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Nationals Bats Breakout in a Giant Weekend Series at Arizona · District Territory

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: In today's episode of District Territory, we have got a
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: recap of a thrilling weekend series in Arizona. The Nationals
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: are seven too and one in their last ten victories.
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: We've also got some fan questions that you all asked
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: in last week's episode. On Friday, I'm going to give
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: you a preview of Monday night as the Nats head
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: in the San Francisco to take on the Giants. But
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: let's get into it. Welcome back to the District Territory podcast. Today,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: I'm joined by Kevin Franzen of the Washington Nationals. Spencer
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Nusbaum with the Athletic headed out west to join you
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: in San Francisco today. But Kevin, how you doing on
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: this Monday morning.
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: Oh, I'm good.
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: I'm home, so every time i'm here it's nice.
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: Thank you for joining me. Bright and early.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: I want to kick it off with Friday night's game
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: because the Bats are out out and about early a
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: fourteen to one victory. Luis Garcia Junior got the party
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: started with the two run homer in the first inning
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: to go, and then James would the next inning top
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: of the second cut the Nets out to a three
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: to nothing lead Kevin. How is James able to get
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: to these pitches above the zone, I mean so so
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: easily and then hit it out to straightaway center?
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: Well, I mean number one.
• 1:17
  Speaker 3: I mean it's not that high compared to like an
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: average hitter, right, an average hitter that's over their head.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: For him, it's chest high.
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: So you know, Sarah Langs put out that tweet like
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: it's the highest pitch hit this year. But again, it's
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: not like a crazy swing because it's not a crazy
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: chase for James Wood. How is he able to hit
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: it out? I mean, he's a damn good hitter. He's special.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: He's every you know adjective you can find about being
• 1:43
  Speaker 3: just great. And he puts himself into these spots, and
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: he leverages his himself, you know, in spots, and he
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: gets himself into a situation where he feels like you
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: can take a chance.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: And he does it. And so, yeah, I think the
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: other night was one of those, you know moments where
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: we got to see the true.
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: Full display of team power and take advantage of some
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: mistakes made by you know, diamonbacks pitchers.
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Overall, just some really really hard outs in this series.
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Not to say there haven't been hard outs over the
• 2:20
  Speaker 1: course of the season. But man, I mean, the ball
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: just sounds good in that ballpark over at Chase Field.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: I love how it sounds.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: The echoes there resume here in the top of the
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: fifth inning, daleen Lyle adding to the offensive explosions seven
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: to one, and then next inning, in the top of
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: the sixth, Luis s Garcia Junior his second of the
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: game left on left crime. That was a rude welcoming
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: for Abner. That was the second outing of the season,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: if I believe. But man, is it fair to say
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: this was a career night for Louis Franny? I mean,
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: two home runs stuff to be grand slam.
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: I mean, he's had some pretty good ones. He had
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: a three home run game last year.
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: He had a a six hit game, what three years
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: ago in uh in Kansas City.
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: So I think it rakes up there. I wouldn't I wouldn't,
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: you know, go against it.
• 3:08
  Speaker 3: But uh, look again, I think a part of the
• 3:11
  Speaker 3: whole thing is that the matchup that day was right
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: for him, you know, and and you see that, you know,
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: Blake puts him in the two hole for most most
• 3:22
  Speaker 3: of the starts. But then there's these games where he'll
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: bring him down or not even play him. I mean
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: he goes six rb I and can't even play the
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: next day because the matchup was not right. And that
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: that's the part that is intriguing me more than anything,
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: is just the way that Blake is continuously put these
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: guys in the great spots. And I think that's a
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: testament to him and not talked about enough. Is that, Like, look,
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: it's easy to put a guy in six six rb
• 3:48
  Speaker 3: I and two home runs the day before. But if
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: EDWARDO Rodriguez is up there against the left on left
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: and the guy struggles against lefties and you save.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: Them from that, that's that's that's a good managing job. Yeah.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: And what's been fascinating for me as well is if
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: I look back at Friday night's box score, the substitution
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: of like a Curtis mead for Jose Tenna earlier on
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: to get him some rest in a game that you
• 4:13
  Speaker 1: know the Nats are probably gonna win, get made some looks,
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: and then to see him get in on the action.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: I mean he has just been balling out.
• 4:20
  Speaker 3: I mean, like that that's the stuff though, is it's
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: not even about getting an action it's like putting, you know,
• 4:26
  Speaker 3: ten in a better spot and him in a better spot.
