Latest / District Territory / With trade deadline looming, will Friday be Foster Griffin's final Nats appearance?

Transcript

With trade deadline looming, will Friday be Foster Griffin's final Nats appearance? · District Territory

0:05
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the District Territory Podcast. I'm Eric Shellhouse
0:09
Speaker 1: from bat Boys Baseball and joining me today Spencer Nusbaum
0:13
Speaker 1: of The Athletic. The Nats came out hot last night,
0:15
Speaker 1: but they just could not get the job done. Started
0:18
Speaker 1: with Dalan Lyle in the top of the second inning
0:20
Speaker 1: getting the party started Luis Garcia Junior with a titanic
0:24
Speaker 1: home run. The launch angle on this thing was just ridiculous.
0:27
Speaker 1: The top of the third made it to nothing, then
0:29
Speaker 1: Dalen Lyle top four to three, nothing, but eventually the
0:33
Speaker 1: Braves caught up and got around to Jake Irvin, who
0:36
Speaker 1: went eight in two thirds combined no hit innings against
0:40
Speaker 1: the Braves, dating back to his last start before the
0:42
Speaker 1: al stint. Ronald Cunya Junior launching a home run in
0:45
Speaker 1: the bottom of the fourth made it three to one,
0:47
Speaker 1: then Yastremski in the bottom of the fifth tied it up,
0:50
Speaker 1: and then Ozzie Albi's delivered the final blow in the
0:53
Speaker 1: bottom of the sixth inning, golfing an O two pitch
0:56
Speaker 1: that was well below the zone hit his center field,
0:59
Speaker 1: giving them a five to three lead. The Nats did
1:02
Speaker 1: come back later on finals score five to four. They
1:05
Speaker 1: have now dropped four of these six losses since the
1:08
Speaker 1: All Star break by at least one run. Spencer last
1:12
Speaker 1: night was an interesting box score when you looked at
1:15
Speaker 1: it at the end of the day, and it didn't
1:17
Speaker 1: have the intensity or the makeup of some of these
1:21
Speaker 1: heartbreaking losses, but the dagger I think was felt just as.
1:24
Speaker 2: Much, right exactly, And this is something where you could
1:31
Speaker 2: describe this game in probably one hundred different ways and
1:34
Speaker 2: one hundred different moments and say that could have been
1:37
Speaker 2: the difference to me of all the things that you mentioned.
1:40
Speaker 2: And we can get to some of the positive stuff soon,
1:42
Speaker 2: because I think there's real merit there. Weird box score
1:46
Speaker 2: because they went over nine with runners in scoring position, right,
1:50
Speaker 2: That's something where and I tweeted this out a little
1:53
Speaker 2: bit earlier, it's often like noisy or fluky where you'll
1:58
Speaker 2: see teams go and stretches where it's like, why are
2:01
Speaker 2: they so hot with runners and why are they so cold?
2:03
Speaker 2: YadA YadA. That being said, this is a tough time
2:07
Speaker 2: for the Nationals to kind of have some of those woes.
2:11
Speaker 2: I think since July eighteenth, they're hitting one to eighty
2:14
Speaker 2: six with runners in scoring position, which is weird when
2:16
Speaker 2: you consider how good the offense has been. We talked
2:20
Speaker 2: to Blake a little bit about this yesterday and he mentioned, yeah,
2:22
Speaker 2: he does think that in the yestera Gate yesterday's game
2:26
Speaker 2: in particular, guys were like expanding the zone and trying
2:30
Speaker 2: to be the hero with runners in scoring position. And
2:33
Speaker 2: so when you think about what the Nationals need to
2:36
Speaker 2: do over these next few games, and again if they're
2:39
Speaker 2: still in the postseason hunt for the rest of the season,
2:42
Speaker 2: a big part of that is going to be maybe
2:45
Speaker 2: shrinking the zone with rights in coring position.
