Latest / Foul Territory / Dissecting Dave Martinez & Mike Rizzo firings by Nationals ownership
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: It's not just that the big league club has underperformed
- 0:02Speaker 1: this year. You have a draft and development process that
- 0:05Speaker 1: has not produced impact players for more than a decade.
- 0:14Speaker 2: It is a pleasure to be joined by Barry's for Luga,
- 0:18Speaker 2: for Luga. How do you say that, Barry? I need
- 0:20Speaker 2: I get my name butchered all of the time. Tell
- 0:22Speaker 2: me how to properly pronounce your last name.
- 0:25Speaker 1: So I say this not facetiously. It's what I always say.
- 0:27Speaker 1: It's it's honestly, all the letters in a row, so
- 0:30Speaker 1: you can't screw up if you're like a five year old.
- 0:32Speaker 1: It's for Luga.
- 0:36Speaker 2: Well, I'm not smart of.
- 0:37Speaker 3: Those, and I want to know how they mess up? Rizzo,
- 0:40Speaker 3: how do you mess up?
- 0:42Speaker 2: They always mess up. It's like a Lena Atlanta. I've
- 0:45Speaker 2: been called all kinds of things, some of which are
- 0:47Speaker 2: not ready for for television, for air, Barry, It's great
- 0:50Speaker 2: to be with you. A lot going on, obviously with
- 0:53Speaker 2: the Washington Nationals. Is the timing a bit odd to you?
- 0:57Speaker 2: Did you see this coming?
- 0:59Speaker 1: You know it's because everybody will point to the draft
- 1:02Speaker 1: that's I'm coming. And they have one to one the
- 1:04Speaker 1: most important pick that they've had in a long, long time,
- 1:07Speaker 1: and Mike Rizzo obviously made his name as a scout.
- 1:10Speaker 1: He put this franchise into a winner behind two to
- 1:13Speaker 1: one ones in Steven Strasburg and Bryce Harpour more than
- 1:16Speaker 1: a decade ago. So yeah, that timing is weird, but
- 1:20Speaker 1: I think you make this kind of move, and it's
- 1:23Speaker 1: really a seismic move, given that the general manager had
- 1:26Speaker 1: been here since two thousand and six and been in
- 1:28Speaker 1: that chair since two thousand and nine, and Dave Martinez,
- 1:30Speaker 1: the manager, took over in twenty eighteen. You make it
- 1:34Speaker 1: not just because of one draft or one small situation. Optically,
- 1:40Speaker 1: you want to do it at a time when the
- 1:41Speaker 1: big league club isn't playing well and they just got
- 1:44Speaker 1: you know, three they got swept by the Red Sox
- 1:46Speaker 1: at home in three really uncompetitive games. That timing feels
- 1:50Speaker 1: right optically. And also, though I mean, you don't make
- 1:55Speaker 1: this change in a flippant way. You do it because
- 1:58Speaker 1: it's not just that the big legue club has underperformed
- 2:01Speaker 1: this year, but really, you have a draft and development
- 2:04Speaker 1: process that has not produced impact players for more than
- 2:08Speaker 1: a decade, their last truly impactful player in the big
- 2:11Speaker 1: leagues that they drafted was Anthony Rendon, who went sixth
- 2:15Speaker 1: in the twenty eleven draft. That's a long long time ago.
- 2:18Speaker 1: They obviously get credit for signing Juan Soto as an
- 2:22Speaker 1: amateur free agent, for sure, but it's been too many
- 2:25Speaker 1: misses and not enough hits, and that's left them with
- 2:28Speaker 1: a big league club that really their best players are
- 2:31Speaker 1: all the players that they got in the Juan Soto
- 2:34Speaker 1: trade in twenty twenty two. A lot of misses around that,
- 2:37Speaker 1: so timing weird because of the draft, but overall, it's
- 2:40Speaker 1: a big, big move for an organization that needed to
- 2:43Speaker 1: make a big big move.
- 2:45Speaker 4: Is this why the ownership was reticent to bring any
- 2:50Speaker 4: free agents in? We felt like this was a year
- 2:52Speaker 4: that it was time to strike because we looked at
- 2:54Speaker 4: past blueprint bringing Jason Worth in. You have a cj Abrams,
- 2:58Speaker 4: you have a Mackenzie Gore, you have James Wood. Those
- 3:01Speaker 4: guys that, okay, these are going to be the core.
- 3:04Speaker 4: Time to bring somebody like a Pee Alonzo in. Do
- 3:07Speaker 4: you feel like this was just coming because ownership was like, well,
- 3:10Speaker 4: we're not going to push in with these guys, We're
- 3:13Speaker 4: gonna go with the next guys.