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: So taking ten out of versus lefty and curs meat
• 4:31
  Speaker 3: in there. So I mean, it's more about that than
• 4:34
  Speaker 3: it is about getting rest and getting reps.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: I did forget that was a counter to the Diamondbacks
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: pitching move at the time, but it didn't feel like
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: with the way the bats have been rolling, the way
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: the pitching has been rolling over the course of the
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: last month or so, I just felt like the Gnats
• 4:51
  Speaker 1: were in control that game early on, especially the way
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: they played in Game ones, and that wasn't their last
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: home runt of the night or even at the inning.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: C J Abrams just smacking this ball. We talked about
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: him on this show playing before, talked about being an
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: All Star for Ranny, But what's your case for this
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: guy to be in Philadelphia in a couple of months
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: or a month.
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: My case is, bring anybody else that's even close to
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: him in the National League as far as the shortstop, like,
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: there's no one, and with Ellie going down with injury,
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: that was probably his only competition there. But it's gonna
• 5:23
  Speaker 3: be you know, probably Trey Turner and Mookie Betts and
• 5:26
  Speaker 3: Dansby Swanson that are gonna get all the votes in
• 5:28
  Speaker 3: the world because the fans are going to be there
• 5:30
  Speaker 3: at their games, and it's.
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: Up to Nats fans. This is up to Nats fans.
• 5:34
  Speaker 3: This is this is a testament to them coming out
• 5:38
  Speaker 3: and voting and getting them into the starting lineup because
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: to me, him and James Wood, there is zero, zero,
• 5:46
  Speaker 3: zero reason those guys should ever be on the bench
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: for this game. They should be starting getting their name introduced,
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: running out to the line.
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: Yeah, like you said, this is a direct call out
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: to Nats fans. This one is on you all. It's say,
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: it is a popularity contest, but you got to get
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: your name out there, and Matt's fans you got to
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: help with that. You got to vote these guys in.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: So vote Nats, get them in here in Philadelphia. But yeah,
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: terrific game Friday night, and the Nats continued where they
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: left off on Saturday, six to one victory, Curtis Meade
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: getting the party another two run home run in the
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: first inning, just wallopping left handers all season long, and
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: then in the top of the seventh inning, Dylan Cruz
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: providing some much needed insurance at the time, making the score.
• 6:31
  Speaker 2: Three to one.
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: He got every stitch of this one to it right
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: off the bat four thirty two. He was just one
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: for his last seventeen coming into that at bat. And
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: I know the sample size has been small since he
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: returned to the big leaguees Franny, but there have been
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: some load outs. But you know, that had to feel
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: good for Dyling on Saturday.
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's too much.
• 6:49
  Speaker 3: There's too much nippicking about every bat of his by
• 6:53
  Speaker 3: fans in the Twitter community.
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: I see.
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: It's they're jackasses when it comes to this. Let the
• 6:59
  Speaker 3: kid have these these moments of just getting out there
• 7:04
  Speaker 3: to play. I mean, we're not even one hundred abs
• 7:10
  Speaker 3: and to him being back, not even close, and yet
• 7:13
  Speaker 3: everyone has to you know, oh, he's doing this, he's
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: doing this more, he's doing this. It's like, shut up,
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: just enjoy please. This is not what it's supposed to
• 7:22
  Speaker 3: be for a kid like this. He's special and the
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: contact's going to be there, he's gonna get out. It's
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: gonna be one of those things. Once he gets on
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: a roll, it's gonna be like oh seeah, we told you.
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: It's like, just let it play out.
• 7:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I just want to remind the people on the
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: Twitter community there have been some really loud outs here.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: If you go back and look at stackcasts and they've
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: just been hit right at guys and elevate and celebrate
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: as you like to say on the broadcast. Got that
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: one up in the air and enjoyed it. Got the
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: help to get the Nats and women on Saturday Sunday, Nats,
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: We're not as victorious. It was a revenge game for
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: former NAT Michael Soroka. D Backs won five to one.
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: Corbyn Carroll finally getting in on the home run action
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: with the d Backs, not to say that was their
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: first series, but getting them out to an early won
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: nothingly in the first inning, but that was no match
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: for CJ. Abrams his second of the season, tying the
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: game promptly. But in the bottom of the fifth inning
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: Gabriel Moreno, this didn't feel like the Dagger at the time,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: but certainly separated them. Gave them a four to one lead. Again.
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: They would go on to win five to one. But Franny,
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: any notes you take away from yesterday's loss, anything of
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: significance in that game. Offense just sort of sputtered against
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: a guy that's been rolling all season long.