2:48
Speaker 1: Yeah. One thing I want to lead off with really
2:51
Speaker 1: quickly is door Bert Vibas starting over Brady House at
2:55
Speaker 1: third base open the day. I'm not sure what the
2:58
Speaker 1: Nationals algorithm has as far as who should be starting
3:01
Speaker 1: against a righty or a lefty, but it seemed like
3:04
Speaker 1: that departure of Curtis Mead was felt pretty severely last night,
3:08
Speaker 1: some of the matchups to goods to Matt Wise, he
3:12
Speaker 1: maybe he just out managed a younger Blake puts Eira
3:14
Speaker 1: comes with experience the third base debate because the Nationals
3:19
Speaker 1: now have this this looming not a looming hole, seemingly
3:22
Speaker 1: but the offense has clearly taken a big, a big
3:26
Speaker 1: hit here with the loss of Curtis Mead Spencer. Do
3:30
Speaker 1: you yeah sense that other guys are feeling that pressure
3:33
Speaker 1: that they need to step up a little bit more.
3:37
Speaker 2: I don't know if the pressure comes directly from Meat
3:40
Speaker 2: getting traded so much as there is anate pressure with
3:44
Speaker 2: being a spot that these guys haven't been in before.
3:46
Speaker 2: All the deadline chatter, the postseason race, all of those
3:51
Speaker 2: things kind of coming together with with Vivas in particular,
3:55
Speaker 2: though that one, candidly, it's a fair point to bring
3:59
Speaker 2: up because more complicated than some of their other platoon
4:03
Speaker 2: splits were. Like I know, it was a big debate
4:05
Speaker 2: on like Twitter, for example, about Louis versus Chapparo against
4:10
Speaker 2: lefties early in the season, But the under the hood
4:14
Speaker 2: stuff with Chaparro was really good and you've seen him
4:17
Speaker 2: eventually catch up to that right Whereas with with Brady
4:22
Speaker 2: House and Vivas at third base, it's a bit more
4:24
Speaker 2: complicated because while Vivos has had for sure a very
4:31
Speaker 2: good eye at the plate, and it hasn't necessarily translated
4:34
Speaker 2: to stellar production. Uh and the numbers against his numbers
4:40
Speaker 2: against righty's versus his numbers against lefties at least this season,
4:43
Speaker 2: which may be too small a sample, but it's not.
4:45
Speaker 2: It's not that drastic right where Brady's at bats against
4:49
Speaker 2: right hand and pitching, we were pretty poor his first
4:52
Speaker 2: time up. They definitely got better in triple A. The
4:57
Speaker 2: big reason the Nationals are leaning so heavily Plunton splits
5:00
Speaker 2: right now is because you're trying to win every game
5:03
Speaker 2: and prioritize that over development. But again, it gets a
5:07
Speaker 2: lot more complicated when you think about the fact that
5:10
Speaker 2: Vivas hasn't necessarily come up with those spots. So yeah,
5:13
Speaker 2: it's a I think it's a bit trickier of a
5:17
Speaker 2: line and I don't think it's as automatic as Hey,
5:22
Speaker 2: the analytics say this, like I would reason to figure,
5:25
Speaker 2: it's probably a pretty strong debate at least a conversation
5:29
Speaker 2: point within the Nationals they as they sketch out these lineups.
5:34
Speaker 1: Let's jump over to the pitching side of things, because
5:36
Speaker 1: I thought that was certainly a pleasant strong point from
5:39
Speaker 1: last night's loss, given how good the Braves offense has
5:42
Speaker 1: been this season. Jake Gervin, I don't care what this
5:46
Speaker 1: box score says. Here three hits you know how hard
5:50
Speaker 1: they were hitting the ball. He found a nice little
5:52
Speaker 1: gruth there, and I don't think Blake pe Terra wanted
5:55
Speaker 1: to have to run him out there in the sixth inning,
5:58
Speaker 1: given it was the third time through the Braves order,
5:59
Speaker 1: but perhaps where his pitch count was at. Despite the
6:02
Speaker 1: fact that he was limited going into the start, he
6:04
Speaker 1: was pitching with such efficiency. Carson Palmquist, he was great
6:08
Speaker 1: out of the Bulton two innings, just one hit, and
6:10
Speaker 1: Riley Cornelio the Nats didn't have to turn to. Dare
6:13
Speaker 1: I say some higher leverage arms such as Orlando or
6:17
Speaker 1: Balta and Clayton Peter, who you had noted the other day,
6:20
Speaker 1: are really going to be important in this series. How
6:23
Speaker 1: important will it be for them in the next three
6:25
Speaker 1: and given there's not an off day as they had
6:27
Speaker 1: to Philadelphia to preserve those guys in last night's.
