Latest / District Territory / Who can answer the call in the Nats bullpen?

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Who can answer the call in the Nats bullpen? · District Territory

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the District Territory podcast. Hope everyone had
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: an awesome Labor Day weekend. I'm Eric Shellhouse from Bat
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Boys Baseball and joining me today, Spencer Nussbaum of The Athletic.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: It's been a rough start to September and a rough
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: road trip for the Nationals, a five game losing streak
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: and just some overall road struggles of late, two and
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: 19 in their last 21. But obviously, the overarching question
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: we will start with in today's episode, the Nationals tie
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: a Major League record with 37 blown saves.
• 0:36
  Speaker 2: That is.
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: Tying a Major League record. And they've used 37 relievers
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: as well, which is the most in Major League Baseball.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: 16 different relievers have blown a save this season. Spencer,
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: this is something the Nationals have tried so many different
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: elixirs for the entire season, but haven't been able to
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: figure it out, and it got even worse with the
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: departure of arguably their best reliever, Orlando Rebalta, the other day.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: So I'm curious, what do you think Blake Butera's plan
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: of attack is here going down the stretch with those
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: late innings? Does it continue to try new guys that
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: they've been sorting in? We've seen impressive debuts lately, but
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: what are your thoughts?
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah, there's a lot to unpack there. I would say
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: if we're looking... ahead to the final 16 games of
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: the year, right? I haven't actually looked at the maybe
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: date-related stuff, but that probably would be the longest stretch
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: the Nationals have gone this year without blowing a save
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: if they were able to do it. So I don't
• 1:39
  Speaker 3: want to say the record is inevitable, but it feels
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: likely that they will set it. In terms of how
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: they might figure this out down the stretch, they don't
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: really have a reliable... proven big league reliever to turn
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: to at the moment. And that isn't to say that
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: none of these guys can step up. We've seen good
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: outings from Eric Tolman. We've seen Jared Simpson pitch well.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: We've seen Jackson clear pitch well. And these are all
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: guys who will get opportunities because there isn't really an alternative, right?
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: I think when you look at the nationals bullpen right now,
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: you see a lot of guys who have stuff and
• 2:21
  Speaker 3: who have had better command as of late, whether it's
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: those guys, um, Giovanni Cruz, who hasn't had good command,
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: but it's had good stuff. Um, frankly, this is the
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: time to figure out who can handle a high leverage role.
• 2:36
  Speaker 3: And while it will probably lead to more blown saves,
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: it will be, um, incredibly interesting to see which of
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: those guys might step up because there are a number
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: of future big, big league relievers in there. It's just
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: a question of, who can handle, you know, the eighth
• 2:53
  Speaker 3: inning next year, who can handle the seventh inning next year.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: We've spoken with Blake Butera before about, is that something
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: you're thinking about ahead to the offseason, even though we
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: still have a month to play here? And he says,
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: of course, but, you know, that's not my job. And
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: I'm wondering how much ownership may be willing to let
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: them spend this offseason, given how incredible this team has
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: been from an offensive perspective. It's tough not to imagine
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: where they might be if they had Just a little
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: more pitching. Obviously, starting pitching is necessary, too. And blown
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: saves are a bit of a flawed stat. You can
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: be assigned a blown save before the ninth inning. It
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: doesn't necessarily mean you had that game won. But it
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: seems to me that relief pitching is the most glaring
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: issue for the team right now and something that they
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: certainly need to address in the offseason.