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: They sputtered, they hit the balls hard, but I mean
• 8:43
  Speaker 3: it was more on Michael. Michael was just awesome. He
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: had them up down East West, all that stuff he
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: had going yesterday, and so yeah, it was just one
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: of those games where you just you worry about, you know,
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: could they have done things better yesterday? In certain situations?
• 9:02
  Speaker 3: I think yeah. I think first and second situation with
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: Louis Garcia junior up after not even a close miss
• 9:10
  Speaker 3: by Soroca and he goes first pitch swinging and pops
• 9:13
  Speaker 3: up to third basement, I think that that really crushed
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: everything they had. And that's been a problem over his career,
• 9:20
  Speaker 3: is these moments like yesterday. It was early on you
• 9:23
  Speaker 3: could tell that he was not into it, but it
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: was about not being into it. Just wasn't that Louis
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: Garcia locked in like he was Friday night, rolling over
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: for a Grand Balldole play. Then his first A B
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: and then that's the stuff they cannot have. They can't
• 9:38
  Speaker 3: have that over and over, you know, for this to
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: be right.
• 9:43
  Speaker 1: Yeah, Otherwise at the end of the season, think you're
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: gonna find yourself sitting right there at eighty one and
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: eighty one, which I will take. I'll take that if
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: you told me that coming to the season eighty one
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: and eighty one, but that's right now, thirty three and
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: thirty three back at the five hundred mark. Take a
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: look at you.
• 9:59
  Speaker 3: I mean, if few even took over like sixty five,
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: was that win total that they're you know, projected to have.
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: I mean, that's the stuff is like where where are
• 10:08
  Speaker 3: we at? Like if you if you're going to be
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: like if we're eighty one and ey one, well I'll
• 10:12
  Speaker 3: take that. It's like, yeah, you'll take that because it's
• 10:14
  Speaker 3: a hell of a lot better than what the projections
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: were at the beginning of the year, and we need
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: to be better at that. As far as you know,
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: talk about like this, it's not about record. It really
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: is not about record for this year. It is about
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: literally finding out what your pieces are moving forward, especially
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: minor leagues. And we've had, you know, so many promotions
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: in the last like just twenty four hours of forty
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: eight hours I think is indicative of the actual growth
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: of the team and franchise this year.
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, as soon as we come back from this break
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: really quickly, going to get into some prospect talk. But
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: I want to give a real quick shout out to
• 10:48
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• 12:08
  Speaker 1: we are back Heaven. As I was saying before the break,
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: it's goin it some prospect talk. We actually had some
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: questions from fans in last Friday's episode about prospects, but
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: Spencer tweeting out and as you mentioned before the break,
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: Eli Willets promoted to Hi A Wilmington. Devin Fitzgerald also
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: on the Move Up. We talked about him on this
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: show before, and Spencer wrote a really good piece in
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: The Athletic the other day. The Washington Nationals just wrapped
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: up their best month in almost three years, so perhaps
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: their farm system has receded. To the back of your mind,
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: Probably shouldn't, Kevin. Have you been down to the minor
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: leagues at all this year? I mean obviously down at
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: stright training. You got to see them, but I do
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: every game due to every game. I mean, these the
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: guys down there are putting up really impressive numbers. A
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: lot of promotions over the course of the weekend. One
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: of the fan questions we had, let me jump to it.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: We'll get to that one in a moment. When will
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: will it be up? The short answer not.
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: This where not in the big leagues? Yeah.
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: I just threw that one in there because I thought
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: I was amusing after the promotion yesterday, we got the
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: question on Friday, I'm not.
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: Here eighteen years old. I'm not sure. Yeah.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: Not the ways to go A long ways to go
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: until Eli's in the big leagues. But in terms of promotions,
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: I think this is a good sign. You can see
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: him getting up to uh double A maybe by the
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: end of the season. Do you see a world where
• 13:32
  Speaker 1: that happens for you?
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: No, just let it be where it's at at high
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: This is not the old, the old way of doing
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: things where it's the No. They have to do things
• 13:43
  Speaker 3: that they have to in the case like this that
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: Fredericksburg they win, right, they win their their division, which
• 13:50
  Speaker 3: I think is paramount for young guys to experience that.
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: And then you get the promotion after that. This is
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: a now just go and see what you could do here.
• 14:02
  Speaker 3: This is not a you know, we're trying to rush
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: into the big leagues. It's not how it's supposed to be.