- 3:15Speaker 1: Well, I mean that's the big question. Are they going
- 3:17Speaker 1: to go with the next guys? Are they going to
- 3:19Speaker 1: push in? I mean, I think it would be a
- 3:20Speaker 1: disservice to to Mike Rizzo to wait and then say, oh,
- 3:25Speaker 1: now we're providing resources that you didn't have, that you
- 3:28Speaker 1: weren't allowed to do. And you're right about the first build,
- 3:30Speaker 1: like they signed Jason Worth to a seven year deal
- 3:34Speaker 1: a year before they were really ready to win, because
- 3:36Speaker 1: at that point they could say, hey, big lead free
- 3:40Speaker 1: agent who won a World Series elsewhere, here's what we have,
- 3:43Speaker 1: here's where we're going, here's where you fit, and we're
- 3:47Speaker 1: going to follow through on some promises after that. At
- 3:50Speaker 1: this point, where they have would, where they have Gore,
- 3:52Speaker 1: where they have Abrams, they have not gone in on
- 3:56Speaker 1: any multi year free agent deals other than a two
- 3:59Speaker 1: year kind of a deal for Trevor Williams that isn't
- 4:02Speaker 1: going to impact anyway. So that they have now a
- 4:05Speaker 1: clubhouse that doesn't that has, yes, good young pieces, but
- 4:10Speaker 1: it doesn't have veterans who are going to be there
- 4:12Speaker 1: or and are invested in the process going forward. That's
- 4:16Speaker 1: on ownership. They have prevented that from happening, and that's
- 4:19Speaker 1: why I think the decision that's upcoming is is a
- 4:22Speaker 1: two way interview. It's yes, the Learner family saying to
- 4:25Speaker 1: any candidate, what would you bring to the table, what's
- 4:28Speaker 1: your vision? But those candidates have to look across the
- 4:31Speaker 1: table and ask ownership, if I take this job, what
- 4:35Speaker 1: resources are you going to provide me? And that's not
- 4:37Speaker 1: just in major league payroll. That's in R and D,
- 4:40Speaker 1: that's an analysis, that's in scouting, that's in player development,
- 4:43Speaker 1: that's in technology. They are not up to par with
- 4:46Speaker 1: the major league standards in any of those regards. Anybody
- 4:49Speaker 1: who takes this job would want to ask those questions.
- 4:52Speaker 3: Why why though?
- 4:54Speaker 4: Why?
- 4:54Speaker 3: Why? Why are the Learners not spending money they used
- 4:57Speaker 3: to in the past. They used to have a direct
- 4:58Speaker 3: catline just boris. Why why did they stop? Is it
- 5:02Speaker 3: because they want to sell the team? They tried and
- 5:04Speaker 3: they took them off the market. What's the reason? Because
- 5:07Speaker 3: I cannot look at Mike Rizzo. Yes, you can blame
- 5:09Speaker 3: draft picks and you can blame this, but they made
- 5:11Speaker 3: good trades and David Martinez, he didn't change the way
- 5:14Speaker 3: he managed. So I have to look at the Learners
- 5:16Speaker 3: and say, why did you stop spending for no reason
- 5:19Speaker 3: because in the past you've done it. You saw the fruits.
- 5:22Speaker 3: You get Sures or you get Corbin, you get these
- 5:23Speaker 3: guys and you go out and you win a World
- 5:25Speaker 3: Series and then you just turn the faucet off. Why.
- 5:29Speaker 1: So it's a really complex question, AJ and I don't
- 5:32Speaker 1: know that everybody anybody knows the full answer. But we'll
- 5:36Speaker 1: get touched on a couple points, like did they get
- 5:39Speaker 1: scared by the Stevens Strossburg contract? He opted out of
- 5:42Speaker 1: his deal after he became the World Series MVP in
- 5:45Speaker 1: twenty nineteen. Scott Boris went right to work with Ted Lerner,
- 5:49Speaker 1: the late patriarch of the family, and they came to
- 5:52Speaker 1: a seven year, two hundred and forty five million dollars
- 5:54Speaker 1: deal that obviously was disastrous. I think Strasburg pitched fifteen
- 5:59Speaker 1: to two thirds in on that deal. He's retired now
- 6:02Speaker 1: they're still paying him. That really hurt. Secondly, the pandemic,
- 6:06Speaker 1: which affected everybody, really really took a hit on the
- 6:11Speaker 1: Learner's real estate development. They're real estate people, they're commercial
- 6:14Speaker 1: real estate people. And what was not coming back after
- 6:17Speaker 1: the pandemic, office space, all that kind of stuff. Mauls
- 6:21Speaker 1: We can't quantify what kind of impact that had on
- 6:24Speaker 1: their spending on their second business, which is the baseball team.
