Latest / Foul Territory / Early Trade Rumors (Chapman, Detmers) + Nationals checkup w/Nusbaum

Transcript

Early Trade Rumors (Chapman, Detmers) + Nationals checkup w/Nusbaum · Foul Territory

0:07
Speaker 1: Welcome back. Hot corner is presented by perfect inning? What
0:10
Speaker 1: is a perfect inning? By the way, is that do
0:12
Speaker 1: we consider an immaculate inning a perfect inning? Or is
0:14
Speaker 1: it just three up three down is a perfect inning? No?
0:19
Speaker 2: Immaculate inning would be a perfect inning.
0:21
Speaker 1: What happens if you good name it? What happens if
0:25
Speaker 1: you get three outs on like four or five pitches? THO,
0:26
Speaker 1: wouldn't that be a perfect inning? Perfect for the picture?
0:30
Speaker 1: But not not in this context.
0:32
Speaker 2: It's powered by perfect inning, which is a great name
0:35
Speaker 2: for a game. And you hit code and you watch
0:38
Speaker 2: it and you'll figure out what the perfect inning is?
0:41
Speaker 2: Not a perfect game, a perfect inning.
0:43
Speaker 1: I know. I just always wonder that they're like, oh,
0:45
Speaker 1: you guys, a perfect inning. But then, but then, I
0:47
Speaker 1: don't know. If you if you only go, if you
0:49
Speaker 1: go like four pitches and get three outs five pitches,
0:51
Speaker 1: then you involve other people right your picture, you're being
0:54
Speaker 1: selfish if you go immaculate inning because nobody else gets
0:57
Speaker 1: involved in that inning. I don't know.
0:59
Speaker 3: I like that.
1:00
Speaker 2: I like that.
1:00
Speaker 1: I don't know deep thinking, just thoughts that I think
1:03
Speaker 1: about with because I have no life. So thank you.
1:07
Speaker 1: Let's get to some trade rumors the Giants were talking
1:10
Speaker 1: about maybe trading Raffie Devers, Matt Chapman, an Walia Domas.
1:15
Speaker 1: Apparently Matt Chapman is the most appealing. That would make sense,
1:18
Speaker 1: right He's a better defenders having a better year right now,
1:23
Speaker 1: Matt Chadman would be out of those three, he would
1:24
Speaker 1: seem like the most appealing.
1:27
Speaker 2: I mean, I think his contracts a little bit more
1:29
Speaker 2: palatable too. But if you're talking about a team that
1:32
Speaker 2: needs somebody that's a full service player, yes, because you
1:38
Speaker 2: look at a Domis and you're like, okay, well he
1:40
Speaker 2: strikes out a lot his defense. People think his defense
1:43
Speaker 2: is on decline, and he's got a long contract. I
1:46
Speaker 2: don't know how much the Giants would end up eating
1:48
Speaker 2: in these contracts, but that is a long contract for
1:51
Speaker 2: somebody who they feel like is gonna be moved off
1:53
Speaker 2: a shortstop and is being paid like a shortstop. But
1:57
Speaker 2: my thing, yes, I get it, Chapman, his defense be there,
2:00
Speaker 2: his offense is coming around. My thing would be Devs
2:06
Speaker 2: isn't hot yet if you have an opportunity, and I
2:09
Speaker 2: said this with the Giants last year, I think Devers
2:12
Speaker 2: is still leading the league in doubles but if you
2:14
Speaker 2: have an opportunity to add a left handed bat like
2:17
Speaker 2: Raffie Devers, and not every team needs a left handed bat,
2:20
Speaker 2: but every team needs a guy who you can pencil
2:23
Speaker 2: in for thirty homers. He had thirty last year, half
2:26
Speaker 2: the season in Turmoil, and Fenway half the season in
2:29
Speaker 2: a hit or suppressed park in San Francisco. To me,
2:34
Speaker 2: I get it. There's a lot to be there's a
2:36
Speaker 2: lot to be paid there. There's a lot of defensive issues.
2:40
Speaker 2: But if you can add that type of impact bat
2:43
Speaker 2: to lineups that have zero power padres rays, then you
2:49
Speaker 2: know what it fits. But there's a lot of money
2:52
Speaker 2: to be had there too.
2:53
Speaker 1: Now those teams ain't taken on that money. That's the problem.
2:55
Speaker 1: Here's what the executive said, by the way, that said
2:58
Speaker 1: that these teams are interested between defense and offensive value.
3:01
Speaker 1: Chapman in particular should be most appealing to teams who
3:04
Speaker 1: play in hitters parks where his power will play better.