6:31
Speaker 2: Game, Yeah, it'll be huge, right. The Braves offense, as
6:36
Speaker 2: we saw yesterday and we've kind of known allseason, has
6:42
Speaker 2: been really, really good in these clutch late situations. I
6:46
Speaker 2: pulled it up the other day. They have I think
6:47
Speaker 2: the second best offensive baseball when the game gets either
6:52
Speaker 2: the seventh, eighth, and ninth or the eighth, ninth and
6:54
Speaker 2: tenth or something like that. Something I should probably know
6:57
Speaker 2: is I'm talking about this on the podcast, but no,
7:00
Speaker 2: they've been really good in these late spots, and the
7:02
Speaker 2: Nationals obviously have struggled in some of these close games
7:04
Speaker 2: these late spots. So yeah, for kind of what the
7:10
Speaker 2: box score of the top line numbers say about what
7:13
Speaker 2: ribolt and Beater have done recently, it doesn't wow you
7:17
Speaker 2: per se like Rebolta's era this month I think is
7:20
Speaker 2: in the mid threes, which is good but not excellent.
7:23
Speaker 2: Beaters I think is in the fours, which again like
7:26
Speaker 2: ideally you want more than that out of your closer.
7:29
Speaker 2: But the under the hood stuff is really good. Just
7:32
Speaker 2: watching them that the stuff has been better. The v
7:35
Speaker 2: low is up, and they've both and i'd say Robolta
7:38
Speaker 2: especially has been really good against lefties, which has been,
7:41
Speaker 2: as we've talked about all season, a real you know,
7:44
Speaker 2: tough point for the Nationals. And so yeah, I think
7:48
Speaker 2: that if the Nationals take a lead today, they should
7:51
Speaker 2: feel pretty comfortable with those guys late, but they're gonna
7:54
Speaker 2: have to step up because this is leverage like they
7:57
Speaker 2: haven't seen before. And candidly like we haven't seen in
8:00
Speaker 2: quite some time.
8:02
Speaker 1: Yes, And no better guy to get the rock after
8:06
Speaker 1: a loss like last night than Foster Griffin, who has
8:09
Speaker 1: the ball later today, Miles Michael is tomorrow, Cade Cavali
8:13
Speaker 1: expected to finish out the series on Sunday. But the
8:16
Speaker 1: bigger question at large here, I think, Spencer, will this
8:19
Speaker 1: be the final time we see Foster Griffin pitching in
8:22
Speaker 1: a national season, at least in the twenty twenty sixth season.
8:25
Speaker 1: What is the laries, What is the latest you're hearing
8:27
Speaker 1: on the trade rumors around his name.
8:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a lot of noise around his name, and
8:34
Speaker 2: even more so than I'd usually say that like oftentimes,
8:38
Speaker 2: and I think I've said on this podcast with four
8:40
Speaker 2: I don't have enough to report where I feel confident
8:44
Speaker 2: because like whatever I say could get aggregated or kenned
8:48
Speaker 2: Ley is just is kind of the how people will
8:52
Speaker 2: read the situation. What I can say confidently about the
8:55
Speaker 2: situation that as I don't think anyone outside of maybe
8:59
Speaker 2: a couple people know for certain what is going to
9:03
Speaker 2: happen at the deadline as it pertains to Foster Griffin. Again,
9:09
Speaker 2: as we've reported, there's almost everything on the table, from
9:14
Speaker 2: an extension to a trade, to keeping him through the
9:18
Speaker 2: year and exploring a qualifying offer. There really is this
9:24
Speaker 2: sense that anything could happen with Foster Griffin, and that's
9:29
Speaker 2: what it is. Both an opportunity for the Nationals where
9:33
Speaker 2: they can really do whatever they feel like is best
9:35
Speaker 2: for the ORG, and also makes it incredibly challenging, where
9:38
Speaker 2: it's hey, can you make sure if you want an
9:41
Speaker 2: extension you get the money in time? If you want
9:44
Speaker 2: to trade, and make sure that you get the right
9:46
Speaker 2: prospects in time. There's a lot on their plates and
9:50
Speaker 2: I think a lot of this is unsettled, which may
9:53
Speaker 2: be tough for a fan to hear. But yeah, we
9:55
Speaker 2: still have forty eight hours to figure out which direction
9:58
Speaker 2: this is going to go.