• 14:08
  Speaker 3: What what was before was definitely the not the normal
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: part of it where if you had a great week
• 14:15
  Speaker 3: you got moved up, and if you had a great
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: week there, it's like, oh, we're gonna rush it.
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: I mean, you're not gonna do that.
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: These guys need to be.
• 14:24
  Speaker 2: Better consistently at levels. They need to graduate.
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: They need to check off every box and you can't
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: skip steps and and you know, Eli did everything at
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: low A and I think that's where we need to stop.
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: Is once he gets this move.
• 14:39
  Speaker 3: Up, don't worry about the promotion to the next spot.
• 14:42
  Speaker 3: He needs to number one, play number two. He needs to,
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: you know, dominate this league. You know, in Hi it's
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: going to be a challenge. You know, this is a
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: great challenge to have. And so double A should not
• 14:54
  Speaker 3: be in the conversation till it is.
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I would agree with that take as well. Just
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: wanted to acknowledge that fans question this one. I did
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: find a bit more intriguing. Will Joey Weimer be back
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: up this season. Definitely see the scenario where that could happen. Happen,
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: give him the way he was hitting the ball earlier
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: this season. But Franny, you see, we think we see
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: a return of Joey to the big leagues at any
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: point this season, not less there's an injury. You saw
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: him more just as a filler guy for those first
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: couple of months.
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that's what a good organization has though,
• 15:31
  Speaker 3: is they have depth in the minor leagues, you know,
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: and whose spot is he going to take?
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: Is it? That's the question?
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, unless there's some serious injuries. I'm not sure if
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: it's happening either. I want him to just mash the
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: ball like the way that he did in April to
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: see it happen. I'm not saying it's impossible, but I
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: think it was a really fun run that we had
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: there with Joey for the first couple of months of
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: the season. Now we're getting into the good questions, the
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: juicy ones. What role does DJ Hurris play if and
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: when he returns from injury. What role does he play
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: I'd say a pretty critical one given the state of
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: the Nationals bullpen right now, and especially left handed pitching.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: Just seeing is hey, you could always use more left
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: handed pitching.
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: Am I wrong? Or am I wrong? No, you can
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: always use more.
• 16:20
  Speaker 3: His role is not gonna be as critical as people think,
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: because we got to think about this too. He's rehabbing,
• 16:24
  Speaker 3: he's rehabbing Tommy John. It's it's you know, he'll probably
• 16:28
  Speaker 3: be in like a Mitchell Parker Brad Lord, but maybe
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: lower leverage situation earlier, you know, piggyback off somebody.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: Maybe he's an opener.
• 16:40
  Speaker 3: One of the things that we knew from DJ Hurs
• 16:42
  Speaker 3: is that like first time through the order, he just
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: dominated people, right, So maybe we see more opens out
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: of him one time through and that's part of his
• 16:50
  Speaker 3: his rehab process. But yeah, I wouldn't I wouldn't look
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: into it as being like this this vital role for
• 16:57
  Speaker 3: I mean, he's still you know, coming back and in
• 17:00
  Speaker 3: doing these rehab outings right now or just starting his
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: rehab outings. So yeah, critical is not the word I
• 17:07
  Speaker 3: would use. I think he is going to be a
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: part of it, and I think that's the part we
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: have to again when someone's coming off of Tommy John
• 17:17
  Speaker 3: with the you know, the future is really the thing
• 17:21
  Speaker 3: that matters in this not just about the now. You
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: know he's going to be he'll have a role, but
• 17:27
  Speaker 3: what role is at is going to be up to
• 17:30
  Speaker 3: you know, what they determined him to be in his health.
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I may want to roll back the use of
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: the word critical there given the outlook, as Franny has
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: mentioned throughout the course of this episode, what the goals
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: are to give them this season? But I just love
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: left handed pitchers, man. You know you can never have
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: too many of them.
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: So did I. I loved hitting off of.
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: Them the last question we got, man, This one is
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: is a bunch of questions packed into one, but there
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: were some good ones in here. Until recently, it seemed
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: the Gnats would trade CJ before the deadline. It seems
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: that sentiment has changed and now there is an increasing
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: speculation that the Nats could sign CJ to a long
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: term deal. Could you discuss this?
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: Also?
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: Could you discuss whether CJ's recent improved defensive performance could
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: be could remain Could he remain a long time big
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: league shortstop without being switched to another position? Like I
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: think this dude's arm has proven and his range is proven.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: He can be a big League shortstop for a good five, six,
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: seven years to come. But I don't think within this
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: organization there's really much of a concern to be moving
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: them around it positions, even with the guys coming up
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: in the depth chart.