3:07
Speaker 1: Based on where some of these free agencies are going
3:08
Speaker 1: in terms of AAV twenty five million for four twenty
3:11
Speaker 1: five to four to fifty slug and competent defense isn't
3:14
Speaker 1: crazy numbers anymore, at least for big market teams, which
3:17
Speaker 1: I agree, which, by the way, the two teams you
3:19
Speaker 1: mentioned are not big market, and the rival executive thought
3:22
Speaker 1: the Philadelphia Phillies would be perfect for Matt Chapman. So
3:25
Speaker 1: if there's only one problem, Kratzy, they have Alec Bohm
3:28
Speaker 1: and he's They've been talking about trading Alc Bohum for years.
3:31
Speaker 1: He's still there.
3:34
Speaker 2: The Phillies weren't talking about trading him. Other teams were
3:37
Speaker 2: asking about him. Why were they asking about him? Because
3:40
Speaker 2: he's a good player. The Phillies can't hit, do they
3:43
Speaker 2: any more? Defense? Sure, but you know what Alec Bauma
3:47
Speaker 2: I think's hitting. Let's see two twenty. He's got a
3:50
Speaker 2: ops ops plus of seventy five. That's actually up. That's
3:56
Speaker 2: up from where he was before. So to me, I
4:00
Speaker 2: don't think Alec Bohm's the issue. Now do they do
4:03
Speaker 2: it to say, Okay, well, we don't know who's going
4:05
Speaker 2: to be a third basement of the future is eight
4:07
Speaker 2: and Miller not going to come back from his back injury. Yeah,
4:09
Speaker 2: all those things, but you would have to be able
4:13
Speaker 2: to add, you would have to be able to suffice
4:16
Speaker 2: another part of your needs. Getting rid of Alec Bohm
4:20
Speaker 2: Alc Bohme's is not going to go go and play
4:22
Speaker 2: left field or play right field like gone, are those
4:25
Speaker 2: like that? That's not happening. Would be great to have
4:27
Speaker 2: gold Glove at third base, Yeah, absolutely, But to me,
4:31
Speaker 2: I don't think it's an Alec Bohm Alec Bohmer bust
4:34
Speaker 2: type of season for the Phillies. The whole offense has
4:37
Speaker 2: to pick it up and adding another guy that's two
4:40
Speaker 2: point fifty with some strikeouts. But gold Glove defense would
4:43
Speaker 2: be an upgrade, but not that massive of an upgrade
4:46
Speaker 2: that I think the Phillies need.
4:49
Speaker 1: Okay, that's fair, that's fair. There a couple other upgrades
4:51
Speaker 1: that people are talking about. Yesterday we went to we
4:53
Speaker 1: had Jeff passing on he said, a role as Chapman
4:56
Speaker 1: ninety percent to get traded because in Red Sox, let's
4:59
Speaker 1: be honest, they stink. Right, he's having another solid year.
5:02
Speaker 1: There's there's the card by perfect ending twenty six. I
5:05
Speaker 1: mean he's still a monster, right, he still can get
5:08
Speaker 1: you saves. But to me, I think any team should
5:11
Speaker 1: be interested in a role as Chatman because he doesn't
5:13
Speaker 1: have to save games. He can come in and be
5:14
Speaker 1: the eighth inning guy. He can come in and get left,
5:16
Speaker 1: he's out, he can come in and get right, he's out.
5:18
Speaker 1: He could pitch in the seventh, he could pitch in
5:20
Speaker 1: the eighth, or he could close a game for you.
5:22
Speaker 1: So he, to me is awesome for any team out there.
5:27
Speaker 2: Nobody. Nobody's gonna deny a Raaldis Chapman. But it is
5:31
Speaker 2: his point four four e ra going to be okay
5:35
Speaker 2: pitching in the eighth inning. The reason that Radicis Chapman
5:38
Speaker 2: has stayed healthy, the reason he has had success is
5:41
Speaker 2: because he's been used in a specific role for the
5:46
Speaker 2: entirety of his career. And so do you know that
5:50
Speaker 2: you don't get a chance. Hey, we're gonna trade for
5:52
Speaker 2: bless you. We're gonna trade for a Raaldis Chapman if
5:56
Speaker 2: he will be our eighth inning guy because we already
5:59
Speaker 2: have a clo like or do you bring him in
6:02
Speaker 2: and your closer who's been closing the whole year says yeah,
6:06
Speaker 2: I'm totally fine with that. Think about Baker in Tampa Bay,
6:10
Speaker 2: would they love to have an Rolas Chapman. Yes, they've
6:12
Speaker 2: seen him pitch against their team for years. I'm sure
6:15
Speaker 2: they would love to have him but would Baker be
6:18
Speaker 2: willing to take his career year, possibly his All Star
6:22
Speaker 2: season as a closer and move to the eighth inning
6:26
Speaker 2: because I think of Ralas Chapman's superpower and his availability
6:31
Speaker 2: through always being healthy is in that closer's role.
