Latest / Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast / Episode 62 feat. Kevin Nibley - Nationals Management, State of the Franchise, Nationals Trade Speculation

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Episode 62 feat. Kevin Nibley - Nationals Management, State of the Franchise, Nationals Trade Speculation · Sports Avenue Twisted Podcast

• 0:26
  Welcome to another edition of the Sports Ave.
• 0:29
  Twisted podcast. We have a returning guest in
• 0:31
  here today and he pretty much talks about the Nationals.
• 0:36
  He's one of our favourites. Kevin Nibley, welcome back to
• 0:41
  our to this episode. Just let everyone know what you
• 0:44
  do and everything else. Yeah, thanks again for having
• 0:48
  me. I had a lot of fun last time.
• 0:51
  I think I was, I was here after they fired Rizzo and Davey and
• 0:55
  that was a good conversation. So looking forward to talking
• 0:57
  about all the the new guys the Nats have brought in.
• 1:00
  Yeah, about me, I guess stuff to plug real quick.
• 1:02
  I you work for Talk Nats, it's talknats.com and at Talk Nats on
• 1:08
  X, it's the best baseball blog in Washington, DC.
• 1:13
  If you're a Nats fan, they go really in depth.
• 1:15
  They do stuff that the Washington Post and and other
• 1:17
  outlets don't do. And then for me, yeah, I'm just
• 1:20
  at K under score Nibley on X. I'm a filmmaker asset do a
• 1:25
  little bit of clothing stuff, but you can follow that there.
• 1:28
  And then my clothing shop is called Old DC and you can follow
• 1:33
  it at shop Old DC on X Twitter and Instagram.
• 1:38
  And we're going to going to be partnering with kind of a local
• 1:43
  celebrity in the new year. I can't tell you yet, but you
• 1:46
  should keep an eye on that. It's going to be really exciting
• 1:48
  time. And thanks for letting me plug
• 1:51
  that and thanks for having me. And let's talk about the Nats.
• 1:54
  That's cool, man. We're excited to have you back.
• 1:57
  Last time we talked, like you said, it was a little bit of a,
• 2:00
  you know, it, it was a dark time, you know, and, and
• 2:03
  hopefully, hopefully things are getting brighter for you guys on
• 2:06
  the horizon. So let's let's dig deep into
• 2:09
  that and let's hear what's going on with the Nationals.
• 2:13
  Yeah, yeah. No, I mean, it's it's an
• 2:15
  interesting time. I'm sure you guys have a lot of
• 2:18
  questions. I have a lot of questions as a
• 2:20
  fan. I mean, they, you know, a lot of
• 2:22
  these guys they've hired, I've never heard of or I had to
• 2:25
  research them. I mean, they're not guys with
• 2:27
  long Major League track records as coaches.
• 2:30
  But it's interesting. They're taking a direction.
• 2:32
  They're, they're going really young, not only on the field,
• 2:35
  but but with their front office and their coaching staff and,
• 2:38
  you know, excited to get into it.
• 2:42
  All right, let's get this thing started here.
• 2:44
  So let's talk about this past season here.
• 2:47
  And you know, I I thought with the Washington Nationals that
• 2:50
  they would make progress, right? They didn't lose them that many
• 2:54
  games compared to this year and this year.
• 2:56
  I just looked at the stats and everything.
• 2:58
  I was like, guys were 90. What's it 66 and 96?
• 3:03
  And I was like, what happened? And and tell me about the
• 3:07
  debacle season, like what happened?
• 3:10
  What went down? Why did it go South this this
• 3:13
  year once again? And and then just just just
• 3:18
  break it down and just tell us like what happened.
• 3:21
  Yeah, no, no, you're right. Yeah, The the the the last two
• 3:24
  years in in 23 and 24, they went 71 and 91 both those years and
• 3:30
  and you could see progress. You know, there are things that
• 3:32
  look good. You obviously James Wood
• 3:35
  debuted. He look like, you know, a future
• 3:37
  star. CJ looked, if not a star, like a
• 3:41
  plus player. You know, it it it's shortstop,
• 3:43
  at least with the bat. And you know, you you had some
• 3:47
  interesting pictures. You had gore and guys like Jake.
• 3:50
  Excuse me, Jake Dervin and Mitchell Parker had really
• 3:52
  decent seasons in 2024. And you were thinking, all
• 3:55
  right, this team's ascending. And, you know, we were actually
• 3:59
  excited about signing Nathaniel Lowe in the offseason last year.
• 4:02
  We thought that was like a nice under the radar move.
• 4:05
  It was going to help our first base defense.
• 4:08
  And, you know, maybe he'd be good for 2025 home runs and and
• 4:11
  a veteran presence. And yeah, no, I mean, the team,
• 4:15
  they were OK, maybe through the 1st 5060 games, they were around
• 4:19
  where you would expect. They were like maybe 5 under,
• 4:23
  you know, 500 at that point. But yeah, things kind of really
• 4:25
  went off the rails right before the All Star break.
• 4:29
  They had a losing streak. I want to say it was 11 games.
• 4:31
  They got swept by the Marlins. The Rockies, like some of the
• 4:34
  bottom feeders of the league were, were eating her lunch and
• 4:38
  and that was what really led to the firing of of Davey Martinez
• 4:42
  and Mike Rizzo. And yeah, I mean, the the
• 4:45
  biggest issue with the team, they they do have some
• 4:48
  interesting young pieces at the plate, you know, with CJ and
• 4:52
  James Wood and Dalen Lyle had like a crazy good second-half
• 4:55
  and he looks like a potential star.
• 4:57
  But their rotation is just a mess.
• 5:00
  I mean, the pitching is was awful last year.
• 5:02
  Gore had a really good first half, but you know, he he did
• 5:07
  not have a good second-half And, and guys that you thought were
• 5:10
  going to be better, like Jake Irvin or Mitchell Parker were
• 5:13
  almost unpitchable. I mean, they had eras around
• 5:16
  5:00 or over the whole year. And, and really the staff was
• 5:20
  awful. And, and you know, there's some
• 5:22
  guys like Brad Lord who came in and were serviceable, you know,
• 5:28
  but, but mostly it was not a good pitching staff.
• 5:31
  And it's hard to win baseball games when you're down 6,
• 5:34
  nothing in the second inning every night.
• 5:36
  And you know you start burning out your bullpen, you know when
• 5:38
  you're pulling the starter early.
• 5:40
  And and that was basically. What happened last year?
• 5:42
  Pitching staff was abysmal. Let's talk about the the hiring
• 5:48
  of Blake Butera, who comes in after you fired Dave Martinez
• 5:54
  during the season last year. He's 33, comes from the Rays.
• 5:59
  So tell us a little bit about him and what you're expecting
• 6:02
  out of him this year and, and what he's going to try and do
• 6:06
  with this young court, with this young group of guys you got.
• 6:09
  Yeah, No, it's interesting. I mean, the Nats took a
• 6:12
  direction this offseason and, and one that I wasn't really
• 6:16
  expecting, but I mean, they're like, I, I, I'm sure.
• 6:20
  OK, so there's a saying, I'm sure, you know, folks watch
• 6:23
  Saturday Night Live and like, there've been times in the the
• 6:26
  history of SNL where like the cast has gotten old and then,
• 6:29
  you know, all of a sudden the next year they'll just have a
• 6:32
  bunch of unknowns and a bunch of young guys.
• 6:34
  And Lord Michael's the producer who's, you know, from Toronto,
• 6:37
  where you guys are. You know, I think he has a
• 6:39
  saying that says what? When in doubt, go young, right?
• 6:41
  And that's, that's exactly, that's the Washington Nationals.
• 6:44
  It's like they fired everyone. Our general manager is 35.
• 6:48
  Our, our manager is, I think 32 or 33.
• 6:52
  Some of our, you know, I think our pitching coach might be like
• 6:54
  28. I don't even, I mean, these are
• 6:56
  like young guys. I mean, they're going to be
• 6:58
  there might be players older than some of these guys on the
• 7:00
  team, but yeah, no, I it, it seems like what they're trying
• 7:03
  to do is they're they're going young, they're going really big
• 7:07
  on analytics and player development And, you know, to
• 7:11
  Bony, the general manager says, you know, they they're going to
• 7:14
  make a player development monster here.
• 7:16
  I I think the Nats are trying to maybe rebrand themselves is like
• 7:21
  the Tampa Bay of the NL E maybe it seems like that's kind of
• 7:26
  what they're trying to do. They're going to be, you know, a
• 7:30
  little moneyball like what whatever, like play, you know,
• 7:33
  they're going to be able to compete with the Mets and the
• 7:35
  Phillies and, you know, even the Braves who are spending more
• 7:38
  money at the time, you know, at this time by going young,
• 7:43
  focusing on on player development and and those kind
• 7:46
  of things like will it work? I don't know.
• 7:48
  I mean, it's, it's hard to say a lot of these guys, you know,
• 7:51
  basically everyone on the staff is taking on a job they've never
• 7:54
  done before right there. They've been promoted a step
• 7:57
  higher than what their resume, you know, suggest, right?
• 8:01
  So, you know, it could, it could really work out and maybe
• 8:03
  they're going to build this management team of like whiz
• 8:07
  kids or it could really be a disaster.
• 8:11
  But I, you know, I, I guess it is a Nats fan.
• 8:13
  At least they're taking a direction, you know, they're,
• 8:15
  they're trying something they're they're going with with a young
• 8:19
  approach and hopefully it works. I mean, I guess that's more
• 8:23
  exciting as a fan than like if they just brought like Joel
• 8:26
  Madden in or tried to do like a retread of of some coach that's
• 8:30
  had success in the past. You know, they're, they're doing
• 8:34
  a new direction they're going with, you know, yeah, a real
• 8:37
  whiz kid team of, of guys in their 30s to to run this whole
• 8:41
  operation. So we'll see how it goes.
• 8:44
  So the Nationals finally got their GM, and that's Paul
• 8:47
  Tubani, who was the assistant GM of the Red Sox.
• 8:50
  And he's been highly touted. And you know, it's been a bit of
• 8:53
  a loss for the Red Sox. But looking at this
• 8:55
  organization, they had Mike Rizzo, who is there from 2013,
• 8:59
  and he got fired this past summer.
• 9:01
  Mike Debartolo was the interim GM, but Tubani is the guy as
• 9:06
  this team and talk about what makes sense with them.
• 9:10
  How is he going to build this team and like how important of a
• 9:15
  of a hire it is for for the nationals organization?
• 9:19
  Yeah, I mean, it's a huge hire. I, he is, you know, very well
• 9:24
  respected in the game. You know, a lot of people who
• 9:29
  write about the business of baseball and, and, you know, are
• 9:33
  tuned into that, You know, I, I, they also, there's a great hire.
• 9:36
  I, I don't, I think if you search the Internet right now,
• 9:40
  you're not going to find an article that's like, what are
• 9:42
  the Nats doing hiring Paul Tiboni?
• 9:44
  They, everyone seems to speak very highly of them.
• 9:47
  And, you know, he, he brought over some other guys to work
• 9:50
  under him who are well respected as well.