9:59
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a critical series this weekend, and you know
10:03
Speaker 1: it's not going to get much easier when they head
10:05
Speaker 1: off to Philadelphia for four more after that. But if
10:07
Speaker 1: you're looking for tickets, consider using sea Geek. I'm going
10:10
Speaker 1: to give the sponsor today's video, Seat Geek a huge
10:13
Speaker 1: shout out. With over thirty five million download, sea Geek
10:17
Speaker 1: is the number one rated ticketing app. There are more
10:21
Speaker 1: than seventy thousand events listed on sea geek, including concerts, sports,
10:24
Speaker 1: festivals and more. MLB season is in the thick of
10:28
Speaker 1: it right now at the trade deadline. Sea Geek is
10:30
Speaker 1: also MLB's official ticket marketplace, so your tickets are fully
10:34
Speaker 1: guaranteed and instantly fulfilled in your account after purchase. Also,
10:38
Speaker 1: seat geek has got your back. Each ticket is rated
10:40
Speaker 1: on a scale of one to ten, so you know
10:42
Speaker 1: you're getting a good deal. Look for the green dots good.
10:45
Speaker 1: Look for the green dots. Green means good, red means bad.
10:49
Speaker 1: Plus every ticket is backed by their buyer guarantee. And
10:52
Speaker 1: of course I've got a code for all of you.
10:53
Speaker 1: You can use code Territory ten for ten percent off
10:56
Speaker 1: your next set of MLB tickets at sea Geek. That's
10:59
Speaker 1: ten percent off any MLB tickets with promo code Territory ten.
11:03
Speaker 1: Make sure you click the link in your description to
11:05
Speaker 1: download the app and have the code automatically added to
11:08
Speaker 1: your account so you can use it later. Spencer, I'm curious,
11:11
Speaker 1: were there good Was there good representation from the Nats
11:14
Speaker 1: fandom down there the other night? I know that's always
11:17
Speaker 1: seemed to be a difficult place for the Nationals to go.
11:20
Speaker 1: In and play and the Braves fans can make a
11:22
Speaker 1: lot of noise down there.
11:25
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know it's funny, And yeah, I think I
11:28
Speaker 2: can say this. I spend during these games before the
11:32
Speaker 2: deadline such little time looking out at the fans where
11:38
Speaker 2: my eyes are, and I think this may be like
11:40
Speaker 2: interesting for a fan to hear. In fact, my eyes
11:43
Speaker 2: are one of three places. It is on the game,
11:46
Speaker 2: which will be less than usual. It is on my
11:48
Speaker 2: laptop or my phone, which is more than usual as
11:51
Speaker 2: I'm you know, shooting out text or trying to figure
11:53
Speaker 2: out what exactly is going on, And it is on
11:56
Speaker 2: the dugout like I I think hug watch, for those
12:01
Speaker 2: of you who are familiar with that term, is both
12:06
Speaker 2: kind of a silly thing because oftentimes it means nothing
12:09
Speaker 2: and oftentimes nothing happens, but you're really looking to read
12:13
Speaker 2: into every little detail you can and if you get
12:16
Speaker 2: a whiff of something, you try to track it down.
12:19
Speaker 2: And yeah, so yesterday my eye was pretty squarely on
12:24
Speaker 2: the Nationals dugout, trying to see, hey, are they about
12:28
Speaker 2: to make a change, or as Luis Garcia JUNI, you're
12:31
Speaker 2: hugging anyone in the clubhouse or in the ice excuse
12:33
Speaker 2: me in the dugout or what exactly is going on there.