6:36
Speaker 1: Okay, that's fair, that's their one more pitcher. I want
6:38
Speaker 1: to I want to talk about his Redebtmers and the Angels.
6:41
Speaker 1: Will the Angels actually do this? Soriana was mentioned yesterday
6:44
Speaker 1: and Detmer's Devers is pitching really well. He's hot right now,
6:47
Speaker 1: he's left handed, he's got years of control. Will the
6:50
Speaker 1: Angels actually move him or Soriana?
6:53
Speaker 2: Again?
6:53
Speaker 1: We talked with Jeff Passion about this. But there's Redebtmers.
6:56
Speaker 1: He's really good, he's figured things out.
7:00
Speaker 2: He has the fact that he's left handed, the fact
7:03
Speaker 2: that he just eclipsed the hundred strikeouts for the season.
7:06
Speaker 2: I think his value couldn't be higher. And yet Artie
7:11
Speaker 2: Moreno has constantly around every corner shot himself in the foot.
7:18
Speaker 2: Do I think Perriman Asian can make this move? Yeah,
7:20
Speaker 2: he came from the Braves, he learned from alex Anthopolis.
7:23
Speaker 1: He was with the.
7:24
Speaker 2: Alex in in Toronto. He was with Alex in Atlanta,
7:29
Speaker 2: so he's seen moving and shaking and making those moves.
7:33
Speaker 2: But will already stay out of the way. To me,
7:35
Speaker 2: I don't think they will. They will allow both of
7:39
Speaker 2: those guys to go. So what what hoo? Do teams
7:42
Speaker 2: want more Jose Soriano or read Detmers because they could
7:45
Speaker 2: get a hall for them.
7:47
Speaker 1: They could, but will they do it. You will know
7:49
Speaker 1: that the Angels haven't exactly been known to make deals
7:52
Speaker 1: when they're supposed to make them, so we'll see they
7:55
Speaker 1: could help if they trade them both. We mentioned it
7:56
Speaker 1: yesterday again that they could get a haul haul for
8:00
Speaker 1: both those guys. They can redo their whole farm system,
8:03
Speaker 1: get four or five guys, three or four guys for
8:05
Speaker 1: each one of them, and overhaul their farm system. So
8:08
Speaker 1: I think they should. They're not winning obviously this year,
8:11
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Speaker 1: Thank you. See geek Hey. Spencer Nusbaum here from The Athletic.
9:48
Speaker 1: The Nationals writer, By the way, I'm not gonna lie, Spencer.
9:52
Speaker 1: I did not think we'd be talking Nationals in playoffs
9:54
Speaker 1: this year, but here you are. So let's talk Nationals
9:57
Speaker 1: in playoffs? Is this a playoff team?
10:00
Speaker 3: It's a great question. And we had, I think the
10:03
Speaker 3: same uncertainty heading into the season, right, I'm supposed to
10:06
Speaker 3: know the treatement and out, and I didn't think we'd
10:08
Speaker 3: be talking about playoffs in April and may definitely not
10:11
Speaker 3: in June, and yet here we are, right, I think.
10:16
Speaker 3: So I took a lock at kind of the historical comparisons,
10:19
Speaker 3: and I think it's still pretty unlikely. And you even
10:23
Speaker 3: look at this roster and you look at the way
10:25
Speaker 3: they've played, and it it feels unlikely because they've given
10:27
Speaker 3: up so many runs and things of that nature. But
10:30
Speaker 3: this offense has not regressed, and it feels like any
10:33
Speaker 3: good stretch or good trend they're on, they do not
10:36
Speaker 3: give it up. And so yeah, maybe it's it's time
10:39
Speaker 3: to start at least floating the idea a little bit,
10:40
Speaker 3: even if it still feels kind of unlikely.
10:44
Speaker 2: All right, I'll let Aj hit the negative stuff. I'm
10:46
Speaker 2: gonna go with the offense. Is the offense sustainable? I
10:51
Speaker 2: know you said you just said it hasn't regressed at all,
10:54
Speaker 2: but you're seeing career years out of certain guys and
10:57
Speaker 2: they score runs in bunches. Is this sustainable? Because if
11:02
Speaker 2: it is, then you're talking about scoring runs for four
11:05
Speaker 2: to five years coming up here in Washington.