• 9:53
  So, yeah, you know, they, they, they went and got their whiz
• 9:56
  kid. I, I, they're hoping he's, you
• 9:58
  know, it's kind of like when the Red Sox back in the day promoted
• 10:01
  Theo Epstein so young. They're, they're kind of hoping
• 10:03
  this is something similar. And yeah, he said in his
• 10:08
  interviews he wants to make a player development monster where
• 10:11
  the gnats are going to be on the cutting edge of analytics player
• 10:15
  development. I mean, what that means, I don't
• 10:17
  know. You know, I guess, I guess you'd
• 10:19
  have to really talk to someone who who, you know, can delve
• 10:22
  into to the whatever the latest cutting edge of baseball science
• 10:25
  is. But but he says that that's what
• 10:27
  they're going to do and that's going to be their focus.
• 10:29
  Like they're going to kind of win games in the front office
• 10:33
  through their research, through their, you know, what they're
• 10:35
  seeing, you know, with their analytics and and then having
• 10:40
  guys who can can pass the, you know, that information on the
• 10:43
  players. So it can directly affect their
• 10:45
  game. So, yeah, I mean, that's that's
• 10:47
  the plan. It's a big move for the Nats.
• 10:50
  Obviously Rizzo had his fingerprints over, you know,
• 10:54
  essentially a decade of baseball here where the Nats were a top
• 10:56
  five program in the entire sport and, you know, won four
• 10:59
  divisions in the World Series. You know, so so they moved on
• 11:03
  from from that and they're starting over and they're kind
• 11:05
  of trying to do a whole new advanced technological thing.
• 11:10
  And, you know, we'll see how it goes.
• 11:11
  He hasn't really made any moves yet this offseason.
• 11:14
  So it's really hard to know exactly.
• 11:17
  You know, I think as a Nats fan, we're waiting to see is he going
• 11:21
  to start signing some veterans? Is he going to bring anyone in?
• 11:25
  Is he going to move? You know, a lot of people talk
• 11:26
  about trading Gore Abrams, you know, so but he hasn't really
• 11:29
  done anything yet. So it's I don't think we have an
• 11:31
  idea exactly like what 2026 is going to be at until he starts
• 11:36
  making moves. Let's talk about James Wood a
• 11:40
  little bit. He was off to this amazing start
• 11:43
  last season. I mean, he's still so incredibly
• 11:46
  young. And you know, in the second-half
• 11:49
  of the season is his struggle started to show.
• 11:52
  I think he led the Major League Baseball and strikeouts 220.
• 11:57
  So, you know, some of his flaws were kind of explodes in the
• 12:01
  second-half. But how important is this guy to
• 12:05
  your franchise? And what does he have to do to
• 12:09
  to reach that ceiling? Because I believe his ceiling
• 12:12
  still MVP. I mean, he's just got he's just
• 12:15
  that talented. So, yeah, how important is he to
• 12:20
  you to what you guys are building there in Washington?
• 12:24
  Oh, my God. Yeah.
• 12:25
  No. And would also for those who
• 12:27
  don't know, he's from Rockville, MD originally, which is, you
• 12:30
  know, a suburb of DC like, you know, 20 minute drive in.
• 12:34
  Yeah. No, he would be the guy who I
• 12:37
  hope that the learners or if you know, another issue with our
• 12:41
  franchise is our owners have been on the fence about keeping
• 12:45
  it or selling it and that's been a whole deal too.
• 12:47
  But I would hope the learners or if someone buys it from the
• 12:49
  learners, I, I hope what they would do would be extend James
• 12:52
  Wood that that would be the quickest way to win back
• 12:56
  goodwill with the Nationals fan base would be to make James Wood
• 13:00
  like a national for life and especially as a local kid, as
• 13:04
  his mom's very active on X Twitter and everyone loves her.
• 13:09
  It's just he makes so much sense to make the centerpiece of this
• 13:14
  franchise. He he had a like an MVP level
• 13:16
  first half. He struggled a bit in the
• 13:18
  second-half. I, I think he honestly, this
• 13:20
  happened, I think to Bryce Harper and Juan Soto.
• 13:23
  I think of various points back in the day.
• 13:26
  Was I participating in a Home Run Derby?
• 13:28
  I think screwed his swing up for like a few weeks and he had just
• 13:31
  like a crazy, you know, he was like a 10 for 80 or some just
• 13:36
  awful stretch, right, with a, with a, you know, crazy
• 13:39
  strikeout rate. And then he but he he got better
• 13:40
  to season, you know, like he got better towards the end of the
• 13:43
  season. It might have just been a Home
• 13:45
  Run Derby that screwed him up. But yeah, I mean, the first half
• 13:48
  last year he looked like he was on pace, like he was better than
• 13:51
  Juan Soto in the first half of last year, Like not even close.
• 13:53
  So he's definitely a superstar. He he is unquestionably the most
• 13:58
  important player on this franchise and they should do
• 14:01
  everything they can to keep him and that is is how I feel about
• 14:05
  it. I like to talk about a player
• 14:09
  who just came out of nowhere and became a top five NL rookie of
• 14:14
  the year candidate was Dalen Lau.
• 14:18
  He got called up playing 91 games.
• 14:20
  Hell of a year for him, 11 triples like this guy looks like
• 14:25
  his speedster, 299 average, nine home runs, 41 RBI, 845 OPS.
• 14:33
  And he was also, I believe in that same draft class as James
• 14:36
  Wood, right? And he's been up.
• 14:39
  He's 23 years old. Seems like he's going to be part
• 14:41
  of the plans. Talk about him.
• 14:44
  What's his profile and what's his potential where where he
• 14:48
  plays long term? Yeah, no, he's, he was a
• 14:51
  revelation in the second-half. You know, he was one of those
• 14:54
  guys. He'd been up, yeah, a couple
• 14:57
  times. But in the second-half something
• 15:00
  really clicked for him and he is a monster, you know, just really
• 15:05
  good hitter. Paul jumps off of his bat.
• 15:09
  Yeah, he has a speed. I mean, he had a lot of balls
• 15:11
  into the corner there in right field and was able to leg him
• 15:14
  out to 3rd, you know, in the field.
• 15:18
  He's not amazing. But yeah, you could.
• 15:21
  You could certainly play him in a corner.
• 15:23
  You could also DHM, you know. But yeah, I mean, for me, if I
• 15:28
  was managing the Nats, I would probably have Jacob Young be 1/4
• 15:34
  outfielder. I'd probably put Cruise in
• 15:35
  center, you know, and then probably Wood and left and maybe
• 15:41
  Lyle and right. I mean, none of them are with
• 15:42
  that. That's Asia Wood and Wood and
• 15:44
  Lyle are not great defenders, but but that's a pretty good
• 15:47
  hitting outfield. You could eventually move, you
• 15:50
  know, wood to 1st blah, blah, blah.
• 15:52
  I mean, but yeah, we don't have enough good hitters on the team.
• 15:55
  So. So Lyle absolutely should play
• 15:57
  every day next year, whether it's in the outfield or DH or
• 16:02
  however they want to do it. But yeah, no, I mean, his bat
• 16:05
  was amazing and, and I don't have the splits in front of me,
• 16:07
  but you know, if he finished, like you mentioned, with the OPS
• 16:10
  around 8:40, I mean, most of that, you know, his OPS was
• 16:14
  around 7:00-ish, I think as late as July.
• 16:17
  So I mean, if you're talking about like August and September,
• 16:20
  that dude was like hitting his MVP lab, it might have been in
• 16:22
  the nines somewhere to get it, you know, up to 840.
• 16:26
  So yeah, no, I mean, his bat was something.
• 16:28
  And yeah, between him, Wood and CJ and hopefully, if Dylan Cruz
• 16:33
  can kind of, you know, that's what they're hoping with a new
• 16:36
  coaching staff and and all the analytics that maybe they'll be
• 16:39
  able to, to take a guy like Cruz who hasn't quite clicked yet and
• 16:42
  give him something to make him click.
• 16:44
  And, you know, then all of a sudden you have like a pretty
• 16:47
  good young line up. So, yeah.
• 16:49
  But I I Lyle was a revelation and and hopefully he can keep it
• 16:52
  up in 2026. So let's talk about another high
• 16:59
  draft pick a year. Sorry, Dylan Cruz, very highly
• 17:05
  regarded. He was off to, you know, he had
• 17:08
  a bit of a rough year last year. He started off real slow and
• 17:12
  then it started to look like he picked things up and started to
• 17:15
  figure it out. And then he got hurt and he
• 17:17
  missed most of the season. So what are your thoughts on him
• 17:21
  going forward and just talk about his year and how it went
• 17:26
  unexpectedly with all the injuries and underperformance
• 17:30
  and whatnot? Yeah, I'm a fan of Cruz and I
• 17:33
  still think he's going to be a really good player.
• 17:35
  He's had some injury issues, obviously, and that that has
• 17:40
  held him back. There have been a handful of
• 17:41
  times where, like you mentioned, it really looks like he's
• 17:44
  starting to figure something out and then he gets injured and
• 17:47
  then he has to sit for a month or two and then he has to work a
• 17:50
  swing back and blah, blah, blah. And that's hurt him.
• 17:53
  You know, I like him. I I do think I would like to see
• 17:56
  him in center. He, you know, Jacob Young is
• 17:58
  obviously an elite defensive player, but his bat is not where
• 18:03
  it needs to be, you know, for a Major League lineup, you know,
• 18:07
  and so and Cruz plays good defense.
• 18:10
  I mean, he's he's he's also he's got that attitude, you know, and
• 18:14
  that's something I think that the Nats need like Wood is, is a
• 18:18
  very soft spoken player. You know, I CJ as well isn't
• 18:24
  like all that fiery. I guess I'd put it, you know,
• 18:27
  where where Cruz kind of has that get his get his uniform
• 18:31
  dirty, kind of, you know, just hard nosed vibe to him.
• 18:35
  And, and and I noticed, you know, in the games when he's
• 18:38
  been on the team and part of the regular lineup and when he's
• 18:42
  been healthy, that shows up. You know, he'll steal a base,
• 18:45
  will make a diving catch in the outfield.
• 18:47
  He'll do some things to get the team fired up.
• 18:49
  And he's a little more rah rah. And I, I think A-Team like the
• 18:52
  Nets need that. So, yeah, I I like Cruz.
• 18:55
  I would definitely they played him in right last year.
• 18:58
  I think I would try to have him in center and and have an
• 19:02
  outfield of Cruz, Lyle and Wood, even though defensively maybe
• 19:05
  it's not amazing. That's that's probably what I
• 19:07
  would do. And again, he's a type of player
• 19:10
  that you're hoping Guterra and Taboni and this whole, you know,
• 19:15
  player development apparatus they're trying to build.
• 19:18
  Like they could, you know, give him something.
• 19:21
  I don't know if it's launch angle or what, or what kind of
• 19:23
  analytical thing they could give him to unlock something, but it
• 19:27
  does happen. It happens all the time.