12:36
Speaker 2: So irrespective of of the fan base, I candidly could
12:40
Speaker 2: not tell you how many Nationals fans were there. But
12:44
Speaker 2: I have to imagine before the deadline, I saw a
12:46
Speaker 2: lot of people on my flight. I saw people I
12:48
Speaker 2: was heading into the stadium, or at least saw people
12:52
Speaker 2: in my hotel that had Nationals gear on. So yeah,
12:57
Speaker 2: I maybe there was good attendance, but I I candidly
13:01
Speaker 2: can't say for sure.
13:02
Speaker 1: Well, one guy that had some good support the other night,
13:06
Speaker 1: Dale and Lyle and as you noted, you joke that
13:08
Speaker 1: he maybe hitting over seven hundred at the games this
13:11
Speaker 1: season where he's got the family in attendance. We know
13:14
Speaker 1: he's been slatching a little bit of late, but it
13:17
Speaker 1: seemed like perhaps he was enjoying himself just a little
13:20
Speaker 1: bit more than he has the past couple of weeks
13:23
Speaker 1: with that extra support last night. How important do you
13:26
Speaker 1: think that was to the game that he had And
13:28
Speaker 1: could this hopefully be the start of something bigger?
13:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I think it's not nothing. Right Like,
13:34
Speaker 2: he has played well in front of his family basically
13:37
Speaker 2: every single time they've come out, and confidence has really
13:41
Speaker 2: been just the biggest thing for him this season, where
13:45
Speaker 2: like his swing so clearly plays when he's at his best,
13:49
Speaker 2: but he's just and he's talked about it again and again,
13:52
Speaker 2: which is why I feel comfortable saying it. He's been
13:54
Speaker 2: in his head kind of all season. I'm still bullish
13:59
Speaker 2: on him. I still think he can figure it out,
14:00
Speaker 2: and I think that with every answer he gives when
14:03
Speaker 2: he talks about this stuff, like yesterday it was, Oh,
14:06
Speaker 2: I know, I don't need to change my bat path
14:10
Speaker 2: or my swing anymore. I just need my head to
14:14
Speaker 2: get in the right spot. Like these are all things
14:16
Speaker 2: that he knows, and I think he's finally potentially starting
14:20
Speaker 2: to get to the point where he has that sort
14:23
Speaker 2: of confidence behind him. And when you have your family
14:25
Speaker 2: in the stands, as he mentioned when we were in Cincinnati, like, oh,
14:29
Speaker 2: that kind of puts everything in perspective where it's like,
14:31
Speaker 2: let me just go out there, let me try my best,
14:33
Speaker 2: let me clear my head, and if I do that,
14:36
Speaker 2: usually good results follow. So I know it's been a
14:39
Speaker 2: frustrating season for him at the plate, no doubt, But
14:43
Speaker 2: I will continue to say through the rest of the
14:46
Speaker 2: season and probably next season as well, this is a
14:50
Speaker 2: guy that's going to figure it out. I just don't
14:51
Speaker 2: know exactly when that's going to happen.
14:56
Speaker 1: Well, really quickly, I am going to bring up the
14:58
Speaker 1: nationallye's standings because I think it is worth noting that
15:01
Speaker 1: despite the Nationals are nine and a half back in
15:03
Speaker 1: the East and find themselves two and a half back
15:05
Speaker 1: of the wild card picture if they played in the
15:08
Speaker 1: American League Central, they find themselves just three games back
15:13
Speaker 1: of the Chicago White Sox if I'm not mistaken, If
15:15
Speaker 1: my math is adding up correctly, there of record reflecting
15:20
Speaker 1: the Minnesota Twins. How what have you heard or how
15:24
Speaker 1: unique is this trade deadline for you to cover given
15:29
Speaker 1: the gap in talent between National League teams and American
15:33
Speaker 1: League teams this season.