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I would argue... Like if it were my budget,
• 3:50
  Speaker 3: which it is not, and I don't know exactly what
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: their budget will be, I would still prioritize a starter
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: over a reliever per se. But you kind of have
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: to go after both if you're the Nationals, again, with
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: such a small payroll heading into next year, with the
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: fact that you have some compelling arms in that bullpen,
• 4:12
  Speaker 3: but not a reliable ninth inning guy, right? And so
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: there is absolutely an argument to be made that you know,
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: all tides rise if you sign one or two backend relievers, um,
• 4:25
  Speaker 3: and really kind of shore this thing up because I
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: think there are far more interesting arms than people think
• 4:29
  Speaker 3: there are in the bullpen. And so, yeah, I mean, I've,
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: I've kind of talked about this at length. It's something
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: I've thought about a lot. Um, they absolutely need to
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: be spending money on a backend arm, even if that's
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: not something teams usually do at this stage of the
• 4:44
  Speaker 3: competitive cycle. Uh, and I, I think it would serve
• 4:47
  Speaker 3: them well to whether it's a, Um, a really, really
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: high end guy, or even like a, and I'm, I'm
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: just starting this name out there. I'm not saying they're
• 4:55
  Speaker 3: going to sign him, but like a Jose Alvarado from
• 4:57
  Speaker 3: the Phillies, right. Um, coming off a down year, but
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: all the peripherals say he pitches. Well, great stuff. Lefty, um,
• 5:06
  Speaker 3: a guy like that who maybe won't command, you know,
• 5:10
  Speaker 3: the Tanner Scott or the Edwin Diaz sort of money,
• 5:13
  Speaker 3: but you know, we'll have a hefty price tag. Um, that's, that's,
• 5:18
  Speaker 3: you know, kind of the sort of guy where I
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: look at him or I look at some others on
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: the market and say, with the amount of money that
• 5:25
  Speaker 3: nationals are spending, there's no reason for them not to
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: be able to sign, uh, a high leverage guy. And, um,
• 5:32
  Speaker 3: they do not always work out as risky, it is volatile, but,
• 5:36
  Speaker 3: I mean, look at the roster right now. You need
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: to try something. And frankly, I think it could benefit
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: them a lot.
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: Yeah. You've made the analogy of the Nationals to last
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: year's Oakland Athletics before. And I just want to pull
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: this up really quickly for our viewers online. The offensive
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: and pitching ranks across Major League Baseball, it should still
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: not be lost second in MLB and home runs with
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: a 248 batting average. this team has an incredible offense
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: and if they can get the pitching straightened out next
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: season could be a very different story. Come the end
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: of 162 games. Let's talk about CJ Abrams, who did
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: have a home run in one of the losses the
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: other day, and he got two 30 home runs. He
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: is now just two stolen bases away from a 30,
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: 30 season. Spencer, do you think he's capable of reaching 35,
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: 35 here with just three weeks left? It seems to
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: me that, uh, I think it may be out of
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: reach at this point, but you'd figure two more stolen
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: bases is a shoot-in.
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's an interesting question because he's liable to go
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: on these hot streaks, right? And so it's feasible that
• 6:50
  Speaker 3: he's about to enter one now. We've seen him have
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: months where he has seven home runs and X number
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: of stolen bases. I think it's unlikely because if you're
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: hitting a lot of homers, it's inevitably you're hitting fewer singles.
• 7:07
  Speaker 3: And so it's, it's unlikely, but I mean, even 30,
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: 30 would be one heck of an accomplishment and raising
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: the bar for him personally. So, yeah, I mean, any
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: way that he can finish season strong, he's talked a
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: lot about this, how much it, it matters to him
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: to put together a full one 62, as opposed to
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: just a good first half. It would be, I think
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: it would be incredibly impactful for him to even reach 30, 30,
• 7:34
  Speaker 3: which it seems like he's going to do in the
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: coming days. But as, as we talked about with him
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: and candidly is, you know, I think the athletics point
• 7:42
  Speaker 3: you brought up before, there isn't a guarantee that the
• 7:47
  Speaker 3: nationals offense will be excellent next year. You look at
• 7:52
  Speaker 3: the athletics who have pitched poorly this year, but also
• 7:55
  Speaker 3: the offense has fallen off quite a bit. I don't,
• 7:58
  Speaker 3: think that will happen to the nationals but when you're
• 8:00
  Speaker 3: trying to bake in what's to come for the future
• 8:03
  Speaker 3: um i think anyone who can put together a full
• 8:07
  Speaker 3: season like potentially cj james um you know you look
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: up and down the roster uh those are the sorts
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: of guys where you start to have even more faith
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: that they will not regress in 2027 and so that's
• 8:20
  Speaker 3: that's a big reason why i like to loop all
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: that in together.
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: Let's take a quick break. When we come back, Connolly
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: Early is pitching in the Bridge League. It's going to
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: be good to see him in the Nats colors. Talk
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: about that.
• 8:33
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• 8:36
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  Speaker 1: Don't forget to subscribe to the District Territory Podcast on YouTube, Apple, Spotify,
• 9:38
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• 9:41
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• 9:43
  Speaker 1: Eli Willits signed Bowman first. Now, as I mentioned right
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: before that break there, Connelly Early pitching in the Bridge League. Spencer...
