major area of weakness for the Orioles: starting pitching. While Corbin Burnes and Grayson Rodriguez are one of the league’s best one-two punches, things are less certain behind them, especially with Kyle Bradish now out for the year.
“You can’t count on Burnes and Grayson Rodriguez two out of five days. You need other guys to step up,” Pierzynski said.
The Yankees possess a rotation of Gerrit Cole, Luis Gil, Carlos Rodón, Marcus Stroman and Nestor Cortes. For the Orioles to keep up with them in the standings, Pierzynski says a move needs to be made ahead of the July 30 trade deadline for another starter.
Ownership can’t be content with the long championship window the Orioles’ young core provides the club, Pierzynski said. The time to strike is now.
But, as he pointed out, “it’s a seller’s market,” and there aren’t many teams in position to sell right now. He sees White Sox pitchers Garrett Crochet and Erick Fedde as realistic targets for the Orioles’ front office to pursue.
“You built for these moments the last few years,” Pierzynski said. “You tank and tank and tank and made all these draft picks, and these are the moments you’re looking for. So you’ve got to go out and do something and do everything in your power to make this a winner, because right now the city of Baltimore is excited. Fans are excited. You’ve got a new owner who’s going to put money in. I think now is the time to strike.”
“Every year that goes by that you don’t get to the World Series or win is another year you lose a year of all these guys,” he added.
Pierzynski also thinks the Orioles could use another reliever at the deadline. In particular, the former catcher worries about the long-term viability of Craig Kimbrel, who is prone to slumps. And when he slumps, “the downs are really low,” he said.
“You’ve also got to take pressure off of him,” Pierzynski said. “I know you have [Yennier] Cano and you have some other guys down there, but man, think about if you could get a Ryan Pressly or somebody like that, that could come in and give you the eighth or maybe even save a game if you need him to. … That’s what Mike Elias gets paid to push for.”
For more from Pierzynski, listen to the full interview here:
Photo Credit: Kenya Allen/PressBox