11:09
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm convinced it's sustainable, which is not something even
11:12
Speaker 3: like a month ago, I would have been prepared to say.
11:15
Speaker 3: I think, And this is one of the things I've
11:17
Speaker 3: been thinking about most as I'm like even writing my stories,
11:20
Speaker 3: right is you want to write a caber Ruiz story
11:23
Speaker 3: but you're not sure how long the success is going
11:24
Speaker 3: to maintain itself. Or you want to write a Curtis
11:27
Speaker 3: Mead story, but you're not sure they're going to be
11:28
Speaker 3: able to keep it up. Even James would and cj
11:30
Speaker 3: Abrams like unbelievable players who had pretty bad second halves
11:34
Speaker 3: last year. They've just been able to maintain it for
11:37
Speaker 3: so long, and it just comes down to their getting
11:39
Speaker 3: coached the right way. They have three hitting coaches, each
11:42
Speaker 3: of whom is kind of tailored towards specific players. And
11:47
Speaker 3: these are real talents that you know, the team wasn't
11:50
Speaker 3: getting the most out of before. So you know, maybe
11:53
Speaker 3: we think of caber Ruiz or Jacob Young as a
11:55
Speaker 3: career like five ninety ops guy, when in reality we
12:00
Speaker 3: have been looking at them the whole time. Is hey,
12:01
Speaker 3: Jacob's an athletic player who has you know, popping his back.
12:04
Speaker 3: Caber is able to pull the ball in the air,
12:06
Speaker 3: like these guys have talent. I think it's just more
12:09
Speaker 3: so a case of maybe let's start waiting twenty twenty
12:12
Speaker 3: six more than we've been waiting the past seasons, just
12:14
Speaker 3: because they feel like completely different players this year.
12:19
Speaker 1: Spencer, some of you mentioned they have three hitting coaches.
12:21
Speaker 1: So one talks to James Wood, one talks to cj Abrams,
12:23
Speaker 1: and one talks to caber Luiz. What happens if they
12:25
Speaker 1: criss crossed? Is it like Ghostbusters? They can't cross streams,
12:28
Speaker 1: they can't cross pass, they can't talk to each other.
12:31
Speaker 1: How does that work? Because that seems like I don't know,
12:33
Speaker 1: I've been on teams I played on a team once
12:35
Speaker 1: where we were told only certain players were allowed to
12:37
Speaker 1: talk to this guy and everyone else had to talk
12:39
Speaker 1: to this guy. So how does that work with three
12:42
Speaker 1: of them?
12:43
Speaker 3: Yeah, And here's the thing. I think it's fair, or
12:47
Speaker 3: maybe in the past it was fair to be skeptical
12:49
Speaker 3: of that, right, Like, because you do worry, hair, are
12:51
Speaker 3: they all going to be giving the same message the
12:52
Speaker 3: same right away? The fact of the matter is players,
12:56
Speaker 3: as you well know, respond to different types of coaching,
12:58
Speaker 3: right So, like, there's a guy in that room who
13:01
Speaker 3: wants to be coached by a former big leaguer, like
13:03
Speaker 3: that's who they're going to listen to. There's another guy
13:05
Speaker 3: in that room who's had a lot of success in
13:08
Speaker 3: an off season and they want a drive line guy.
13:10
Speaker 3: And then there's someone who just wants like your regular
13:13
Speaker 3: pro hitting coach. They're all delivering the same message. They're
13:16
Speaker 3: just going about it in a different way. And so
13:18
Speaker 3: where you might have a guy maybe not believe or
13:21
Speaker 3: not want to listen as much to someone from a
13:23
Speaker 3: certain background, the fact of the matter is they're giving
13:26
Speaker 3: the same message every time. And I think that's a
13:28
Speaker 3: big reason why it works. And all three of those
13:30
Speaker 3: hitting coaches just have so much feel in the room
13:32
Speaker 3: is a big thing I've heard this year, and so
13:34
Speaker 3: they're preparing the right way, but they're also able to
13:36
Speaker 3: deliver it in a way that just makes sense for
13:38
Speaker 3: every individual player, and I think that's why it's been
13:40
Speaker 3: so successful.
13:42
Speaker 2: Has this changed throughout the year or was this something
13:44
Speaker 2: that they did like personality tests where they're like, hey,
13:47
Speaker 2: this guy speaks to the more visual aspect of it,
13:50
Speaker 2: or this guy speaks like you said, former big leaguer
13:53
Speaker 2: or a drive line guy. They prepare these before the
13:56
Speaker 2: season and gone with it, or was it like Cabert
13:59
Speaker 2: Reese struggled early, heard it from a different hitting coach.