• 19:28
  Like when we had Daniel Murphy back in the day, Kevin Long, you
• 19:32
  know, gave it like he did something with the launch angle
• 19:34
  for us while Murphy was on the team that, you know, took him
• 19:37
  from being a pretty good hitter with the Mets to like an MVP
• 19:40
  player for a couple years with us.
• 19:42
  So it, it, it can happen. So I'm, I'm hoping maybe Cruz is
• 19:45
  a guy the new staff can unlock and he can really become the
• 19:49
  star we all hoped he would be. Who would you say on the roster
• 19:55
  could be positional player or pitchers that exceeded your
• 20:00
  expectation, thinking that this player came out of nowhere and
• 20:03
  became an actual, you know, part of this team this year and could
• 20:06
  be part of this team moving forward?
• 20:08
  Because there's one name that's out there that that I looked at.
• 20:11
  And Jacob Young is the guy that stands out to be like, is there
• 20:14
  anybody else that comes out in it?
• 20:16
  And you could talk about Jacob Young as well if you want.
• 20:20
  Yeah, yeah. No, I, for me, I, I obviously
• 20:26
  Lyle would be the guy that I, I don't think we anyone expected
• 20:29
  him to be that good in the second-half.
• 20:31
  That was kind of crazy. I would say Brad Lord was a nice
• 20:36
  surprise as well. He wasn't spectacular, but he
• 20:39
  came in and, you know, think he, he finished with an ERAA little
• 20:44
  over 4, but he was a competitive pitcher and like we don't have
• 20:47
  enough of them. And he's a guy that you're
• 20:49
  hoping, you know, maybe he's not going to be a star, but you're
• 20:52
  hoping he can continue to develop and maybe nailed down
• 20:56
  your number four slot or #5 slot on a good team.
• 20:59
  You know, and our team are pitching so bad.
• 21:01
  He's a #2 or #3 but you know, you're that that guy.
• 21:05
  He surprised me young. I mean, young defensively,
• 21:08
  you're not going to find a better defensive center fielder.
• 21:12
  It's just his bad isn't quite, you know, I think I think his
• 21:16
  OPS is around like 640 or something like that.
• 21:20
  I'd have to look it up, but it's it's not that great and his his
• 21:24
  Young's results stealing bases last year weren't the best in
• 21:30
  the past. He's had a better stolen base
• 21:32
  percentage. Young to me is a guy like if we
• 21:34
  had a loaded lineup, if we just had some murderers row, Young
• 21:38
  would be a guy you could you could bat 9th in center field
• 21:42
  and he's there just for defense and you just need him to steal a
• 21:45
  base, lay a bunt down. That kind of a player.
• 21:47
  I just, you know, I don't think our lineup is strong enough at
• 21:50
  the moment to throw away the nine spot.
• 21:53
  You know, with his that we'll see a lot of people disagree.
• 21:58
  The guy who runs talk Nas probably is going to hate me for
• 22:00
  saying any of this. He's a big Jacob young fan.
• 22:03
  So I you know, some people disagree.
• 22:04
  And again, Jacob Young, I did see Jacob young was in the the
• 22:07
  hitting lab with our new coaching staff working on launch
• 22:10
  angle, working on these kind of things.
• 22:12
  So Jacob Young would be also like if you could just get his
• 22:15
  bad respectable, like just even 700 ish kind of OPS, then he
• 22:20
  becomes a very valuable player because he probably is the best
• 22:24
  defensive center fielder in all of baseball.
• 22:26
  And and you know, that obviously helps the pitching staff.
• 22:29
  But yeah, I think for last year, Lyle and Brad Lord would
• 22:32
  probably be the guys that I I wasn't, I was not expecting to
• 22:37
  to be so good. What about CJ Abrams?
• 22:43
  He he he was looking pretty good.
• 22:46
  Like you mentioned earlier in the episode, you had mentioned
• 22:49
  it. You know, he looks like he was
• 22:51
  starting to be something with the bat and this snap.
• 22:53
  But we heard a lot of rumors to around this past year that there
• 22:58
  was a possibility that he could be traded.
• 23:00
  So what are your thoughts on on CJ Abrams and where he stands
• 23:04
  within the franchise? I like him, but yeah, I mean,
• 23:10
  he's a he's gone through some slums.
• 23:14
  But yeah, I mean, I think around the All Star break, his OPS was
• 23:16
  a little more like 850, which for shortstop is, is pretty
• 23:20
  good. And yeah, he's, he's good for
• 23:22
  about 20 homers. And you know, he can steal
• 23:25
  bases. Defensively, it's short, though.
• 23:28
  He's not very good at all. He's makes a lot of errors.
• 23:31
  He's he's not the smoothest shortstop.
• 23:35
  Ideally he would profile more as a second baseman.
• 23:39
  You know, I don't know if if the team's approached him about
• 23:42
  moving there, it it would be a good, it would be what would be
• 23:46
  best for the team for sure. If you could put CJ at 2nd and
• 23:49
  really tell him to just focus on the hitting and and give him a
• 23:52
  little bit easier of a defensive position.
• 23:55
  I don't know if that's something he'd be open to.
• 23:57
  Obviously, you know, if he's looking ahead towards free
• 24:00
  agency or these kind of things, you know, you want to be a
• 24:02
  shortstop, you get more money there and all that.
• 24:05
  But I like CJ, you know, he it's, he's an interesting
• 24:09
  player. He's had these stretches, I
• 24:11
  think a couple years ago on the base pass.
• 24:15
  Yeah, in 2024, I'm sorry, like a 2023 stole 47 bases and was only
• 24:21
  caught four times, you know, so he like unlocked something where
• 24:25
  it was almost impossible to catch him.
• 24:27
  You know, basically if you walked him, it was a double, you
• 24:30
  know, and, and, and, and he's had some stretches with the
• 24:33
  power where he's just, you know, upper deck.
• 24:36
  You know, for a guy who's, you know, kind of a smaller,
• 24:39
  skinnier guy, I mean, he's hit some like upper deck tanks.
• 24:42
  And he'll go through these stretches where he's just really
• 24:47
  looks like a slugger, which is kind of wild for a middle
• 24:50
  infielder, you know, who's not that big in stature.
• 24:54
  But yeah, you know, he's another guy that you're hoping they can
• 24:56
  unlock. He showed there have been times
• 24:58
  where he's shown flashes where he looks like certainly an All
• 25:02
  Star and then yeah, maybe even like fringe MVP level for, you
• 25:06
  know, 20 games, 30 games. But then he falls off or he goes
• 25:10
  in a horrible slump and things even out.
• 25:12
  So, you know, I I don't know, I like CJ.
• 25:15
  He's he is a guy though, too. It'll he'll he'll be very
• 25:18
  telling what they do with him. It you know, if Taboni's looking
• 25:22
  to not really compete and rebuild even further, CJ would
• 25:27
  be a guy you would trade now along with Gore to, you know, to
• 25:31
  to fill up the coffers of prospects even more.
• 25:34
  But but we'll see what happens. You know, I I do like CJ.
• 25:36
  He's one of my favorite players on the team and I do root for
• 25:39
  him. But you know, is is and and I
• 25:42
  don't think he's represented by Boris.
• 25:43
  So he is a guy that actually might be able to extend should
• 25:47
  they want, But it'll be interesting to see what Taboni
• 25:51
  does with him for sure. Well, there was a report, I
• 25:55
  think it was, I think it was last year that they were in
• 25:59
  talks about working for an extension of apparently he broke
• 26:03
  curfew and he was sent down to the Miners and didn't finish the
• 26:06
  season with the Nationals. And what, what was the problem
• 26:08
  with that? Is that what held the extension
• 26:11
  talking? That's why he could be rate
• 26:13
  traded potentially this offseason.
• 26:16
  Yeah, this was this was at the end of the 2024 season, I
• 26:20
  believe. And yeah, he basically I think
• 26:24
  they were on a road trip to Chicago and there were photos of
• 26:29
  him, you know, at at a casino there like at 4:00 in the
• 26:34
  morning or something like that. I think he likes to gamble was
• 26:37
  was the vibe that I got. And, and so it's so that story
• 26:43
  came out. And then when that story came
• 26:44
  out, then unfortunately on, on X or Twitter, people were like,
• 26:49
  there's, there's a casino here in DC.
• 26:51
  I live literally it's like a 5 minute drive from, from my
• 26:54
  place. It's just right on the border of
• 26:57
  Maryland and Virginia. There's an MGM casino.
• 27:00
  And, and, and after the thing happened in Chicago, then all
• 27:02
  the sudden on Twitter they were like people were were were
• 27:05
  posting photographs they had of like CJ playing craps at this
• 27:09
  casino in DC well into the night, like when there's a game
• 27:12
  the next day at one and these kind of things.
• 27:16
  And so, yeah, I guess, I guess there was like a gambling issue
• 27:18
  and I guess the fact that they knew he was doing it at home,
• 27:22
  but the fact he started doing on the road became a problem.
• 27:25
  And there was, I think that year if you looked at his home Rd.
• 27:28
  splits, it was kind of crazy where like his home splits were
• 27:31
  bad. I can't remember exactly, so
• 27:33
  don't. But it was like you could tell
• 27:35
  it's like where he was gambling and where he wasn't based on his
• 27:39
  splits. So yeah, it was bad.
• 27:42
  They say he's fixed that or they said that publicly.
• 27:46
  I'll be honest though. I mean, and again, this is like
• 27:49
  complete, this isn't like something I would report.
• 27:52
  I, I, I am a season ticket holder.
• 27:54
  I literally, I'm just saying from someone I, you know, sat at
• 27:57
  the bar with downstairs in the club was telling me like, oh,
• 28:01
  nothing changed last year. I mean, I'm just saying that's
• 28:03
  like a word of mouth. That's not anything official.
• 28:05
  I, I've heard from, from people that say they're in the know or
• 28:08
  talk to people with a team that nothing's changed.
• 28:11
  But I I certainly wouldn't report that because it's not
• 28:13
  this is gossip, right? But yeah, there's CJ has had
• 28:16
  issues off the field that they feel has affected his on field
• 28:21
  performance. And obviously you hope that's
• 28:23
  something that can be fixed because he's AI mean I I I love
• 28:27
  CJI think he's he's got all it's out in the world.
• 28:29
  He he could be a 3030 guy at second base or shortstop,
• 28:33
  hopefully second base, but you know, he could OPS and like the
• 28:37
  mid to high eights if he puts it all together.
• 28:39
  He's he's got a lot of gifts on the baseball field.
• 28:41
  He could steal 4050 bases. So he's certainly a guy you
• 28:45
  you're rooting for to kind of have it all click.
• 28:50
  So the next question I want to ask you is so talk about some of
• 28:57
  the pitching depth that's on the roster.
• 29:00
  Talk specifically about the rotation as it's as a whole and
• 29:04
  talk about some guys like Kate Kavali and Mitchell Parker, like
• 29:08
  they've been going through their ups and downs throughout the
• 29:11
  year. And this is a thing like, you
• 29:13
  know, Mackenzie Gore is by far the ace of the staff, right?
• 29:16
  And I know he had a bad second-half.
• 29:18
  Probably has to do with, you know, just a team as itself.
• 29:22
  Like it, it's not really a really good constructive team,
• 29:25
  but like, especially defensively.
