Latest / Foul Territory / FT at Nationals camp: POBO Mike Rizzo, Closer Kyle Finnegan

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FT at Nationals camp: POBO Mike Rizzo, Closer Kyle Finnegan · Foul Territory

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Wine was worth you know, seven fifty and he took
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: it and he's one of the great players in the game.
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: I love him. I brag about that was the first
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: one to sign him for you know, for a lot
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: less than that.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Here we go National's All Star closer Kyle Finnegan with
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: us on Foul Territory back on the show. Hey, great
• 0:21
  Speaker 2: to see you. And also you're back at NAT's camp.
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: So what was the last you know, a few weeks
• 0:26
  Speaker 2: for you, Like.
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: It was hectic, you know, just at home, trying to
• 0:32
  Speaker 3: stay ready and work through the free agent process and
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: you know, just trying to take my time with my
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: with my agent and figure out the best landing spot
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: for me. And you know, I wasn't complaining about getting
• 0:43
  Speaker 3: an extra two weeks at home with the family and
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: the kids. So, you know, spring training's long enough as
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: it is. So I was ready to go.
• 0:50
  Speaker 4: Where did it look like you were gonna go? Because
• 0:52
  Speaker 4: I'm looking at your hair, and the first thing I
• 0:54
  Speaker 4: think is, man, the Yankees always build their bullpen. I'm like,
• 0:58
  Speaker 4: I don't know they would have had to cut that,
• 0:59
  Speaker 4: like Samson's locks off there.
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: You know, early on the you know, a bunch of opportunities.
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: But then you know, as guys, you know, teams get
• 1:10
  Speaker 3: their guys, and names stop start to come off the board,
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: so to the team. So the options, you know, started
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: to narrow, and there were some some fits that.
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  Speaker 1: We really liked.
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: And you know, I always knew that the Nationals would
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: be would be an option, and we stayed engaged all
• 1:23
  Speaker 3: off season and happy to be back here so I
• 1:26
  Speaker 3: can keep the flug going for a little bit longer.
• 1:29
  Speaker 5: What was that like?
• 1:29
  Speaker 6: I want to know, because people that don't know you
• 1:31
  Speaker 6: were non tendered. I was non tendered once, but I
• 1:36
  Speaker 6: never got to get numbers, but I saw what you
• 1:39
  Speaker 6: signed for. Did you get to the point of the
• 1:42
  Speaker 6: Nationals where you even discuss numbers, because where you go
• 1:45
  Speaker 6: to the net, sorry, people that don't know you go.
• 1:47
  Speaker 6: You would go to the team and say I want
• 1:49
  Speaker 6: twenty five million, and the Nationals to come back and say, oh,
• 1:51
  Speaker 6: we want to offer you two million, and then you
• 1:53
  Speaker 6: try to meet somewhere in the middle. Did it ever
• 1:54
  Speaker 6: get to that point before they Because to me, you
• 1:56
  Speaker 6: were kind of a surprise non tender. I thought you
• 1:58
  Speaker 6: made the All Star team. Yet what thirty eight saves
• 2:01
  Speaker 6: last year? You would think that that would be again
• 2:02
  Speaker 6: they'd want to stick around here.
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think, you know, the arbitration process isn't perfect,
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: and I think certain things are overvalued and and I
• 2:10
  Speaker 3: think Saves is unfortunately one of those, which was, you know,
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  Speaker 3: the thing I did the best last year. So it
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: was a possibility. I knew it was a possibility going
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: into it. You know, they're they're running a business as well, and.
• 2:24
  Speaker 5: I think.
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  Speaker 3: They wanted to keep an open mind as you know,
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  Speaker 3: using that money to they could bring me back at
• 2:31
  Speaker 3: maybe a lower price and still still help build the
• 2:33
  Speaker 3: team somewhere else. So it was it was a surprise.
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  Speaker 3: But at the same time, I wasn't you know, I
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  Speaker 3: didn't have any animosity towards the team.
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  Speaker 6: Because why not that that's that would to me? I mean,
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  Speaker 6: I know non tendered me, and I was like, I'm
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  Speaker 6: out of here. I would never have gone back.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I think at the you know, I knew that
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  Speaker 3: they would still be an option like on the table,
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  Speaker 3: and at that point, you know, you become a free agent.
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  Speaker 3: You know, it's just kind of level playing field and
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  Speaker 3: you want to get the best offer you can get.