14:03
Speaker 2: Now that's his new hitting coach.
14:05
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a good question in terms of their hiring process, specifically,
14:09
Speaker 3: they hired three coaches with the idea that they're going
14:11
Speaker 3: to talk to their individual guys, right Like, they went
14:15
Speaker 3: on these calls with all of these all their players
14:17
Speaker 3: this offseason and said, basically gauged who they like to
14:21
Speaker 3: listen to and who they not necessarily respect, but whose
14:24
Speaker 3: opinion matters the most of them are, what type of
14:26
Speaker 3: coaching they appreciate? Again, talking to these guys in particular
14:29
Speaker 3: is why they've set it up that way. But then
14:32
Speaker 3: you look at maybe why it's sustained and it's not
14:34
Speaker 3: just hey, it's the right personality giving it. But they
14:37
Speaker 3: have these, you know, big meetings every six weeks that
14:41
Speaker 3: go over, hey, here's specifically what we want out of you,
14:43
Speaker 3: and here's how we're going to change your process. They
14:45
Speaker 3: obviously have the daily meetings like every team has in
14:47
Speaker 3: terms of getting the most out of guys. And at
14:50
Speaker 3: the end of the day, like I know some teams
14:52
Speaker 3: like to have one on one hitters meetings every day.
14:56
Speaker 3: That's not what the Nationals do, right, Like they have
14:58
Speaker 3: everyone in the same room. They often let the players,
15:02
Speaker 3: especially recently, guide those so that it's coming from a
15:04
Speaker 3: player as opposed to just from a coach. They've progressed
15:07
Speaker 3: this all in a really nice way that makes me
15:11
Speaker 3: you don't ever want to say that a team has
15:12
Speaker 3: solved hitting or is solved hitting development, Like I think
15:15
Speaker 3: it's too early to maybe say that, but it just
15:18
Speaker 3: feels like every single time you've wondered, hey, is this
15:21
Speaker 3: player going to figure it out, they figure it out
15:24
Speaker 3: three days later and just maintain it for the rest
15:26
Speaker 3: of the season. So Yeah, it's it's unbelievable to see
15:29
Speaker 3: what they've done, and I think it's a really smart process.
15:32
Speaker 1: Well, they also have really good players that were very
15:34
Speaker 1: highly regarded and traded for and brought in, so that players,
15:38
Speaker 1: good players help. Maybe a different message helps also. But
15:40
Speaker 1: before we go to the pitching, which, as Crowd said,
15:42
Speaker 1: I'm going to go to the negative side of this team.
15:45
Speaker 1: Is this a t bony thing? Is this a buttera thing?
15:48
Speaker 1: Who gets who should deserves the credit for these hitters
15:51
Speaker 1: doing what they're doing? Is it combo of both of them?
15:55
Speaker 3: Well, I think the first part of your question in
15:56
Speaker 3: terms of like it's the hitters more than anything else obviously, right,
16:00
Speaker 3: it's the ones who are actually swinging the bat. No, I
16:04
Speaker 3: don't think it's one that's credited more than the other. Right,
16:07
Speaker 3: Like I guess you could say, to Bonie brought in
16:11
Speaker 3: Curtis Mead, but Blake had a former relationship with him, right,
16:14
Speaker 3: Or like you know, Blake helped hire the coaches, but
16:17
Speaker 3: to Bonie was in on the process as well. Like
16:20
Speaker 3: they're working hand in hand on everything in a way
16:22
Speaker 3: that I think you don't see in every single organization.
16:25
Speaker 3: There aren't necessarily the same walls up there that you
16:27
Speaker 3: might see like in an organization where stuff leaks out, right, like, oh,
16:32
Speaker 3: the hitting coaches did this, or oh the the you know,
16:35
Speaker 3: front office people did this. Like they're all in the
16:38
Speaker 3: same conversations and in the same room. So I don't
16:40
Speaker 3: know that it's fair to describe more credit to one
16:43
Speaker 3: or the other. I think they've both done a really
16:44
Speaker 3: good job here.
16:46
Speaker 1: Okay, because David Martinez did win a World Series there,
16:48
Speaker 1: so I mean it wasn't like he was a terrible
16:49
Speaker 1: manager and just forgot how to manage, so that maybe
16:52
Speaker 1: a different voice whatever, So let's not forget that he
16:55
Speaker 1: did to win the one World Series that was there.
16:57
Speaker 1: So Spencer, let's go to the other side. Now, the pitching.