• 18:48
  Speaker 3: Well, I mean that's the that's the interesting part of
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: this because you know, overall of evaluator evaluators would rate
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: CJ as a very average to blow average shortstop. Arm
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: is okay, footwork has gotten so much better. Could he
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: stay there? Sure, it's all up to him and and
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: and his abilities to continue to get better. But I
• 19:12
  Speaker 3: also think that his best position could also be second base,
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: could be center field. You never know, And that's what
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: you know, the Nationals have to decide. He has a
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: long way still to go. I mean this is you know,
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: early parts of the year weren't great, but we're starting
• 19:27
  Speaker 3: to see better angles out of him. They're at shortstop.
• 19:29
  Speaker 3: Could he stick their long term?
• 19:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 19:34
  Speaker 3: But if he feel like the value for him might
• 19:36
  Speaker 3: be at his highest when you know, he if and
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: when they choose to to move into second base or
• 19:42
  Speaker 3: or or they have the replacement behind him until then, Like,
• 19:45
  Speaker 3: I think he's been fantastic compared to the years past,
• 19:48
  Speaker 3: but I still think there's a long ways to go.
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: I mean, I've I played with some of the best
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: shortstops to play this game. You know, Brandon Crawford and
• 19:56
  Speaker 3: Omar Vris Squel, you look at Eric Ibar, you know
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: those are Jimmy Rawlins. Those are all guys that I
• 20:02
  Speaker 3: look at as being some of the best defensive shortstops
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: to play.
• 20:07
  Speaker 2: And he's not there.
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: And there's still He's still twenty five, so there's still
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: room for him. But what we've seen as far as
• 20:15
  Speaker 3: the growth, absolutely he's been fantastic. And do I wish
• 20:19
  Speaker 3: that they were able to sign him long term, Yes,
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: I wish that, but if it's in the plans, right,
• 20:28
  Speaker 3: Like I I'm not gonna sit here a question to plan.
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: Everything that they've talked about and and been very genuine about,
• 20:34
  Speaker 3: they haven't gone away from. So if you know all
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: the trade talked during the off season where he was
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: very upfront, Paul Taboney was with you know CJ, and
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: you know how what they were, you know, thinking what
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: they were doing, I think has created this trust between
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: the two of them and the entire organization. I think
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: that is that is amazing. So they didn't sell him
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: you know in the off season for a reason they
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: didn't get enough number one because they think that highly
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: of them. And number two it's going to take a lot.
• 21:03
  Speaker 3: And you know, organizations on the other side of this,
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: who knows what they want to do and don't I
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: don't see teams giving up what we want in that,
• 21:12
  Speaker 3: you know, for him right now. Maybe in the winter time,
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: but yeah, CJ is too big of a piece for
• 21:20
  Speaker 3: this franchise right now. It's hard to think about, like
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: the trades, unless you were blown away by.
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: It piece of the trade? Do you want to own
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: a piece a future piece at the Nationals. Don't forget
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: to hit the subscribe button, folks. If you're a new listener,
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: we are giving away an Eli Willets sign baseball card
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: once we hit one thousand subscribers. NAT's taken on the Giants.
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: Later today we got Miles michaelist and Logan Web on
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: the bump. Logan Web turning in some solid outings as
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: of late, Miles michaelis on the other side one and five.
• 21:57
  Speaker 2: But the six, nine to three, what.
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: Are going to heat the keys to the game for
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: the Nats later tonight, Franny.
• 22:04
  Speaker 3: Well, they got to get underneath they got to get
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: underneath a living web. I mean, fifty nine percent ground
• 22:08
  Speaker 3: ball rate. They got to be able to pick him
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: up in the zone. Uh, he's an ace. There are
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: very few of them in the in the game. Uh,
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: he's one of them. And no matter. You know, he's
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: coming off his second outing post injury. So he went
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: what four and a third in Uh, I think it
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: was Colorado, And then you know, pitch really well against
• 22:29
  Speaker 3: uh the Brewers and the Brewers, you know the Brewers
• 22:33
  Speaker 3: Brewed which what what do they just battle? They make
• 22:36
  Speaker 3: sure that they're you know, taking their best hacks. They're
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: gonna fight you there. You know, he goes, but he
• 22:42
  Speaker 3: ends up going seven with one hit, strike out, struck
• 22:45
  Speaker 3: out four, walked one around the zone. They just fought him,
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: but he dominated right and and you know they he
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: earned every bit of it. This is a guy this year.