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: Are you qualified to talk about this? I'm hoping so,
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: to some degree, because I was doing research before this
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: and this is a new thing, but it will be
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: exciting competition and real competition that Connelly is facing.
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: Yeah. I mean, real competition is a, I don't want
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: to say a stretch, but it is far, far, far
• 10:11
  Speaker 3: below the major leagues. Yeah, the Bridge League is a
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: league between the Florida Complex League and the instructional league
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: that follows that there's, there's a gap in time between
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: when those two things happen, but there are obviously pitchers that,
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: you know, need to throw. And so you're throwing against
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: whatever 19 year olds and guys who probably will never
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: make the major leagues, but it is like real competition
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: in a sense. And just, yeah, again, the ability to
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: face live hitters, I think is important for early all
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: the reports on his, not outings, I guess, but his,
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: his bullpens and lives and things of that nature have
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: been good. I don't necessarily know that the, the stuff
• 11:03
  Speaker 3: is where it was in the major leagues, which I
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: think is to be expected when you're coming back from injury. Apparently,
• 11:10
  Speaker 3: at least I've been told looked good in those sorts
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: of situations and outings. So And yeah, we'll see what
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: happens in the Bridge League. I think for me, again,
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: I just look a lot at stuff and whether he
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: is healthy after pitching in those. But it's an important
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: step forward for him, for sure.
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I guess let's wrap up and talk about these
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: final two games in San Diego because they'll have their
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: night game later tonight after the day game yesterday. It's
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: a great mystery to me how they have a day
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: game after the night game. And now I'm done talking
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: about it because we're past that. But they have another
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: day game on Wednesday. Riley Cornelio gets the ball later
• 11:47
  Speaker 1: today to open up a bullpen game and then Jackson
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: Kent tomorrow. What will be the key to beating this
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: Padres team? We saw how good the bullpen was yesterday,
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: but the starting pitching doesn't get much lighter these next
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: couple of days.
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you kind of need to take a lead in
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: the first four or five innings, it feels like, because
• 12:09
  Speaker 3: that Padres bullpen is unfathomably good. especially the back end
• 12:15
  Speaker 3: of that bullpen is like, I don't want to say unhittable,
• 12:18
  Speaker 3: but it feels that way at times. And so if
• 12:20
  Speaker 3: you don't take a three to one lead or a
• 12:25
  Speaker 3: five to two lead heading into the fifth, if you're
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: down even one run, it just feels like they have
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: that locked up. And so, yeah, to me, that's the key.
• 12:34
  Speaker 3: And one thing I noticed yesterday, and I put this
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: out in kind of our discussion tab in The Athletic,
• 12:41
  Speaker 3: you look at the back end of that bullpen and
• 12:43
  Speaker 3: it's either guys who were acquired via trade for an
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: international prospect, in the case of Mason Miller, or guys
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: who were acquired directly from international signing periods or free agency,
• 12:56
  Speaker 3: meaning guys who pitched in the Dominican, in Venezuela, Korea, Japan.
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: It's really compelling and interesting how that is how they
• 13:10
  Speaker 3: have put a bullpen together. And you look at the
• 13:13
  Speaker 3: Nationals who haven't had much success outside of Jose Ferrer
• 13:18
  Speaker 3: getting international pitchers. You could argue Foster Griffin to a
• 13:22
  Speaker 3: certain extent, of course. But yeah, it's a market that
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: the Nationals largely haven't been able to capitalize on over
• 13:31
  Speaker 3: the last decade or so. And I think that's what
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: makes it maybe interesting or compelling moving forward when you
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: look at what the Padres have been able to done
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: There's a million ways to build a bullpen, but it
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: just makes it easier when you're able to really hit
• 13:45
  Speaker 3: on guys in international signing periods and free agency. And
• 13:48
  Speaker 3: if there's an international draft in the future there, too. So, yeah,
• 13:54
  Speaker 3: that was just kind of a thing I noticed over
• 13:56
  Speaker 3: the weekend.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: Well, hopefully the boys can get it turned around later
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: tonight and get back into the win column. But I
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: think that's going to do it for today's episode. Unless
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: there's anything you want to toss in, Spence?
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: Uh, no, I think that's it. Just, uh, looking forward
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: to seeing how this shakes out. Yeah.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: Uh, keep listening, keep supporting foul territory network, read the
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: athletic and, follow everything over on bat boys baseball. We'll
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: see you in the next episode.
• 14:21
  Speaker 2: Peace.