17:00
Speaker 1: One of the great things that we always talk about
17:02
Speaker 1: and is that they give up a lot of runs
17:04
Speaker 1: and they also score a lot of runs. Is that
17:06
Speaker 1: sustainable because most teams that don't have pitching they run
17:09
Speaker 1: out of gas offensively at some point, they run into
17:12
Speaker 1: a losing streak because they can't hit enough, run into
17:14
Speaker 1: hot pitchers. Whatever it is, Is this team sustainable with
17:17
Speaker 1: the pitching they have they're starters and relievers.
17:21
Speaker 3: Yeah, I think if they're on this trajectory, like you
17:23
Speaker 3: can't make the playoffs like this if that's kind of
17:25
Speaker 3: the over etching question here, right, And again, some of
17:28
Speaker 3: the stuff is trending in the right way, where like
17:30
Speaker 3: Miles Michelists had a really bad start to the season
17:33
Speaker 3: and has figured it out. Defensively, they were leading baseball
17:37
Speaker 3: and errors by like a dozen and they have since
17:40
Speaker 3: mostly figured it out as well. But I just think
17:43
Speaker 3: when you look at, hey, if we're talking about postseason teams,
17:46
Speaker 3: like who do you think of? It's the teams that
17:49
Speaker 3: have three set starters and they have a shutdown closer
17:52
Speaker 3: and they have four other guys that can turn to
17:55
Speaker 3: the Nationals just go through these stretches and yeah, they
17:58
Speaker 3: can absolutely win like four games in a row like
18:00
Speaker 3: they did the other day, But you're not gonna win
18:02
Speaker 3: all those ten to two, right, Like, There's going to
18:04
Speaker 3: be some eleven to ten games in there, and that's
18:07
Speaker 3: really hard to sustain over the course of the season,
18:09
Speaker 3: especially when you're putting so much pressure as they do
18:12
Speaker 3: on their starting pitching and on their relief pitching. Right,
18:14
Speaker 3: Like their starter is go four innings and they're asked
18:18
Speaker 3: to maximize that great like you still have five innings
18:21
Speaker 3: to clean up at the end. And it's a bunch
18:24
Speaker 3: of guys who either have bounced around a lot or
18:27
Speaker 3: are new to the big leagues. And that's not to
18:29
Speaker 3: say that they're bad pitchers or anything like that, but
18:32
Speaker 3: they're not proven in these spots that they're being asked
18:34
Speaker 3: to pitch in. So's it's really hard to see that
18:36
Speaker 3: like sort of pitching chaos sustain itself over the course
18:40
Speaker 3: of the one hundred and sixty two. Now maybe in
18:42
Speaker 3: a playoff series, sure, but where they're at right now,
18:45
Speaker 3: it's hard to see how that plays out in like
18:48
Speaker 3: August and September, if you kind of understand what I'm
18:50
Speaker 3: saying there.
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19:53
Speaker 2: Spencer, quick yes or no question? Do you think the
19:57
Speaker 2: NAT's front office, the new front office, thought they would
19:59
Speaker 2: be here where they are today? No?
20:05
Speaker 3: And okay, I can't you said quick, yes or now?
20:08
Speaker 3: So maybe I will add on that come to my head. No,
20:12
Speaker 3: but I think that maybe more belief than I might
20:15
Speaker 3: have had at the start of the year. For sure.
20:18
Speaker 2: Okay, but the reason I asked that was because we're
20:21
Speaker 2: still talking about the starting pitching. There's a guy down
20:23
Speaker 2: in Texas that has a four to two ERA and
20:25
Speaker 2: Mackenzie Gore, who was also part of all that trade
20:29
Speaker 2: that they just said, yeah, you know, I will get
20:30
Speaker 2: rid of them. Because if the Gnats front office believed
20:33
Speaker 2: they would be where they're at, not like, ooh, well,
20:36
Speaker 2: I hope this stuff works, then they would have kept
20:39
Speaker 2: a starting pitcher like that and not had to deal
20:41
Speaker 2: with Homer prone Miles Michaelis or Zach Hotel or added
20:45
Speaker 2: to those with the Forest Griffin edition, like like, I
20:49
Speaker 2: feel like you can't talk out of both sides of
20:51
Speaker 2: your mouth if you're the Gnats, or you would have
20:53
Speaker 2: kept a Mackenzie Gore who could have been the headliner
20:57
Speaker 2: for this rotation.