• 29:26
  So talk about some of the rotational stuff and where they
• 29:30
  stand. Yeah, it's, it's going to be an
• 29:33
  interesting year. If if let's say that we keep it
• 29:37
  as it stands, we don't do anything.
• 29:40
  Looking at it right now, Gore would be your number one.
• 29:43
  Absolutely. And then it kind of gets a
• 29:46
  little messy from there. You, you have a Cavalli who he,
• 29:50
  he had a decent, you know, he, he was a guy that they're really
• 29:54
  high on. And I want to say it was 2023
• 29:57
  spring training. He, he was looking really good.
• 29:59
  And I, he was shutting out the bets in like 1 of the last
• 30:02
  starts before the season. And then he flew out his UCL and
• 30:05
  had to have Tommy John and he missed all of 24.
• 30:08
  And he came back last year and, and he was solid.
• 30:11
  He wasn't spectacular, but he was solid, you know, threw a
• 30:14
  handful of starts in the second-half.
• 30:16
  They're they're counting on him to be part of the rotation as it
• 30:18
  currently stands. Brad Lord, you know, he was
• 30:23
  good. He not not spectacular.
• 30:26
  He's not like a strikeout kind of sexy ace, more of a pitch to
• 30:31
  contact, get a lot of ground balls, kind of a guy.
• 30:33
  But when he's right, when he's on, he's, you know, he throws
• 30:37
  like those bowling balls, gets a lot of choppers, you know, low
• 30:39
  lower pitch counts, gets out of the inning.
• 30:42
  And he was, he was sobbed last year.
• 30:44
  So I definitely feel like he'll be in the rotation.
• 30:46
  Irvin was Irvin was a guy coming off of 2024 that you really
• 30:51
  thought could be, you know, a future maybe a #3 on a good
• 30:58
  team, a #4 or #2 on a bad team. He looked like a real piece.
• 31:03
  And then last year just was brutal, just just, you know,
• 31:06
  just got lit up almost every time out.
• 31:09
  So I don't know if that's is if he's someone again that the the
• 31:13
  new staff can can fix, you know, then maybe he comes back.
• 31:17
  And then then you also have Josiah Gray, who was he was he
• 31:20
  was one of the headliners we got back for Scherzer and Turner,
• 31:24
  you know, at the deadline in 2021.
• 31:26
  And he had been solid for us. He'd been an All Star one year.
• 31:30
  I want to say like maybe I was 23, but he also had to have ATJ.
• 31:36
  So, you know, that he's, I think, I think the beginning of
• 31:39
  the 2024 season, he I, yeah, he got bombed on opening day in
• 31:44
  Cincinnati. And then he had a bad first
• 31:46
  month and they realized something, you know, was wrong
• 31:48
  with his arm and he had to have ATJ.
• 31:50
  So he missed all of last season, at least in terms of the majors.
• 31:55
  So he's going to be back in the mix, you hope, if he can kind of
• 31:58
  come back and just be what he was before, which he wasn't as,
• 32:02
  you know, an ace level spectacular guy, but he was, you
• 32:05
  know, solid, you know, mid rotation level guy that maybe
• 32:10
  could get you an ERAA little above 4, at least be
• 32:12
  respectable, you know, not be an automatic loss every time you
• 32:15
  throw them out. You know, yeah, right now that
• 32:18
  that would be the one through 5, which isn't that great.
• 32:21
  So I I do hope that they, you know, really right now they have
• 32:24
  a one had a bunch of question marks.
• 32:28
  That's basically what the Nats have.
• 32:29
  And so you hope that Taboni or is a fan.
• 32:34
  I hope he'll at least, you know, I don't expect them to go out
• 32:36
  like what you guys in Toronto and go at the top of the market
• 32:40
  for starting pitching. But but I, I do, I would love if
• 32:43
  they could just get, you know, maybe like Lattell or someone
• 32:46
  like just like just get like some solid veteran stabilize.
• 32:49
  Like they don't have to be stars, but just some guys that
• 32:51
  are professionals. They're not going to get blown
• 32:54
  up every time they go out. And, you know, I think that the
• 32:57
  Nats could use one or two stable veteran rotation pieces for
• 33:02
  sure, just in case some of these kids don't work out.
• 33:08
  So talk a bit about the bullpen and and some of the bullpen
• 33:12
  guys, because we know some of the guys got traded at the
• 33:14
  deadline last year. So tell us a little bit about
• 33:18
  just some pieces that you think could be part of the bullpen or
• 33:21
  what what they do with that. Who is the closer of this team
• 33:24
  now? I right now I think it would be
• 33:27
  Jose Ferreira. They, he was the set up man for
• 33:31
  Finnegan last year before they traded him to Detroit.
• 33:34
  And he he has his, you know, he's another guy that's had
• 33:38
  flashes, he's had, you know, they'll they'll be a period
• 33:41
  where he, you know, comes in and converts a bunch of saves and
• 33:44
  looks really good for a week or two.
• 33:47
  Then he'll have like one start where he just gets completely
• 33:50
  destroyed and his ERA blows up. I would say as of now, yeah,
• 33:55
  it's it's certainly for rare and and he's another he's still
• 33:58
  young, he's still 25. I believe he's another guy that
• 34:02
  yeah, they unlock him and and you know, a little more Major
• 34:05
  League experience. I think he could turn into a
• 34:07
  really plus arm. He certainly has a talent and
• 34:10
  you know, the arm talent to be an elite closer.
• 34:13
  It's just a question of if he has the make up and, you know,
• 34:17
  if if the staff can work with him and and make him better past
• 34:21
  that. It's really like all you know,
• 34:24
  they they have Clayton Beater who they got back from the
• 34:26
  Yankees. I want to say in the Ahmad
• 34:28
  Rosario trade, he was decent down the stretch.
• 34:33
  Cole Henry that was that would have been another guy would have
• 34:36
  mentioned as a nice surprise last year.
• 34:37
  He's kind of a failed starter from our system, but he was a
• 34:41
  solid pent arm force last year. Not spectacular, but solid.
• 34:46
  You know, you didn't, he didn't like, you know, want to take a
• 34:49
  drink when he came in, you know, he felt like he might be able to
• 34:52
  get some guys out. So.
• 34:54
  But yeah, past that, you know, it gets dicey.
• 34:59
  You know, I'm looking at the roster, PJ Poulin, some guy, you
• 35:04
  know, that's like that's the IE barely played for us, like
• 35:09
  Connor Pilkington, we have Orlando Revolta, Jackson
• 35:12
  Rutledge is kind of our long man.
• 35:14
  He's fine, I guess, as an innings eater.
• 35:16
  But yeah, it gets pretty dicey. So I would say unless the plan
• 35:21
  is just to go back to being 100 lost team, which I certainly
• 35:25
  hope it isn't, we're gonna need to do make some additions in the
• 35:30
  pen with some veterans. Cuz yeah, really you have going
• 35:33
  into the seat looking at the rest right now for Rare Beater
• 35:36
  and Henry, I'd be fine in the pen, but the rest of it, I don't
• 35:40
  know. So you're gonna want to sign
• 35:42
  just even a couple bridge guys. Hopefully we'll see.
• 35:47
  Let's dive into the catcher depth of this organization and
• 35:50
  you know, look at looking at this depth here.
• 35:53
  And Kiba Ruiz was acquired for the Dodgers a few years ago and
• 35:57
  he got a seven-year extension and hasn't really been that guy.
• 36:02
  Like I there was a lot of promise.
• 36:03
  And he just hasn't really been up with Riley Adams, former Blue
• 36:07
  Jays prospect that was part of that deal for Brad, Brad Hand.
• 36:11
  And it's he's still part of that organization.
• 36:14
  And, and there's a catcher in AA.
• 36:18
  And I'm curious to see where they stand here about this
• 36:20
  because Kayla Lomovita is in AA. He could be up as soon as next
• 36:25
  year. And could he be the catcher of
• 36:28
  this team? And also, I heard that the
• 36:30
  Nationals are looking for a veteran catcher.
• 36:32
  Is there any truth to that as well?
• 36:35
  Yeah, I have heard that. I do think Ruiz, yeah.
• 36:41
  I mean, my guess would be his days are numbered here probably.
• 36:44
  I, you know, I, I don't know that for a fact, but yeah, I
• 36:47
  mean, I definitely don't think he's going to be the guy under,
• 36:52
  under Rizzo and and Davey, for whatever reason, they played
• 36:57
  Ruiz a lot. Like they played him like he
• 36:59
  was, you know, prime punch Rodriguez.
• 37:01
  They play him like 6 out of seven days.
• 37:03
  They they, and, and it was very frustrating as a fan because
• 37:06
  there, there were some seasons where he'd start, like last
• 37:09
  year, he started off a little kind of hot and he's had periods
• 37:12
  where he's looked really good. But then they play him, Yeah,
• 37:15
  like he's just some superstar, you know, like Buster Posey in
• 37:18
  his prime or something and play him every single day.
• 37:21
  And then all the sudden his batting average goes way down
• 37:24
  and he just looks, you know, awful at the plate.
• 37:27
  And he's not, Ruiz is not a very good defensive catcher either.
• 37:31
  So. So you're kind of looking at it
• 37:32
  now where it's like, well, he can't hit and he can't catch.
• 37:35
  So so that's not, you know, it's like, what exactly does he do?
• 37:38
  But yeah, you know what, Ruiz, I think was one of those Rizzo
• 37:41
  Martinez guys. And and obviously Rizzo extended
• 37:45
  him and and he was the guy they wanted back for Scherzer and
• 37:48
  Trey at the 21 deadline. So he got a lot of rope where,
• 37:52
  you know, I would. I'm thinking with Taboni, I
• 37:55
  don't think Ruiz is going to get that much rope.
• 37:57
  I I think best case for Ruiz, he stays on the team and has a
• 38:02
  really true timeshare. Maybe even it's on the bench
• 38:05
  portion of a timeshare with a veteran catcher.
• 38:09
  Or, you know, they could just move on from him.
• 38:11
  They could try to trade him or maybe they just BF AM.
• 38:14
  I don't know. It's, it's hard to know exactly
• 38:17
  what they do. I mean, I, I he has like some
• 38:19
  interesting, he has really good back to ball skills, but he
• 38:22
  just, it's, it's at the expense of his power.
• 38:24
  I mean, he has some, I always joke sometimes he looks like a
• 38:27
  wiffle ball player. He just stands flat footed and
• 38:29
  kind of throws his hand, you know, hands at the ball and just
• 38:31
  pops it up. So yeah, I don't, I don't know.
• 38:34
  You're I'm hoping maybe they figure something out with him.
• 38:36
  Adams is an interesting guy. Where when they played it, you
• 38:40
  know, when he was on the the crazy end of only playing, you
• 38:45
  know, one out of every seven games for Ruiz is his bat wasn't
• 38:49
  very good. But when they started playing
• 38:50
  him more often, you know, you could start to see some things
• 38:54
  with his bat. So I I think he'll be part of
• 38:56
  the mix for sure. And then, yeah, I mean, they do
• 38:59
  have Drew Millis who is up at a certain point and they do have,
• 39:04
  you know, Llama Vita had decent stats in the minors last year.