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  Speaker 3: So if it was the Nationals grade, if it was
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  Speaker 3: somebody else. You know, it was just kind of a
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  Speaker 3: let's see how this process plays out and see where
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  Speaker 3: we go.
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  Speaker 4: Did you make the right choice because you said there
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  Speaker 4: were some other offers in the sense of like other
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  Speaker 4: teams that wanted a guy, did you, because we look
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  Speaker 4: at the ones that are outward facing, are the huge
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  Speaker 4: ones like Wan Soto got offered four hundred million and
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  Speaker 4: then ended up signing for seven hundred as this offseason
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  Speaker 4: played out, were there bigger offers in what you got
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  Speaker 4: or better offers as far as like you're comfortable within that?
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  Speaker 4: I get that, you know, the org like this team
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  Speaker 4: would have been more of like an upper echelon team.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: No, I think I made the right decision, you know,
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  Speaker 3: thinking about all the factors, you know, financially, and then
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  Speaker 3: you know, places that we feel comfortable and the role
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  Speaker 3: and you know, all things considered, I think this was
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  Speaker 3: an up being the best landing spot for me. So
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  Speaker 3: happy to be that.
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  Speaker 6: Can you tell us the other teams that we're talking
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  Speaker 6: to you, I don't understand why know, when everyone's like, oh.
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  Speaker 5: I can't say who else was interesting?
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  Speaker 1: Why not?
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  Speaker 5: I mean, you know, I want to know.
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  Speaker 3: It's it's all the teams that you see that we're
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: looking for bullpen you know, but there's like different stages
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: of teams called the check in on you, and some
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  Speaker 3: teams are you know, start talking numbers. So it's kind
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  Speaker 3: of hard to be like.
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  Speaker 6: Yeah, you know, who do we guys, who do we
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  Speaker 6: have on that? They said, Oh, Jack Flaherty. Jack Flaherty
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  Speaker 6: said he had a hard time this free agentine. He said, yeah,
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  Speaker 6: teams are just calling, so what's going on? Yeah, age like, well,
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  Speaker 6: he's throwing bullpens and he's ready to go and he's healthy.
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  Speaker 5: What's going on with you? Guys are like, okay, we'll
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  Speaker 5: check back later. And that was it. There was no
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  Speaker 5: any engagement.
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  Speaker 3: There's a lot of that, just you know, casual conversations,
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  Speaker 3: just checking in, like keeping you you know, kind of
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  Speaker 3: like teams letting you know that they're thinking about you,
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  Speaker 3: but not necessarily at the point of let's start negotiating.
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  Speaker 6: They send you like a card, Yeah, they we're thinking
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  Speaker 6: about keep us in mind.
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  Speaker 5: It's like a recruiting process.
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  Speaker 6: But was it You had never been a free agent before, right,
• 5:07
  Speaker 6: so you was it different than you thought? Because I
• 5:09
  Speaker 6: always tell people I was a free agent A bunch
• 5:10
  Speaker 6: of times, and it's not.
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  Speaker 5: Everyone thinks, oh, you can go to whatever.
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  Speaker 6: You can go to the Dodgers or the Yankees, or
• 5:15
  Speaker 6: the or the Gnats or wherever. You just pick wherever
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  Speaker 6: you want to go. And I try to explain to
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  Speaker 6: you it doesn't work like that. It's it takes them to
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  Speaker 6: want you, and then you have to agree on a
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  Speaker 6: number and you have to want to go there. Was
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  Speaker 6: it different than you thought it was going to because
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  Speaker 6: I'm sure when you got non tended you were like,
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  Speaker 6: you're you're and your wife and your family was like, oh,
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  Speaker 6: this is great, we can go to you're from, you know,
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  Speaker 6: right to Houston area. Oh I could go to the Astros,
• 5:35
  Speaker 6: or I could go here, I could go there. And
• 5:37
  Speaker 6: then they're like, wait, they didn't call, so now now
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  Speaker 6: where do I go?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah?
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  Speaker 3: I think you know, as a player, you know that
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  Speaker 3: playing for your hometown team is like something you always
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  Speaker 3: want to do, or you know you have a team
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  Speaker 3: that you grew up liking, or so when you get
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: to free agency, that's that's I think it's only human
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  Speaker 3: to think that that's the first thing that comes to mind.