- 6:27Speaker 1: But you can't tell me that there's not some sort
- 6:30Speaker 1: of relationship there. And then you had a fan base
- 6:33Speaker 1: that they could not take advantage of the momentum from
- 6:38Speaker 1: a World Series championship because the twenty twenty season was
- 6:41Speaker 1: held without fans. That Nationals team in which they got
- 6:45Speaker 1: the band back together, didn't make the playoffs, and the
- 6:48Speaker 1: next two summers were Sell Schuzer and Trey Turner at
- 6:51Speaker 1: the deadline in twenty twenty one, sell Soto at the
- 6:54Speaker 1: deadline and lose one hundred and seven games in twenty
- 6:57Speaker 1: twenty two. That had a real impact on the fan base.
- 7:02Speaker 1: I see it as a chicken and egg thing. They
- 7:05Speaker 1: they want more people come through the turnstyles so they
- 7:09Speaker 1: can then turn it into payroll. I would say, you
- 7:12Speaker 1: need to put some money into payroll so that more
- 7:14Speaker 1: people come through the turnstyles and you can really sink
- 7:18Speaker 1: it into the team. Kratz.
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- 8:20Speaker 2: Barry, how much does the on again, off again potential
- 8:24Speaker 2: sale of the team. How much do you think all
- 8:26Speaker 2: of that has impacted? Perhaps the lack of putting, you know,
- 8:30Speaker 2: good players on the field. In turn what you were
- 8:33Speaker 2: saying chicken and egg getting fans into the stands. I mean,
- 8:36Speaker 2: maybe there's just a lot of uncertainty. How much does
- 8:38Speaker 2: that play a role.
- 8:39Speaker 1: Yeah, it has felt like since they announced their intention
- 8:42Speaker 1: to sell, which would have been I'm losing track of
- 8:45Speaker 1: years here, beginning of twenty twenty three, I believe that
- 8:50Speaker 1: they've had their foot kind of half in the water,
- 8:53Speaker 1: like they're just putting their toe in the water now.
- 8:56Speaker 1: Mark Learners sat down with me it's FRING training this
- 8:59Speaker 1: year and said, we expect to own this thing for
- 9:02Speaker 1: the foresee of the future, and we're excited about it.
- 9:05Speaker 1: But I've always said, like there has to be an
- 9:08Speaker 1: investment of not just finances, but there has to be
- 9:13Speaker 1: an investment of emotions and of time. And I don't
- 9:16Speaker 1: know in a group where the patriarch, the guiding light
- 9:20Speaker 1: is no longer around, if that next generation, which is Marking,
- 9:24Speaker 1: his two sisters and his two brothers in laws, can
- 9:26Speaker 1: get on the same page enough to where they're all
- 9:29Speaker 1: kind of pointed in the same direction that they really
- 9:32Speaker 1: are excited to have the team. They don't feel like
- 9:34Speaker 1: it's a burden. They feel like it should be a
- 9:36Speaker 1: plus for the community, like they haven't been able. If
- 9:39Speaker 1: that's the way they feel they haven't been able to
- 9:42Speaker 1: articulate that, you know, to the public very clearly.
- 9:46Speaker 3: All right, I got ask who's next? Who's the manager?
- 9:50Speaker 3: They haven't. They can't even announce the manager for tomorrow's
- 9:53Speaker 3: game yet. Well, Miguel Chiros So think about it, as
- 9:56Speaker 3: in Matt Lee Croy. But then who would be on
- 9:58Speaker 3: the list of names for for the Nationals to be
- 10:01Speaker 3: their next manager besides aer Kraft?
- 10:04Speaker 1: So I think the questions backwards, AJ like, I think
- 10:10Speaker 1: they should choose a GM, a president of slaw operations
- 10:13Speaker 1: early this offseason, start that process now after the trade deadline,
- 10:17Speaker 1: and have that person have a heavy hand in who
- 10:20Speaker 1: the manager is because in this situation, with a club
- 10:23Speaker 1: that's not ready to win on the field and still
- 10:26Speaker 1: needs even its best players to develop at the major
- 10:29Speaker 1: league level, I think building the infrastructure in the front
- 10:33Speaker 1: office is more important than who's deciding what left he
- 10:37Speaker 1: used in the seventh inning, because there's got to be
- 10:40Speaker 1: a structure that supplies them with the quality lefty option,
- 10:44Speaker 1: so you know whoever is here for the rest of
- 10:47Speaker 1: the year, and you know Cairo would be an option.