• 39:08
  Yeah. I don't know if they, I, I doubt
• 39:10
  they rush him to the bigs this year, but I could see him, you
• 39:14
  know, maybe he forces his way if he if he continues to hit a AA
• 39:18
  or there's an injury or something like that.
• 39:20
  But yeah, I, I would expect definitely a veteran.
• 39:22
  And then maybe it's just a veteran and Riley Adams and I
• 39:26
  get rid of Ruiz. It's it's hard to to know, but.
• 39:28
  But again, yeah, it's, it's Saboni really hasn't made any
• 39:31
  moves yet. So it's it's hard for us to
• 39:33
  really see. A.
• 39:34
  Bigger play out of what he's thinking.
• 39:36
  But, you know, I am excited to see him start to make some moves
• 39:39
  so we can kind of get an idea of of if if what what we're going
• 39:44
  to do here in DC. Travis Sikora, let's talk about
• 39:50
  him. He he skyrocketed up your
• 39:52
  prospect list after you took him in the third round.
• 39:54
  He's your number two overall prospect now.
• 39:57
  Yeah, I was really high on him when you guys drafted him.
• 40:00
  And just just talk a bit about some of the pitching depth you
• 40:04
  guys have with Sikora. Yard lose Suzanne.
• 40:06
  I believe he got in that Juan Soto trade and Alex Klemmi is
• 40:11
  the other guy. So talk about some of those guys
• 40:14
  in the top ten and, and, and, and what they're all about.
• 40:19
  Yeah, no, Sakura was was killing it in the miners last year.
• 40:22
  But then unfortunately last season was a rough one for the
• 40:25
  Nats. Like I think a lot of us were
• 40:27
  were were envisioning Sakura Gore 1-2 punch to start this
• 40:33
  season, but Sakura got hurt at the end of the season and I
• 40:36
  believe you had TJ and I think he's going to miss this entire
• 40:38
  year and not be back till 2027. So that's a bummer because he
• 40:41
  did look like the most talented pitching prospect we had and and
• 40:46
  hopefully when he comes back from the injury, he'll, you
• 40:48
  know, still be as talented and we can pencil him in our plans
• 40:52
  for for 2027. Susanna is an interesting
• 40:56
  player. Yeah, he was was one of the guys
• 40:59
  that came back for Sodo. He a high velocity guy.
• 41:02
  I think he, you know, 100 like one O 1 sometimes he I believe
• 41:10
  also too, he had an injury at the end of last season.
• 41:13
  It's not as severe. It wasn't TJ or anything like
• 41:16
  that severe. I, I, I believe it was a lot,
• 41:19
  but donate me if I'm wrong on that.
• 41:21
  But I think his status is that he is questionable for spring
• 41:26
  training. I I do think hopefully he'll be
• 41:28
  able to pitch next year and, and, you know, hopefully force
• 41:31
  his way up to the majors or get a get a look, but it might not
• 41:36
  be right at the beginning of the season because I he's still
• 41:38
  recovering, I believe from like a lat surgery.
• 41:43
  And then Clemmy, thankfully, he's of the top three pitching
• 41:46
  prospects. He's not, you know, severely
• 41:49
  injured. So yeah, he's a double AI.
• 41:53
  Don't know if we'll see. You know, he's a guy.
• 41:55
  I don't know. I mean, maybe we'll see him next
• 41:57
  year, if not certainly for 2027. He's so the one left-handed
• 42:01
  pitcher of the group and yeah, he's he's been good.
• 42:05
  He had a he had a good season last year and you know, he's a
• 42:09
  guy we're hoping can stay healthy and and be part of the
• 42:12
  play on moving forward. So, yeah, no, I mean, we do have
• 42:16
  some decent pitching prospects, but, but unfortunately it
• 42:19
  doesn't, there's no one like eminent.
• 42:21
  I guess I'd say that that we're that's going to come rescue us.
• 42:25
  I guess I put it that way. So this past year's draft, the
• 42:31
  Washington Nationals had their number one pick and came as a
• 42:34
  surprise to me is that Eli Willis was the number one pick.
• 42:37
  But yet again, right during that time, Mike Rizzo was fired
• 42:42
  before the draft. And knowing Mike's Rizzo's track
• 42:44
  record, he's always drafted Boris Client said.
• 42:47
  Guys like Ethan Holiday and Kate Anderson would have fit the mold
• 42:51
  for for the Nationals if Rizzo was still running this team.
• 42:54
  But they went with a a different route.
• 42:57
  And I think it's Eli Willis is a second generational player
• 43:01
  because Father Reggie Willits played in the majors Once Upon a
• 43:04
  time years ago, I think with the Angels.
• 43:07
  But with yeah, Willits, he was 17, was drafted and they're
• 43:10
  looking at long term ceiling with this kid.
• 43:13
  And and did it come to as to you as a surprise that they drafted
• 43:18
  him? And what do you think his
• 43:19
  projection is to be up in the majors if he had to take a
• 43:22
  guess? Because it's so it's so
• 43:24
  difficult to predict a player like him.
• 43:28
  Yeah, no, I, I was surprised for sure, but it there were leaks, I
• 43:34
  guess leading I I was surprised when I heard the first leak, but
• 43:37
  I think there were some leaks that it was going to be Willis
• 43:40
  like the week or two before and that turned out to be true.
• 43:43
  And yeah, maybe the Nats are, you know, under Debartolo, I
• 43:46
  guess for his brief stint is the main GM, but Debartolo is still
• 43:50
  with the organization. Actually, they they like kept
• 43:54
  him under to Boney. But yeah, I was surprised.
• 43:57
  But yeah, maybe we're moving away from Boris clients.
• 44:01
  He he performed pretty well at single a in in his stint there.
• 44:06
  You know, certainly with contact didn't have a lot of pop or
• 44:10
  homers or anything, but definitely, you know, is hitting
• 44:12
  singles and and looked like he had pretty elite contact skills
• 44:16
  at 17 and single A. So yeah, I don't know.
• 44:20
  I don't think he's going to be up for a while.
• 44:23
  I think, you know, on the on themlb.com, they have a 2029.
• 44:29
  You know, maybe he can, can, can speed that up and make it 2028
• 44:33
  or so. But yeah, I, I, you know, it's
• 44:35
  17. I don't see him like forcing his
• 44:38
  way to the bigs next year, even a year after.
• 44:41
  But you But again, you never know.
• 44:42
  I mean, you know, Juan Soto didn't start off as like some
• 44:45
  insanely top level prospect that was just going to, you know,
• 44:50
  show up. Like no one was talking about
• 44:51
  Juan Soto. Like, oh, he's going to come to
• 44:53
  the major leagues at 19 and just be an immediate superstar and
• 44:57
  and win you a World Series in his second year at the age of
• 44:59
  20. Like no one, like no one was
• 45:02
  talking about Juan Soto when he was 17 that way.
• 45:05
  So, yeah, you never know what these guys, you know that that's
• 45:07
  the risk. You take some, you know, maybe
• 45:09
  something clicks and he courses his way up fast and he becomes
• 45:13
  one of those types of of teenagers that makes it to the
• 45:15
  majors. But but I don't I wouldn't that
• 45:18
  on that path. I think he's probably a few
• 45:20
  years away, but he's an interesting player and you know,
• 45:23
  someone that that certainly Naz fans are excited about seeing at
• 45:27
  some point. But yeah, I don't think he's in
• 45:28
  the immediate future probably. Tell us a little bit about some
• 45:33
  of the other prospects that you guys got in your system.
• 45:36
  You know, you got you drafted Sever King, another top 10
• 45:39
  prospect, top 10 picks. Sorry, I think it was two years
• 45:44
  ago, three years ago. So.
• 45:47
  So tell us a little bit about some of the some of the other
• 45:50
  prospects that maybe you're high on and that you'd like to see
• 45:54
  have some success with the Nationals in the future.
• 45:57
  Yeah, I mean, they have it's and this might might have been one
• 46:01
  of the reasons that Rizzo got fired is, you know, Seaver King
• 46:05
  and Luke Dickerson, who are both middle infield prospects, not
• 46:08
  exactly the most mind blowing stats in the minors.
• 46:13
  So those are guys that that maybe have underperformed a
• 46:17
  little bit. These are guys also to your
• 46:20
  hope. And if we're, if we're going
• 46:22
  with these guys like Taboni and Butera and his player
• 46:26
  development monster, you know, you're hoping that these guys
• 46:29
  are still very young into their career and maybe they can get,
• 46:32
  you know, with, with our new analytical staff and, and we can
• 46:37
  sort of fix some things or, or get them back on track.
• 46:40
  You know, in terms of of under the radar, maybe not talk about
• 46:44
  all the time guys that that I'm excited about.
• 46:46
  Ethan Petrie is the guy that got in the draft hoping could play
• 46:50
  first base. Maybe we the Nets, you know,
• 46:53
  desperately need a right-handed power hitting first baseman.
• 46:57
  I, I don't think we're going to go side and feed Alonso, though.
• 47:00
  I would love it because my wife's the best fan and that
• 47:03
  would drive her crazy. But like, you know, we're,
• 47:05
  we're, I'm hoping Ethan Petrie. I, I think he looked pretty
• 47:08
  decent in the, in the fall league.
• 47:10
  I'm I'm hoping he could be a power bat that that maybe rises
• 47:16
  quickly and and and can internally fill a hole for us at
• 47:20
  first base. Past that, I don't know Lynn
• 47:25
  Yan, who we got, I believe from the Dodgers and the Alex
• 47:29
  Coltrade is a right-handed pitcher.
• 47:32
  That seems kind of interesting to me.
• 47:35
  He you know, he's a guy that that I'm I'm hoping maybe can
• 47:43
  can come and and and be something out of the pen.
• 47:46
  But, yeah, I mean, I, I will say one of the reasons and Landon
• 47:49
  Harmon was another draft pick from last year, right-handed
• 47:53
  pitcher that we're hoping can can be something.
• 47:58
  But yeah, I mean, I think one of the reasons why Rizzo was fired
• 48:01
  is, is a lot of these draft picks that he's made have have
• 48:04
  stalled in a minors. I mean, obviously, like Elijah
• 48:07
  Green was like the number four or five overall pick, I believe.
• 48:10
  And he's like not even on our top 30 list.
• 48:13
  And we've had, you know, Seaver King hasn't had the best start
• 48:16
  to his minor league career, nor is Luke Dickerson.
• 48:19
  So, yeah, I mean, it's depressing for sure, but but you
• 48:24
  know, I'm hoping, I'm hoping that the new staff can kind of
• 48:29
  unlock some of these guys. I get Christian Franklin, I
• 48:32
  believe was a guy we got back for Soroka to the Cubs.
• 48:36
  He's an outfielder that that has a power profile that that might
• 48:40
  be interesting as well. Yeah, we're not, you know, the
• 48:44
  the the franchise. It's not like in the early
• 48:49
  twenty 10s where we're like, Oh yeah, we got Strasburg and
• 48:52
  Harper and Rendon and Giolito and like all these, you know,
• 48:55
  and then Turner and all these blue chip guys.