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: When he's ahead and the count one fifty six average,
• 22:57
  Speaker 3: no home runs. Uh, it's a three slug. When he's behind,
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: it's a three forty one average for five to twelve sucks.
• 23:05
  Speaker 3: So you can't be up there going first pitch hacking.
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: That's just gonna be a ground ball all day. And
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: if you go up there and and and play into
• 23:11
  Speaker 3: that he's gonna be in the eighth inning at seventy pitches.
• 23:16
  Speaker 3: And so they've they've been so good at being able to,
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: you know, get deeper into a into a pitch kind
• 23:24
  Speaker 3: of a guy, especially early, but a guy like Logan
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: Webb you have got too early on.
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: You have got to.
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: Hone in on on bringing him up in the zone
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: to actually get things going.
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think just team at bats has kind of
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: been the key to a lot of these victories over
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: the past couple of weeks and keeping the line moving.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: I mean, as is the case in all victories, but
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: especially against an ace like you said, Franny, you gotta
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: wear him down and get into that bullpen in Game one.
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: That'll be helpful for Tuesdays and Wednesday Tuesdays and Wednesday's
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: games really quickly. Gonna take another quick break to shout
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• 25:18
  Speaker 1: And we are back time for some final thoughts. Franny,
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: back home, you know, back home in SF. What's it
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: feel like to be there and just you know, fond
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: memories mean, you know, playing there in San Francisco over
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: the course of the years, do you have a you know,
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: I want to ask you to pinpoint one favorite memory
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: or one favorite game in that ballpark. But is there
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: anything that stands out to someone that's never been there before,
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: because I still haven't made it out there.
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: It's probably the greatest view that you'll ever have out
• 25:45
  Speaker 3: of a booth or out of the stands, any spot
• 25:47
  Speaker 3: that you're going to be there.
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: It's a different vibe, especially when they're good. It's not
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: a I wouldn't say.
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: A bandwagon jumping you know, fan base, you know, as
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: far as the energy. But when when things are going
• 26:03
  Speaker 3: good and it feels like everyone's on the same page,
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: whether it's fans and team and all that stuff, that's
• 26:08
  Speaker 3: when the place has energy and it's a it's a
• 26:11
  Speaker 3: fantastic place. I mean, it's just it's it's awesome. It
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: doesn't matter to any time of the year. If it's
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: gonna be cold, it's gonna be cold. Uh, take in
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: a day game then, because most day games are beautiful.
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: Yeah, just from the stories I've heard, kind of get
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: like a Rigli esque feel from those fans, you know,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: show up early, you know, just you know, be not rowdy,
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: but rowdy in a good way supported of the team.
• 26:33
  Speaker 2: Uh.
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: But yeah, that's the stories just seem similar. And again
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: I cannot attest to either one. It's a shame I
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: haven't visited you either of those ballparks yet. Uh.
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: Looking ahead, Nats have a three game set West Coast
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: late night Gnats before an off day on Thursday to
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: return home for some Inner League play against the Mariners
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: in the Royals, and another off day before they start
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: a long stretch of East Coast road trip games. Give
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: our online viewers to look at the National League East
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: standings as of this morning. That's at thirty three and
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: thirty three, smack dab in the middle of the National
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: League East, and hey, don't look too early, it's too
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: n eighth, but wild card standings Nats are just a
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: game and a half outside of the picture. Franny, one
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: last question before you go, do you know what game
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: number this is later today for the Nats?
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: Sixty seven thank you. It's about all I had.
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: You know, yesterday was like a national holiday. I got
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: like a couple of messages and questions saying, hey, can
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: you ask the players about six to seven? That'd be
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: the last question I think I'd ever asks.
• 27:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I would, I would hope, I would hope that'd
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: be the last thing.
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that'd be the last one. That'd be it for me. Sorry, sorry,
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: bat Boy fans. There's no six seven content coming, but
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: hope you all enjoyed this episode. You know, we'll be
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: back on Wednesday recapping the Giant series, perhaps previewing Wednesdays.
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: We don't have our recording time figured out just yet,
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: but feel like a post game could be in order.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: Hopefully we have Spencer back, Franny, anything you want to
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: talk said before we head out.
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: I'll give good good start to the trip this uh
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: in Arizona. Hopefully they can win another series on the
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: road to be what going on now? Nine Hopefully nine
• 28:12
  Speaker 3: Roads series wins after this one.
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's remarkable and I'd look to keep it wrong
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: later on today, But until Wednesday's episode, we will see
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: you later.