15:35
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's weird because it's because the because the pool
15:42
Speaker 2: of talent, or I should say the teams are so
15:44
Speaker 2: bunched up in both the American and National leagues because
15:48
Speaker 2: you have a bunch of mid American League teams and
15:50
Speaker 2: a bunch of slightly above mid National League teams. You
15:55
Speaker 2: find yourself in a spot where there are so many
15:58
Speaker 2: teams in contention. And that's why I've argued since the
16:01
Speaker 2: beginning that despite the frustrations for fans or for the clubhouse,
16:07
Speaker 2: there is real merit when you think about the team's
16:10
Speaker 2: potential championship window for doing a mix of buying and
16:13
Speaker 2: selling that potentially leans a little bit heavier on selling, right,
16:19
Speaker 2: And that is largely because you have all of these
16:23
Speaker 2: teams that want to buy. I still think the Nationals
16:25
Speaker 2: would be smart to grab some like controllable leavers at
16:28
Speaker 2: the deadline and maybe see what what else is out there.
16:32
Speaker 2: But it is really unique, given the third wild card,
16:35
Speaker 2: given all these teams bunched up in each league, given
16:40
Speaker 2: the small small number of teams that are truly rebuilding,
16:44
Speaker 2: right to have this sort of competition this late into July,
16:49
Speaker 2: but I think it's really good for the sport, right,
16:51
Speaker 2: And like we talk about parody all the time when
16:53
Speaker 2: it comes to labor or the lock out that could
16:57
Speaker 2: be looming, or all these different things. Like at least
17:00
Speaker 2: when you watch during the regular season, and I would
17:01
Speaker 2: argue during the postseason as well, but especially the regular season,
17:04
Speaker 2: the game feels like it's in a really healthy place
17:06
Speaker 2: and that's really exciting for Nationals fans, but probably for
17:11
Speaker 2: I don't know, twenty four different fan bases across baseball.
17:15
Speaker 2: It's a really good time a year.
17:17
Speaker 1: Yeah, really quickly before we start to wrap up, one
17:21
Speaker 1: to remind our wonderful listeners and viewers to subscribe to
17:24
Speaker 1: the District Territory Show on YouTube once we hit a
17:27
Speaker 1: thousand subscribers or you know, hopefully not like Kunk Tuesday
17:31
Speaker 1: Mornings episode, maybe I'll be forced to give away this
17:34
Speaker 1: Eli will it's signed baseball card. Hopefully not. I'd hate
17:37
Speaker 1: to see us lose that chip down on the farm.
17:40
Speaker 1: It's Spencer. Final final thoughts as we wrap up here today,
17:45
Speaker 1: the Nationals need to continue to force the issue and
17:49
Speaker 1: hopefully can straighten the ship out tonight.
17:52
Speaker 2: Yeah, we are kind of at the point where the
17:54
Speaker 2: games both matter immensely and also the deadline plans are
18:02
Speaker 2: like it's hard to say just how much these will
18:05
Speaker 2: sort out what the Nationals do with the deadline. And
18:09
Speaker 2: so for me, when I think about what to watch
18:13
Speaker 2: for me, so much of it is that Foster start
18:17
Speaker 2: tonight right where it's like this is that final push
18:21
Speaker 2: for him for the organization before the deadline. There's there's
18:27
Speaker 2: just so many different options with that guy, as we
18:29
Speaker 2: just talked about and Yeah, there'll be an immense amount
18:34
Speaker 2: of pressure on him, and I think, like we've seen
18:36
Speaker 2: all season, it probably will have zero impact on the
18:39
Speaker 2: way he actually pitches out there, which is why a
18:42
Speaker 2: contender could you know, give up a ton for him.
18:47
Speaker 1: The Nats were able to keep matt Olsen pretty quiet
18:49
Speaker 1: last night, and pretty quiet some deep flyouts, but man
18:53
Speaker 1: as a Nat killer over the years, I'm excited to
18:56
Speaker 1: watch those battles later on tonight. Hopefully some left online,
18:59
Speaker 1: not left on left crime pitching. Let's see some good
19:03
Speaker 1: left on left pitching. You know, it's a hitters game,
19:05
Speaker 1: hard not to root for that by instinct. But until Tuesday,
19:09
Speaker 1: we'll be recapping all of the trades the Nationals hopefully make.
19:13
Speaker 1: I'm excited for an active and busy deadline. Take care
19:15
Speaker 1: of yourselves, everyone, See you later.