• 48:58
  We're ready to come up and be superstars.
• 48:59
  I I don't think the the the farm is in that kind of shape,
• 49:04
  unfortunately. Well, I want to mention one more
• 49:07
  name is Yohandra Morales is another guy that that slipped
• 49:12
  down in the charts and and I was surprised, surprised that he was
• 49:17
  he's ranked like close to like 30th.
• 49:20
  And I know that they have replenished the farm a little
• 49:24
  bit through the trades and stuff.
• 49:26
  And probably perhaps we'll see what happens with the Gore deal
• 49:29
  if it happens and Abrams potentially.
• 49:32
  But he was another guy that, you know, stuck in my mind and he
• 49:36
  had some decent numbers. And could you see him get a call
• 49:39
  up as soon as next year potentially?
• 49:43
  Yeah, especially if we go the route of tanking or, or not
• 49:47
  really trying to win, you know, and we'll know this soon.
• 49:49
  It's like, you know, if if we trade Gore and Abrams and that
• 49:52
  like then yeah, you're probably going to see a lot of Yohandi
• 49:55
  Morales next year. And and he'll he'll be given a
• 49:57
  shot, you know. Yeah, no, he his his numbers in
• 50:01
  AA were pretty good. And yeah, AAA not spectacular,
• 50:05
  but decent last year. And yet he's another guy.
• 50:07
  I think he also can play third. But yeah, the meet the Nats do
• 50:11
  seem to have a need for 1st 100% have Anita first base, third
• 50:16
  base. Yeah.
• 50:17
  I mean, I get we haven't really talked about Brady House.
• 50:19
  He's a guy who looked OK in the majors, but didn't really his
• 50:22
  his power wasn't there. You know, maybe that's a guy
• 50:25
  that can unlock and then all the sudden, you know, is it the
• 50:28
  Nets? We are like littered with
• 50:30
  prospects that need to be unlocked, right.
• 50:33
  So, so you know, maybe that is why the the learners went this
• 50:37
  way with the coaching staff because even if you unlock half
• 50:40
  of these guys, then all the sudden you have a really
• 50:42
  exciting, exciting young team. But yeah, no, Morales, I would
• 50:44
  think, especially if we're not trying to be ultra competitive
• 50:48
  this season, like that's a guy I could see them trying up in the
• 50:52
  majors potentially for sure. So when do you think the
• 50:58
  opportunity for this team to compete again?
• 51:02
  Because we think that we had, we thought, we thought that they
• 51:06
  were going to take the next step.
• 51:07
  This past year, they they went backwards drastically, which was
• 51:10
  baffling to me. And looking at this team now, it
• 51:13
  seems like with the new GM and and the youngest manager in
• 51:18
  baseball by miles, right. So, yeah, when do you think,
• 51:23
  when do you think the window open?
• 51:24
  Because at the same time, you have to ask yourself, James
• 51:26
  Woods has five years left. And I do think that there's a
• 51:29
  chance that he extends with the National since you I think you
• 51:32
  mentioned in our last podcast, he's from Maryland.
• 51:34
  He's a home. He's a home kid, town kid.
• 51:37
  Would love to stay here, you know, but the question is like,
• 51:42
  at some point you're going to have to start winning with them
• 51:45
  and a couple other guys. And I get it.
• 51:46
  They had Eli Willits. And my question to you is when
• 51:51
  does it what when do you think potentially the window starts
• 51:54
  opening for the word or you know, the time to compete?
• 51:57
  Because I know the CBA is going to expire next.
• 52:00
  Obviously. Well, some teams do not want to
• 52:02
  spend and they want to see what they'll what the outcome of that
• 52:05
  CBA negotiation is going to be. Do you think it's most likely
• 52:09
  after that? It probably is.
• 52:10
  But like if if not 27th, when do you think they could compete?
• 52:16
  Yeah, I mean, gosh, I, I, you know what I would love if it
• 52:20
  was, if it was me, if Kevin was, was the GM, I would, I would
• 52:24
  just go sign Pete Alonzo and spend a bunch of money.
• 52:27
  I do, I do, I do what the Royals did a couple years ago where,
• 52:31
  you know, I would, I would, I would just, I would just blow
• 52:33
  out the payroll to win 85 games next year.
• 52:36
  And and, you know, just just just get this team in the
• 52:39
  playoffs cause 'cause I do think the fan base is starting to, to
• 52:43
  revolt a little. I do think they're starting to
• 52:45
  lose some, some fans. They've really lost the casuals.
• 52:47
  And I think the hardcore fans like myself are getting tired
• 52:50
  of, of, of losing, right. But like, yeah, I mean, if I'm
• 52:55
  being realistic though, yeah, you probably would have to say
• 52:59
  2028, maybe 2027 if there's a season or a full season.
• 53:03
  But yeah, I mean, it's it'll be very telling to see what what
• 53:09
  they do. If they trade Gore and Abrams or
• 53:13
  just even one of the two, then yeah, I'm probably thinking 2028
• 53:16
  is, is what they're going to try to gear up for.
• 53:20
  But you know, if they keep Gore and Abrams and maybe just even
• 53:24
  sign some like professional veteran pitchers to like a two
• 53:29
  or three-year deal, like just, you know, yeah, like what the
• 53:31
  Royals did a few years ago, they're not going to sign Pete
• 53:34
  Alonzo. But but like, even if they just
• 53:36
  signed a couple of of solid arms to stabilize thing and kind of
• 53:40
  with the idea, OK, like if we can unlock some bats, like if we
• 53:44
  could unlock Grady House, if we could unlock Dylan Cruz, We
• 53:47
  there's still Robert Hassell, who at times has looked like a
• 53:51
  good hitter, right. So it's like, you know, we have
• 53:53
  some guys that if they could just unlock a few of these guys
• 53:56
  and all the sudden you have like a really exciting young team
• 53:58
  that's that's pretty deep and doesn't need a lot of veteran
• 54:01
  help at the plate. So we'll see.
• 54:04
  You know, I'm hoping that that all these magical things come
• 54:09
  true and and, you know, maybe they even compete this year or
• 54:12
  next year. But yeah, if I'm, you know, gun
• 54:14
  to my head, if I'm like being ultra realistic, I, I think
• 54:17
  they're probably gearing up for 2028.
• 54:21
  So who would you say are next in line to be extended?
• 54:25
  Just give us some of your extension candidates that you
• 54:28
  would have if you were running things and and who you think
• 54:33
  that will ultimately be the next guys in line to to get inked.
• 54:38
  Yeah. I mean, I would try for Woods.
• 54:39
  I'm sure that he's going to wait it out though, if he's if he's a
• 54:42
  Boris client and that's going to be a whole thing.
• 54:44
  But I would try. I would I would give him a
• 54:46
  number right now. Like, you know, I don't know.
• 54:51
  I mean, he did have a rough second-half, but I mean, I
• 54:54
  would, you know, see if like 310 something like that, like at
• 54:59
  least make him think about it, see if he wants to do that, at
• 55:01
  least start a conversation. And if he if he counters or or
• 55:05
  starts a discussion, then you go from there.
• 55:07
  And if if he just rejects it with no counter, then you're
• 55:09
  like, all right, then this is going to be another Harper or
• 55:12
  Sodo. And we're going to have to think
• 55:14
  about what we can get for this guy.
• 55:15
  But past that, you know, I wouldn't like give Lyle a bag
• 55:19
  right now. But if it like, see how he does
• 55:22
  in the first half. But if he has a good month or
• 55:24
  two or, or looks like the same guy coming into spring training
• 55:27
  and it wasn't a flash in the pan, then yeah, he'd be a guy.
• 55:31
  If CJ is willing to move to second base, I would definitely
• 55:34
  like he would be the first if under the provision that he'd be
• 55:37
  OK going to 2nd. If if that's the case, I would
• 55:41
  talk to CJ about what he's looking for, for, you know, a
• 55:45
  678 year deal playing second base here.
• 55:50
  Gore, you know, again with bore I, I don't think we're going to
• 55:54
  be able to re sign Gore. So I would ask though, I'd, I'd
• 55:57
  start the conversation and see what that looks like, you know,
• 56:01
  But yeah, CJ more realistically, gosh, I don't know who else.
• 56:07
  It's, it's a little sad. I definitely don't want Luis
• 56:11
  Garcia. I'd let him go.
• 56:13
  I, he, I, he's not really in my plans, nor is Ruiz, obviously.
• 56:19
  So, yeah, I mean, it's, it's a little sad, but yeah, I mean,
• 56:23
  I'm, I'm really, I, I would, I would resign CJ.
• 56:25
  I'd extend CJ if he's willing to play second base and Lyle if he
• 56:30
  looks good at the beginning of next season.
• 56:32
  I'd I'd see what I can do there and and would I would see what
• 56:35
  you know? I would definitely, I'd offer
• 56:37
  him something that, you know, at least if, if you would find out
• 56:42
  if, if he really wants to stay at home and be a Nat for life,
• 56:44
  you know, make him turn down a good offer and see, see where we
• 56:47
  go from there. But that's about it.
• 56:49
  I mean, in terms of the pitchers, there's really no one,
• 56:52
  you know, other than Gore. I I'm not doing anything with
• 56:55
  Kavali, Lord Irvine or Gray. So yeah, I mean, that's it's,
• 57:00
  it's rough times to be a Nats fan for sure.
• 57:04
  Well, let me throw out a question out here because The
• 57:06
  thing is like, at some point the nationals have to start spending
• 57:09
  and you know, the learners are one of the richest owners in
• 57:12
  baseball. And it just comes down to like,
• 57:15
  what did, what do they want to do?
• 57:17
  Because like, how how long can you be stagnant like this?
• 57:19
  That's the other thing. It's like you want you guys won
• 57:22
  the World Series in 2019 and yeah, and 1 Soda was in that
• 57:26
  team and at some point they try to make it a offer, but they got
• 57:31
  a great haul in return and hopefully the Nationals can
• 57:35
  maximize them on that. But like, if you had a realistic
• 57:38
  offseason this year, knowing that the learners are still part
• 57:41
  of this franchise because you know, the whole debacle with
• 57:43
  Mass and that's resolved and everything, like who would you
• 57:47
  see realistically they would target besides the trades?
• 57:51
  I know that. I mean, they're trying to
• 57:53
  replenish the farm and and Paul Tubeni now running this team.
• 57:57
  Like, what would you see the realistic options for the
• 58:00
  Nationals for this offseason be? Yeah, I mean, they're not going
• 58:05
  to be at the top of the market, but I do think just some decent
• 58:09
  starting pitchers would be good. Like, you know, at the highest
• 58:14
  end, like a guy like Ranger Suarez, I don't think he'll go
• 58:16
  that big, but that would be the type of that would be good, you
• 58:20
  know, to someone I like. I don't know if they're going to
• 58:23
  pay a pitcher 20 million a year, but you know, not true aces, but
• 58:28
  like Michael King, I'd be into Zach Gallon.
• 58:31
  That might be like a little higher than where they want to
• 58:34
  go. I'm trying to look at who the
• 58:37
  next is Zach Latell a free agent.