- 10:49Speaker 1: I look, Matt Lee Croy would be a really popular
- 10:51Speaker 1: choice and fun for the fans. For sure, that person
- 10:55Speaker 1: is just a placeholder and really should be the choice.
- 10:58Speaker 1: The permanent choice should really be whoever the choice of
- 11:01Speaker 1: the president of the baseball operations.
- 11:05Speaker 2: Do you think Barry that's part of the reason that
- 11:07Speaker 2: Miguel Cairo said that he needed to think about it.
- 11:10Speaker 2: I mean, obviously the relationship he has with Davey Martinez,
- 11:13Speaker 2: they're very close, but these are jobs that are few
- 11:15Speaker 2: and far between, and maybe he knows that he's just
- 11:17Speaker 2: a placeholder, and maybe he doesn't want to be set
- 11:20Speaker 2: up for that, although it could catapult him into another
- 11:22Speaker 2: big league job at a different point. What's your take
- 11:24Speaker 2: on that.
- 11:25Speaker 1: Yeah, So, I think one of Davies problems late in
- 11:28Speaker 1: the game is that he loved his coaching staff. He
- 11:31Speaker 1: made those choices. They're all friends of his and people
- 11:34Speaker 1: always had past relationships with and I think, well, that
- 11:36Speaker 1: made him very comfortable. It didn't put those guys on edge,
- 11:41Speaker 1: and they really haven't developed. These guys. They're still making
- 11:44Speaker 1: the same mistakes that they've made in years past, and
- 11:48Speaker 1: that's part of the lack of development at the major
- 11:50Speaker 1: league level, both on the basis and in the field.
- 11:53Speaker 4: Mostly.
- 11:54Speaker 1: So I get that Miguel Cairo might be like, well,
- 11:57Speaker 1: you just canned one of my really good good friends.
- 11:59Speaker 1: I know that there's really nothing in it for me.
- 12:02Speaker 1: I can see the hesitance there. But again, the last
- 12:06Speaker 1: half of the season isn't isn't the important part because
- 12:09Speaker 1: this season for the Washington Nationals at the big league
- 12:11Speaker 1: level is lost. It is who can put together a
- 12:14Speaker 1: modern baseball operations department that is on par with others
- 12:19Speaker 1: in the industry and is funded by ownership in the
- 12:22Speaker 1: way that's appropriate. That's a bigger question in my mind.
- 12:27Speaker 4: Any manager that wins a World Series is a successful
- 12:30Speaker 4: managerial campaign. Is Mike Rizzo's tenure with the Nationals going
- 12:36Speaker 4: to be seen as successful because he won one championship
- 12:40Speaker 4: or with all the money that was spent, our fans
- 12:43Speaker 4: going to look at it as it was Okay, Oh, I.
- 12:47Speaker 1: Think it was good. I mean, from twenty twelve to
- 12:50Speaker 1: twenty nineteen, only the Dodgers won more regular season games
- 12:54Speaker 1: than the Washington Nationals. That's pretty heady company right there.
- 12:58Speaker 1: Given the resources in LA they won four division titles
- 13:02Speaker 1: in that time. They won the wild card that in
- 13:04Speaker 1: twenty nineteen that led to the World Series championship. And
- 13:08Speaker 1: then there were a litany of reasons why things got
- 13:10Speaker 1: got torn down, And as Aj said, you know, this
- 13:14Speaker 1: guy made a lot of really good trade. I can
- 13:17Speaker 1: trades over the years. I can criticize the development over
- 13:19Speaker 1: the last decade, like the drafting hasn't gone well, but
- 13:22Speaker 1: find out Mike Rizzo trade that he lost. It's pretty
- 13:25Speaker 1: hard to do. And that includes the Sodo deal, which
- 13:28Speaker 1: is having a huge impact on the Major League franchise
- 13:31Speaker 1: right now. All three of Gore, Wood and Abrams have
- 13:35Speaker 1: been All Stars very early in their careers. Now with
- 13:38Speaker 1: Gore and Abrams making the Gordon Wood making the team
- 13:41Speaker 1: this year, and you still don't know what you're going
- 13:44Speaker 1: to get from Robert Hassel and Harlan Susanna, a pitcher
- 13:47Speaker 1: who's lowered down in the minors. So I don't think.