21:00
Speaker 3: It all depends on what your goal is, right Like,
21:01
Speaker 3: if your goal is to make the playoffs this season,
21:03
Speaker 3: sure you keep McKenzie. If your goal is to win
21:06
Speaker 3: a World Series, and that's not to say that this
21:08
Speaker 3: team is going to win a World Series this year,
21:10
Speaker 3: but if your goal is to sustainably be in contention
21:12
Speaker 3: for that, like, I don't think that you can keep
21:15
Speaker 3: McKenzie on the roster, right, Like the guys they got back,
21:18
Speaker 3: and you know, I obviously their prospects. We don't know
21:21
Speaker 3: how they're going to turn out or anything. Like, you
21:23
Speaker 3: got two top one hundred prospects. Out of that, you
21:26
Speaker 3: got a crazy arm who has been hurt. But like, maybe,
21:30
Speaker 3: like and again I get it, I get that, you
21:34
Speaker 3: know you can never throw your chance away. I just
21:35
Speaker 3: don't think this team is winning a World series even
21:39
Speaker 3: if they keep McKenzie gore. And so if your goal
21:41
Speaker 3: is to make the playoffs, sure, I understand holding on
21:44
Speaker 3: to McKenzie and figuring it out from there. And you know,
21:46
Speaker 3: maybe they're six games over five hundred and instead of
21:49
Speaker 3: three right now, Like that stuff matters. But I don't
21:52
Speaker 3: know that they were ever going to go into this
21:54
Speaker 3: season even if they knew that it was going to
21:56
Speaker 3: play out this way. Still not wanting to treade McKenzie.
22:00
Speaker 2: But isn't that what most front offices say. They say, Hey,
22:04
Speaker 2: the goal is just make the playoffs. Winning is a
22:07
Speaker 2: crap shoot, So now you know it would be technically
22:11
Speaker 2: the other way.
22:13
Speaker 3: Sure, and again maybe maybe I have the wrong gauge
22:16
Speaker 3: on this. I just I have the sense that this
22:19
Speaker 3: operation thinks so long term, and they think about this
22:23
Speaker 3: in terms of sustainable success. That they know, Hey, you're
22:27
Speaker 3: not re signing Mackenzie, so what you get two seasons
22:30
Speaker 3: out of him? Or we can get these five prospects back.
22:33
Speaker 3: We believe in all five, at least two or three.
22:36
Speaker 3: We believe in to be not just real contributors, but
22:38
Speaker 3: like borderline stars on this team. Right, and Mackenzie had
22:42
Speaker 3: a four AR when he was in Washington, So you know,
22:46
Speaker 3: it's a mix of all these things coming together. But
22:48
Speaker 3: I think ultimately the goal is to win World Series
22:51
Speaker 3: and the goal is to do that for or at
22:53
Speaker 3: least being contention for a sustainable amount of time. That's
22:56
Speaker 3: really hard to do with the farm system that they
22:59
Speaker 3: had before. They have a good one now Spencer.
23:02
Speaker 1: By the way, Mackenzie Gork's not pitching that well this
23:04
Speaker 1: year in Texas, so that's maybe they knew something. Also,
23:07
Speaker 1: this this organization has done this before. Remember when they
23:10
Speaker 1: shut down Steven Strassburg for the postseason and then they
23:12
Speaker 1: won a World Series a couple years later, So maybe
23:15
Speaker 1: they know what they're doing. It's a different front office,
23:17
Speaker 1: but hey, who were we to judge when they want
23:19
Speaker 1: to shut people down or what they want to move.
23:21
Speaker 1: But I hope they make some sort of moves in
23:23
Speaker 1: order to help this team, because it'd be a cool
23:25
Speaker 1: story if the Nets did make the postseason. I want
23:28
Speaker 1: to go to something you just recently released about your
23:30
Speaker 1: nine fans nine innings. Did you pick these people out
23:33
Speaker 1: of the crowd? Did you pull did you pre select
23:36
Speaker 1: these people like certain people have been known to do
23:38
Speaker 1: on game shows or were these just nine random people
23:41
Speaker 1: that you found. One happened to be held by Bryce Harper,
23:45
Speaker 1: one helping to be a huge James Wood fan, and
23:48
Speaker 1: one happened to be unemployed person or did you pre
23:51
Speaker 1: plan this? That's what I want to know. Well, I pre.
23:55
Speaker 3: Planned the Bryce Harper. Okay, that's too much of a layup.