• 58:40
  I'm I'm like, that was like a good guy.
• 58:42
  That would be, that would be someone like maybe like a Chris
• 58:46
  Bassett on a, or a Merrill Kelly on like a smaller deal.
• 58:51
  I, you know, those would be guys that I'd be like Merrill Kelly
• 58:54
  be interesting to me, you know, because you could get them for
• 58:57
  I, I think that's what the Nats should do just to keep the fans
• 59:00
  is look for guys you can get like 2 year deal, maybe a
• 59:02
  three-year deal tops, but you know, guys that could just
• 59:05
  stabilize the rotation. But you're not necessarily, you
• 59:09
  know, you don't have to do some 100 something $1,000,000, you
• 59:13
  know, deal to get them real Muto would be interesting for me.
• 59:17
  They need a catcher. They, they also, I think they
• 59:19
  need a veteran leader, you know, and, and I'm looking right now,
• 59:23
  they project 2 years, 30 million.
• 59:26
  I, I'd like to see them make some moves like that.
• 59:28
  You know, they're not, you're not giving out mega deals, but
• 59:31
  you're also showing the fan base, you know, you want to be a
• 59:34
  little more competitive than you've been.
• 59:36
  You know, the last couple years under Riza, we've been doing
• 59:41
  this like bargain bin stuff and it worked out for him.
• 59:45
  He got Candelario a couple years ago for 5 million, I think after
• 59:50
  a bad year and they were able to fix him and then they flipped
• 59:54
  him at the deadline. And then, you know, they tried
• 59:56
  the same thing with with Nathaniel Lowe.
• 1:00:00
  It didn't quite they were able to flip or no.
• 1:00:02
  I think they DFA them and the Red Sox just picked them up.
• 1:00:04
  But yeah, that one didn't work out.
• 1:00:05
  They tried the same thing with like Nixon Zell.
• 1:00:08
  It didn't work out. But you know, the last couple
• 1:00:10
  years our veteran kind of bridge guys have been really like, you
• 1:00:16
  know, bargain bin like, you know, reclamation projects where
• 1:00:20
  I'd like to see them step up. Yeah, like Lattell, they're
• 1:00:23
  saying two years, 24,000,000 that that would work.
• 1:00:26
  You know, some guys like that, that just, you know, you know, I
• 1:00:29
  know that you guys probably wouldn't want this.
• 1:00:32
  But if if Max Scherzer wants to pitch one more year, I mean,
• 1:00:35
  like the ultimate goodwill fan base move for the Nats would be
• 1:00:39
  to just sign him for a year kind of for whatever he wants and
• 1:00:43
  just do like a farewell tour here.
• 1:00:45
  You know, if the team's not going to be that good, that
• 1:00:48
  would work. I don't know if it's going to
• 1:00:49
  help on the field that much, but the fans would love it.
• 1:00:52
  But yeah, just you know, some mid level free agents on 2/3
• 1:00:56
  year terms to stabilize the rotation would be what I'd look
• 1:01:00
  for. And I would look for a power bat
• 1:01:03
  at first or third. Obviously Alonzo would be my
• 1:01:06
  first choice, but. That's not going to.
• 1:01:08
  Happen after that. I'm not, I'm scrolling the list
• 1:01:12
  of who's available and no one's really jumping out to me.
• 1:01:16
  But yeah, I mean, that is what we need.
• 1:01:18
  So I, I, I, it'll be, again, it'll be interesting to see what
• 1:01:21
  Taboni does. I, I might, I'm my lean is that
• 1:01:24
  it's going to be a deeper rebuild.
• 1:01:25
  Like he's not going to do any of the things I just mentioned.
• 1:01:29
  We're just going to, we're just going to be OK losing and and
• 1:01:33
  rebuilding the farm from scratch.
• 1:01:35
  But we'll see. We'll see what happens.
• 1:01:38
  We're back again because we got some updated news on the
• 1:01:41
  Washington Nationals. The Washington Nationals have
• 1:01:44
  traded away Jose Ferrari and Kevin, I remember you brought
• 1:01:48
  about Ferrar being the closer team, but ultimately he ended up
• 1:01:52
  getting traded to Seattle. And one of the prospects that's
• 1:01:56
  probably a popular one is Harry Ford.
• 1:01:58
  And he looks like he's he's the second best prospect now.
• 1:02:03
  Updated on the pipeline. And Isaac Lyons, I think he was
• 1:02:06
  drafted in the 10th round this past year by Seattle.
• 1:02:09
  But So what were your initial thoughts when you thought about
• 1:02:13
  this trade and what went through and thinking about they got a
• 1:02:16
  catcher in that deal? Yeah, no, I was.
• 1:02:19
  Excited and I think a lot of Nats fans were excited.
• 1:02:22
  Generally the consensus seems to be in the industry that Seattle
• 1:02:25
  that was an overpay, right. So, you know, I mean, we we had,
• 1:02:28
  you know, Ford is a top 50 prospect and I don't think we
• 1:02:32
  were thinking about shipping for air out for, you know, top 50
• 1:02:37
  prospect, right. And especially at the catcher
• 1:02:39
  position where it's hard to find, you know, prospects that,
• 1:02:43
  you know, you hope could be your starting catcher for next 6-7
• 1:02:46
  years. But yeah, no, it was I think
• 1:02:48
  it's an interesting trade. It's it's a good trade.
• 1:02:50
  I think as a Nats fan, it's funny, we had like recorded the
• 1:02:53
  episode and then this happened right after.
• 1:02:55
  But you know, I I was saying during the episode, I wasn't
• 1:02:58
  sure how to Bony would be he'd yet to make his first move.
• 1:03:01
  You weren't really sure where that would go.
• 1:03:03
  But I mean, I think as a Nats fan, his first move just from
• 1:03:06
  like a trade value perspective is great.
• 1:03:09
  I mean, he got the better player in the deal in theory, you know,
• 1:03:13
  with the rankings. And yeah, I mean, I think it's
• 1:03:17
  it's a good trade and it's Nats fans are excited.
• 1:03:20
  I think a lot. You know, we talked a little bit
• 1:03:22
  about we'd soured on K Bever Ruiz and yeah, so I mean, to, to
• 1:03:27
  go get forward to, to get another catcher.
• 1:03:30
  It's probably not good news for Kay Bever Ruiz, but for the
• 1:03:34
  Nationals franchise, I think that's great news.
• 1:03:36
  And, you know, I had a chance to, you know, I I knew of him
• 1:03:39
  from the World Baseball Classic playing, you know, for Great
• 1:03:41
  Britain, but I didn't really, you know, follow his minor
• 1:03:43
  league career because he wasn't one of our prospects.
• 1:03:46
  But I did have a chance to kind of go through his Baseball
• 1:03:48
  America pages. And the thing that jumps out to
• 1:03:50
  me is just his walk rate. He's got a really good walk rate
• 1:03:54
  and that probably shows because he's got a really great command
• 1:03:56
  of the strike zone. You know, to have that in a
• 1:03:59
  catcher position is pretty amazing.
• 1:04:02
  And also I think he steals a bunch of bases as well.
• 1:04:04
  He's got a lot of steals for a catcher.
• 1:04:06
  So he's an exciting young prospect.
• 1:04:08
  And I think that's actually something that Nats fans needed
• 1:04:11
  was just to, you know, that this movement, you know, kind of kind
• 1:04:14
  of brings us back off the ledge a little bit like, OK, cool.
• 1:04:16
  We got like a cool young player and maybe this new Wiz kid GM.
• 1:04:21
  We hired some smart guys. So yeah, I'm, I'm pretty excited
• 1:04:23
  about it. So where does keeper Ruiz stand
• 1:04:26
  in this situation? Because like you said that that
• 1:04:29
  kind of knocks him out of the process because he did sign an
• 1:04:32
  extension a few years ago and it hasn't really worked out for
• 1:04:35
  him. And do you think is there a way
• 1:04:37
  that they could trade him or do you think that they have to
• 1:04:40
  like, like pretty much DFA him with like or outrider?
• 1:04:43
  Like where does he stand now at this point?
• 1:04:46
  That's a yeah. I mean, it's an interesting
• 1:04:48
  question. It's not a good move for him, I
• 1:04:51
  do think. You know, if I'm Kevin Ruiz
• 1:04:54
  sitting at home and you see that move, that means, hey, I'm
• 1:04:58
  probably not the starting catcher long term.
• 1:05:01
  I mean, maybe best case scenario forum, they go into the season
• 1:05:05
  with him as the starter. I, I don't know, Again, I, I
• 1:05:07
  know that Ford came up for like a cup of coffee with Seattle
• 1:05:11
  last year. I think it was like 10 games.
• 1:05:12
  So, you know, maybe it's something where they do the
• 1:05:14
  thing where they don't debut forward until June, you know, to
• 1:05:18
  get that extra year control. I'm I'm not sure how they're
• 1:05:20
  going to play that. So maybe that means Louise has a
• 1:05:23
  job here for three months, you know, or two months or whatever,
• 1:05:27
  you know it. Would.
• 1:05:27
  Be to, to to get forwards the extra year control.
• 1:05:31
  But yeah, no, I mean it's, it certainly doesn't.
• 1:05:34
  You know, I think we still owe him like $35 million roughly
• 1:05:37
  something in that in that range. You know, it doesn't look good,
• 1:05:41
  you know, for keeping him here for the next four or five years
• 1:05:45
  to to make that. And, and you know, it definitely
• 1:05:47
  doesn't look like he has the long term starting catcher job.
• 1:05:50
  You know, whether or not Taboni views him as a sunk cost, like
• 1:05:54
  we've already, you know, the previous regimes already spent
• 1:05:57
  this money on him and you know, Taboni uses him is a backup or a
• 1:06:02
  timeshare or maybe they try to like move one of these guys to
• 1:06:05
  1st if they both end up hitting. I mean, there's the there's
• 1:06:09
  still possibilities there. But yeah, it probably doesn't
• 1:06:11
  look good for Ruiz and. You know I.
• 1:06:14
  If if I had to get what's interesting is Riley Adams, they
• 1:06:17
  just signed not for a big deal. I think it was like $1,000,000.
• 1:06:21
  And then also it had an option where I think he got 500 grand
• 1:06:25
  if he got sent down to the minors.
• 1:06:28
  So it doesn't they didn't make a commitment where it's 100% that
• 1:06:32
  that Adams would be the backup. But yeah, I don't know.
• 1:06:35
  I mean, it's it doesn't look great for Ruiz.
• 1:06:37
  He's certainly not the long term plan.
• 1:06:39
  But I guess it's, you know, to be determined if he's a bridge.
• 1:06:43
  Player until Ford's ready to to be catcher every day.
• 1:06:45
  We'll see. So let's talk about the other
• 1:06:49
  two significant players that could be on trade box and it's
• 1:06:52
  been thrown out there these as of today.
• 1:06:55
  Is that Mackenzie Gore? His name's been thrown out there
• 1:06:59
  a lot these last couple days. And I know that you mentioned
• 1:07:02
  during the recording that, you know, you wish that you had them
• 1:07:06
  as part of the plans of this team in the future.