- 13:51Speaker 1: I think in ten years, if they're going to have
- 13:53Speaker 1: a reunion of that World Series championship, Mike Rizzo will
- 13:57Speaker 1: be back at National's Park with a cigar in his mouth,
- 14:00Speaker 1: waving his hat to the crowd, and they'll be thanking
- 14:03Speaker 1: him for it.
- 14:05Speaker 3: All right, very well, we have You'll have to ask
- 14:07Speaker 3: you what happened to Dylan Cruz. I know he's injured,
- 14:10Speaker 3: but before that, he couldn't hit.
- 14:11Speaker 4: What happened?
- 14:12Speaker 3: This guy hit everywhere he's been.
- 14:14Speaker 1: Well, yeah, that's interesting. I think, first of all, take
- 14:17Speaker 1: the hitting side. One thing that's impressive about this guy
- 14:20Speaker 1: who kind of walks off the bus and carries himself
- 14:23Speaker 1: as a major leaguer. He just kind of oozes major
- 14:26Speaker 1: leaguer is that those at bats he did not take
- 14:29Speaker 1: to the field, And that's a really good sign for
- 14:31Speaker 1: his future because he played a really wherever you put
- 14:33Speaker 1: him in center or and right, he played a really
- 14:35Speaker 1: good outfield. I'd say aj that, yes, he's hit everywhere
- 14:40Speaker 1: he's been. I kind of view him as a more
- 14:43Speaker 1: of a high floor than a high ceiling guy. Like
- 14:45Speaker 1: the chances that he's not a really good major leaguer
- 14:48Speaker 1: for a long time are pretty good. But he doesn't
- 14:52Speaker 1: have James' James Wood's kind of natural athletic ability. I
- 14:57Speaker 1: expect that when he gets back from this obleague, he'll
- 14:59Speaker 1: be right back out there and we'll see what the
- 15:01Speaker 1: second half yields for him. But you're right, he was
- 15:04Speaker 1: disappointing offensively, not quite as much power. Definitely got in
- 15:08Speaker 1: some streaks where he was swinging at any junk that
- 15:11Speaker 1: was out of the zone and was really an easy
- 15:13Speaker 1: out from time to time. He's got to get back
- 15:15Speaker 1: in the right headspace and become Dylan Cruz because Dylan
- 15:18Speaker 1: and Cruise is pretty hitterish.
- 15:21Speaker 2: Very before we let you go, we have a fan
- 15:23Speaker 2: question here regarding the Washington Nationals. Mike g wants to know,
- 15:27Speaker 2: since this leadership change has been happening right now with
- 15:30Speaker 2: the firing of Mike Rizzo and Davey Martinez, do you
- 15:35Speaker 2: think the Nationals are more apt to trade a Mackenzie
- 15:38Speaker 2: Gore now, I mean, does he become more of a
- 15:40Speaker 2: candidate at the deadline now because of the change.
- 15:43Speaker 1: It's a really interesting question. And Mike de Bartlow, Mike
- 15:46Speaker 1: Rizzo's longtime assistant GM who started here as an intern,
- 15:51Speaker 1: you know, thirteen or fourteen years ago, he's running the
- 15:54Speaker 1: show right now, and it's a very interesting question for
- 15:56Speaker 1: him because at four plus years of service time, that's
- 15:59Speaker 1: ex exactly the amount of service time at which they
- 16:02Speaker 1: traded Juan Soto, who, as a Scott Boris client they
- 16:05Speaker 1: knew was very unlikely to sign an extension. Mackenzie Gore,
- 16:09Speaker 1: Scott Boris' client, would he sign an extension even if
- 16:13Speaker 1: he won't. If you hold on to him. Now, there's
- 16:16Speaker 1: a really good argument that holding on to him means
- 16:19Speaker 1: you should get a commitment from ownership that look, if
- 16:22Speaker 1: we have this guy still, we need to build around him.
- 16:26Speaker 1: He's only here guaranteed for twenty twenty six. In twenty
- 16:29Speaker 1: twenty seven, what are we doing with our payroll if
- 16:32Speaker 1: or are we just going to play two more irrelevant
- 16:35Speaker 1: big league seasons and let this guy walk? Really really
- 16:38Speaker 1: interesting question for Mike de Barbolow, and I think for
- 16:40Speaker 1: ownership as well.
- 16:41Speaker 2: Barry, We appreciate the insight. I know it's been a
- 16:43Speaker 2: little bit crazy for you considering everything that's gone on
- 16:47Speaker 2: in the last twenty four hours. Thanks for being with
- 16:48Speaker 2: the Sunfouled Territory.
- 16:50Speaker 1: Appreciate you having me anytime.