24:02
Speaker 3: But no, I you know, I sent out a little
24:03
Speaker 3: poll and said, hey, if you're interested in talking, let
24:05
Speaker 3: me know where you're sitting. But didn't read into the
24:07
Speaker 3: backgrounds or anything like that. Now that one I knew
24:09
Speaker 3: ahead of time, which is and I talked to the
24:11
Speaker 3: kid last year because he was doing sell the team
24:13
Speaker 3: chants at the same time last season it so I
24:15
Speaker 3: was like, yeah, I want to see what his his
24:17
Speaker 3: updated thoughts are. But no, it's just a collection of
24:20
Speaker 3: Nats fans who a mix of them are ready to
24:23
Speaker 3: believe or not ready to believe again because of ownership,
24:26
Speaker 3: because of what they've been through before. But they are
24:29
Speaker 3: far more optimistic, like you said, like I said, than
24:33
Speaker 3: they thought they'd be at this time last year, even
24:35
Speaker 3: at the start of the season. So yeah, it's important
24:38
Speaker 3: to kind of take the pulse of the fan base
24:41
Speaker 3: and the pulse of the clubhouse and say, hair, do
24:43
Speaker 3: we want to win this year? And I think that's
24:44
Speaker 3: that's part of why I wrote the story.
24:47
Speaker 2: Okay, that's the pulse of the fans in that sense,
24:50
Speaker 2: But what is the true atmosphere at the Natitude Park
24:55
Speaker 2: of Natitude or whatever it's called these days that you know,
24:58
Speaker 2: do they have? Is it kind of a hokey well,
25:02
Speaker 2: you know what, it's a fun it's getting warm, we're
25:04
Speaker 2: coming out to games, or is it like there's something
25:08
Speaker 2: to truly watch here and get behind.
25:12
Speaker 3: It's trending in the second direction of the second one,
25:14
Speaker 3: but it's still more the first. Like attendance always kind
25:17
Speaker 3: of lags by a season. You saw with the Mets,
25:19
Speaker 3: like a couple of years ago, like they were red
25:21
Speaker 3: hot and the stands were still pretty empty. Now again,
25:25
Speaker 3: I think if they're in it in September all of
25:27
Speaker 3: a sudden, we start with a different conversation. But no,
25:31
Speaker 3: I think people are are cautiously optimistic. But right now,
25:34
Speaker 3: like if you want me to be honest, it's it's summertime.
25:37
Speaker 3: Ballpark is a good place to be and the winning
25:41
Speaker 3: is a nice, uh nice fallow through. But if they're
25:43
Speaker 3: if they're doing this in September still, then yeah, I
25:45
Speaker 3: think that place is going to be pretty full.
25:47
Speaker 1: And by the way, now that they built it up,
25:49
Speaker 1: because I remember going there along a few years ago
25:51
Speaker 1: and there was like nothing around that ballpark, but now
25:53
Speaker 1: there's restaurants and bars and it's a it's a full
25:57
Speaker 1: district territory. Now it's it's it's making some cash out there,
26:00
Speaker 1: and they don't do they still have the giant picture
26:02
Speaker 1: of Max Shures are in left field on the parking
26:04
Speaker 1: garage or do they finally take that down?
26:06
Speaker 3: Now they finally took that down, but they replaced it
26:08
Speaker 3: with the best offense in baseball, So you know, whatever
26:10
Speaker 3: gets standing out there.
26:13
Speaker 1: Then the other thing before we let you go, Spencer,
26:15
Speaker 1: is is the press box as high as the TV booth.
26:18
Speaker 1: So when you actually are looking down, do you have
26:20
Speaker 1: to have binoculars to see what is actually happening in
26:23
Speaker 1: the game.
26:24
Speaker 2: Yeah.
26:24
Speaker 3: Well, we were in San Francisco the other day and
26:26
Speaker 3: I was like, I didn't know they made press boxes
26:27
Speaker 3: that low right, like you, it's way up there in heaven.
26:31
Speaker 3: Writers are fortunate where we're a level down from the broadcast,
26:34
Speaker 3: so we don't need binoculars, or at least a lot
26:37
Speaker 3: of people don't. But I think I might need to
26:39
Speaker 3: make the investments soon. The eyesight's starting to lose it
26:42
Speaker 3: a little bit.
26:43
Speaker 1: Well you get told you have a stigmatism, man, you
26:45
Speaker 1: just wait. Spencer found happened to me today. It's crazy.
26:48
Speaker 1: I'm like, what's happing? I can't see? You know, I
26:50
Speaker 1: don't know. So anyway, Spencer, well, thank you, we appreciate it.
26:53
Speaker 1: Tell Franny to get some monoculars. Check out Spencer a
26:56
Speaker 1: Long with Kevin Fransen and the Bat Boys Eric Shellhouse
26:58
Speaker 1: on District Territory on YouTube wherever you get your pods
27:01
Speaker 1: and it's part of the Foul Territory network. Spencer, thank you,
27:03
Speaker 1: and go Naps.
27:05
Speaker 3: Thank you, guys.