• 1:07:08
  But now that too bad. He's the GM that's running this
• 1:07:12
  team. He's looking for significant
• 1:07:14
  return and trying to build the next core of this team.
• 1:07:16
  And one team that's been out there, it's the New York Yankees
• 1:07:19
  and looking for the return. If you believe that makes sense,
• 1:07:24
  like what for any team out there what what makes sense for the
• 1:07:28
  Nationals to get a return and what to build around with for
• 1:07:33
  for the franchise? Yeah.
• 1:07:35
  No, I mean, well, I guess I would say, you know, the fact
• 1:07:39
  that. Four years of Ferrer got top 50
• 1:07:43
  prospects. I mean, that does set the price.
• 1:07:47
  You know, you'll be getting two years of Gore, but you know,
• 1:07:50
  he's obviously starting pitcher and a more valuable player than
• 1:07:53
  Ferrer. I mean, I feel like that's, you
• 1:07:55
  know, the the return they got for Ferrer.
• 1:07:58
  I mean, I think with Gore, the conversation has to start like
• 1:08:01
  start at 2 top one hundreds easy and maybe probably 3 honestly,
• 1:08:07
  or, or, you know, it would have to be two top one hundreds and
• 1:08:10
  maybe a Major League player, you know, that could be helpful,
• 1:08:14
  like a bullpen guy or maybe a younger player who's not quite
• 1:08:19
  in the mix with another team, you know, but that we think
• 1:08:22
  could start here. So, yeah, no, I do think that
• 1:08:25
  the price has gone up, right. If if that's what they got for
• 1:08:28
  Ferrer in terms of what the Nats need.
• 1:08:31
  I mean, we obviously need a first baseman pretty badly.
• 1:08:37
  You know, I know some people have been talking about Eldridge
• 1:08:39
  out in San Francisco. I, I think he's like a Virginia
• 1:08:42
  kid maybe. Like, you know, I, I don't know
• 1:08:45
  if they're in the mix or not, but yeah, I mean, in terms of
• 1:08:48
  the Nats needs to jump out at you, it's a first base, 100%
• 1:08:53
  third base potentially. I, I, I could see them giving
• 1:08:55
  Brady House another half season this season to maybe show them
• 1:09:00
  something. Third base is certainly a need,
• 1:09:03
  you know, obviously pitching up and.
• 1:09:05
  Down. The bull, I mean the bull that I
• 1:09:07
  guess the one thing is just having traded for radar.
• 1:09:09
  I mean the bullpens a big need. I guess, you know, if you were
• 1:09:12
  to start the season tomorrow, Clayton Beater would be our
• 1:09:15
  closer. You know, I don't even it's so
• 1:09:17
  definitely we need pent arms. But but I you know, I would
• 1:09:21
  think if you're trading Gore, you're probably not like, you
• 1:09:23
  know, pen arms would probably come through free agency.
• 1:09:26
  I think if you're trading Gore, you're looking for controllable
• 1:09:28
  starting pitching. That's a huge need or a power
• 1:09:31
  bat. I mean, this team, you know, we
• 1:09:33
  have James Wood who looks like he's going to be elite power bat
• 1:09:37
  and you know, and Lyle looks pretty good.
• 1:09:40
  But you know, in general, you know, on the infield, we don't
• 1:09:43
  have any power bats at all, You know, other than CJ who does OK
• 1:09:47
  for shortstop, you know, you can maybe hit 1820 home runs at
• 1:09:50
  short. We don't have anyone at the, you
• 1:09:52
  know, their first or third. They can hit 3040 home runs and
• 1:09:55
  really plop in the middle of the lineup and scare anyone.
• 1:09:59
  So yeah, you know, power bats and starting pitching I think
• 1:10:01
  was be what you'd want to get back if you're going to trade a
• 1:10:03
  guy like Gore. We talked about CJ Abrams.
• 1:10:08
  It's funny that you brought it up.
• 1:10:10
  Big segue to go on to the next player that's been talked about
• 1:10:13
  actually this morning according to Will Salmon and Ken
• 1:10:17
  Rodenthal. And I remember you mentioning
• 1:10:19
  this over the summer about how CJ Abrams was on the block
• 1:10:22
  before anyone else and it's been thrown out there.
• 1:10:25
  But the asking price is ridiculously high.
• 1:10:27
  And looking at this organization now and those two players, Gore
• 1:10:32
  and CJ Abrams was part of that blockbuster monster deal for
• 1:10:37
  Juan Soda and thinking that they could be able to swap for for
• 1:10:42
  two halls of return. Like, what do you think about
• 1:10:45
  Caj Abrams and why do you think teams are fielding calls for
• 1:10:49
  him? And do you think it's just that
• 1:10:51
  when when the nationals drafted Eli Willits and knowing that
• 1:10:54
  their window to winning is not there yet, you think it's given
• 1:10:57
  the opportunity? It's like, OK, we got to do our
• 1:11:00
  due diligence. You can't.
• 1:11:01
  You got to listen. You just don't know what you're
• 1:11:03
  going to get because somebody's going to overpay.
• 1:11:05
  Is it that type of scenario that the Nationals are looking for to
• 1:11:09
  get a haul or hauls for both players in return to replenish
• 1:11:12
  the farm and build within maybe a year or two or down the road?
• 1:11:18
  Yeah, I think so. I mean, you know, I think we had
• 1:11:20
  we had talked about it earlier, you know, in the podcast, but
• 1:11:24
  like, you know, it's going to be a tough sell for like the casual
• 1:11:27
  Nats fan to trade CJ or Gore. I mean, especially CJI, mean
• 1:11:33
  CJ's had like they do, you know, T-shirt nights for him and
• 1:11:36
  bobbleheads and all that. I mean, he's kind of a popular
• 1:11:39
  player in this rebuild phase of the team.
• 1:11:42
  So I think to move on from him would annoy a lot of fans.
• 1:11:45
  So I do think, you know, they would only do it if they're
• 1:11:49
  getting back a lot, you know, in terms of franchise building,
• 1:11:53
  though, for the more hardcore fans, I think moving on from
• 1:11:57
  both CJ and Gore probably makes a lot of sense.
• 1:12:01
  I mean, Gore especially, he's a Boris client.
• 1:12:03
  You only have them for two more years, the 2027 season,
• 1:12:07
  potentially. There could be labor issues and
• 1:12:10
  you might even lose harder all of that season.
• 1:12:12
  So getting what a lot you're getting emotion again for gore
• 1:12:15
  right now makes a lot of sense. CJ, you know, I I think we had
• 1:12:18
  met talked about before, but it's like, you know, he is a fan
• 1:12:21
  favorite. He's got a nice bat and he's got
• 1:12:23
  you know, when he puts it together on the base pass, he'll
• 1:12:26
  have these stretches where he'll steal like, you know, 34 bases
• 1:12:31
  and only be caught like one or two times, you know, in a
• 1:12:33
  stretch. And so he's got a lot of talent.
• 1:12:35
  I it just defensively it's short.
• 1:12:37
  He's not very good. And I think, you know, if the
• 1:12:40
  Nats aspire to kind of get back to where they were in the 2000
• 1:12:44
  tens, which we do, I hope, you know, I think CJ's position of
• 1:12:48
  his future second base. So, you know, I don't know,
• 1:12:50
  maybe they could talk to him, talk to his agency If if he you
• 1:12:54
  know, if CJ be willing to move the 2nd and extend, I think the
• 1:12:58
  fans would love that, you know, and then you get rid of Luis
• 1:13:02
  Garcia. But you know, if if he's not
• 1:13:05
  willing to do that and he wants to stay short for the rest of
• 1:13:07
  his career, then yeah, I mean, I think it probably does make
• 1:13:10
  sense for that. So to field calls for him and
• 1:13:13
  see if, you know, again, if Ferrer got you a top 50.
• 1:13:17
  I mean, then that makes me want 2 top one hundreds for CJ, you
• 1:13:21
  know, right, and three top one hundreds for Gore.
• 1:13:23
  So, you know, if, if they could move both these guys and, and
• 1:13:26
  come away with like 5 top one hundreds or, you know, younger
• 1:13:30
  guys who maybe have graduated from the prospect rankings, but
• 1:13:33
  or like young players that can help A-Team, then you know, you
• 1:13:36
  have to listen to that because the Nats do have a lot of needs.
• 1:13:39
  You know, they, they're not unfortunately a player to away,
• 1:13:42
  you know, they, they have needs in the rotation, the bullpen,
• 1:13:47
  you know, in the infield with power bats.
• 1:13:50
  So they have a lot of needs. I I would think realistically.
• 1:13:54
  Our window of when we're really hoping to be a a factor again
• 1:13:58
  would be something like 2028. When the Phillies are going to
• 1:14:01
  be really old and the Mets are going to be really old and
• 1:14:04
  they'll be declining and we can kind of do what we did in 2012
• 1:14:08
  and, you know, sort of come up and surprise these teams and
• 1:14:12
  take over the division for, you know, 6-7 years.
• 1:14:16
  So, yeah, I think that would be the plan.
• 1:14:17
  I think they're kind of building for two or three years from now
• 1:14:20
  to really. Be a serious team.
• 1:14:23
  Well, Kevin, we appreciate you coming here in such shorts
• 1:14:26
  normally saying we appreciate the update that's provided and
• 1:14:29
  knowing what this team stands like.
• 1:14:31
  You said that they're trying to build for the future, of course,
• 1:14:35
  and the way the offseason starting, I know the winter
• 1:14:38
  meetings is off to slow start, but I think we're going to see
• 1:14:40
  some movement at some point during the offseason.
• 1:14:42
  So we appreciate you once again where they can find you in
• 1:14:46
  social media and everywhere else.
• 1:14:48
  Yeah, no. Thanks, I totally appreciate it.
• 1:14:51
  Thanks for having me back. I'm glad that we got to talk
• 1:14:54
  because the first version of the podcast, I'm saying all these
• 1:14:57
  things and then Taboni goes out and makes a move.
• 1:15:00
  So I. Probably got a chance to kind of
• 1:15:02
  add on to it, but yeah, no. Yeah, just at Twitter, on
• 1:15:07
  Twitter X, I'm at K under score Nibley and I do you know, I'm
• 1:15:12
  doing this on behalf of Talknats.
• 1:15:14
  They're at Talknats on X and Twitter.
• 1:15:17
  And then we also own a little clothing shop in the DC area
• 1:15:22
  that's at shop old DC on X and and Instagram.
• 1:15:27
  And it's a fun little shop. We have a bunch of cool stuff.
• 1:15:31
  So yeah, check all that stuff out and and thanks again.
• 1:15:33
  For having me, I really appreciate it.
• 1:15:36
  And thank you once again for being on in this preview
• 1:15:39
  abbreviated segment. We will place a description
• 1:15:42
  below where you can find Kevin Nibley and social media and
• 1:15:45
  everywhere else. But till next time, take care,
• 1:15:48
  be kind to each other. Signing off from the Sports Ave.
• 1:15:50
  Twister podcast of Monday, December 8th, 2025.