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  Speaker 3: But then it's like you said, it's you know, teams
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  Speaker 3: are looking for certain things. They got certain dollars they
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  Speaker 3: can spend. They you know, gms are given their their budgets,
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  Speaker 3: and so you start with a you start with a
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  Speaker 3: big list, and then it starts to shrink and you
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  Speaker 3: kind of dial in on a few teams that you
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  Speaker 3: think would make sense and that also have interest in you.
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  Speaker 3: And at the end of the day, it was, you know,
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  Speaker 3: the Nationals made the most sense.
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  Speaker 1: Kyle.
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  Speaker 2: I know, you don't strike out the entire world. And
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  Speaker 2: sometimes it bothers me that teams, you know, all say, oh,
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: we got to fix this pitching injury epidemic. And then
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: the way that they value free agents sometimes bothers me.
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  Speaker 2: Jose Kintana is a perfect example. We named some names.
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  Speaker 2: I won't go back to it, but there are quite
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  Speaker 2: a few pitchers that sign for more that just frankly,
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  Speaker 2: are not as good at run prevention as Jose Kantana.
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  Speaker 2: Where do you think we're at state of the game
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  Speaker 2: with the way that front offices are valuing pitching.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think you know, it's stuff first and foremost,
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  Speaker 3: they you know, strikeouts. Guys that strike people out and
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  Speaker 3: don't give up damage are doing really well in free
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: agency and you know, that's the testament to to where
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  Speaker 3: like training has gone in this day and age, and
• 7:09
  Speaker 3: you know, guys are just bigger, stronger, faster and can
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: do with the technology. You can just dial in on
• 7:16
  Speaker 3: on things that produce with and swing this. And so
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: you've got these extremes, I think. And you know, for
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  Speaker 3: someone like me, I'm always working, you know, to try
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  Speaker 3: and get my my stuff nastier. But for me, like
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  Speaker 3: I pride myself in being a guy that that answers
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  Speaker 3: the bell every time. And and you know, the best,
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  Speaker 3: my best ability is my availability. So you know, I
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  Speaker 3: may not be striking out the world out there yet,
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: but I've been healthy and and and feeling good. And
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: that's something that's been really important to me throughout my career.
• 7:51
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• 8:51
  Speaker 5: What's the most important attribute?
• 8:53
  Speaker 4: Being able to throw one hundred or being able to
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: be a guy that has a different mindset and able
• 8:58
  Speaker 4: to lock in. Because you took a lot long time
• 9:00
  Speaker 4: to get to the big leagues. You're twenty eight years
• 9:03
  Speaker 4: old by the time you finally made it, so you've
• 9:06
  Speaker 4: had those ups and downs. But what's what's in your
• 9:09
  Speaker 4: closer role? What's better to have just elite level stuff
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: or that mindset.
• 9:17
  Speaker 3: I think the mindset is huge because you've seen guys
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: that have the stuff that maybe get thrown into the
• 9:24
  Speaker 3: role and there's stuff plays down or or it starts
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: to speed up on you. So I think guys that
• 9:29
  Speaker 3: are able to slow down the game and understand the
• 9:32
  Speaker 3: situations and just have that calm heartbeat and like a
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: huge belief in themselves because you know, it can get
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: going pretty fast there. And the strategy of you know,
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: the score and the situation plays into how you're going
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: to attack a hitter or if you're going to put
• 9:49
  Speaker 3: a guy on. And it's just different little intricacies in
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: the ninth inning that are different than say the seventh
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: and eighth. But you know, having crazy stuff certainly helps.
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: But I think there's there's so thing more too to
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: the ninth inning.
• 10:03
  Speaker 5: Totally totally all right. That leads me to the experts
• 10:05
  Speaker 5: before we're gonna get to your light show.
• 10:07
  Speaker 6: And I'm sure Crowdsy, I think Krowtsy might ask the
• 10:10
  Speaker 6: same question, But I'm gonna ask you about as a closer.
• 10:12
  Speaker 6: People say, oh, anyone can close. There's a difference between
• 10:15
  Speaker 6: the ninth inning and the eighth, the seventh to sixth inning.
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, I mean I think if you ask any
• 10:22
  Speaker 3: reliever if they'd rather throw the seventh or the ninth,
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: they're gonna tell you they want to throw the ninth.
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: And I think for me, something I lean on is
• 10:30
  Speaker 3: like I enjoy being the guy that the manager's trusting
• 10:36
  Speaker 3: to be out there in the ninth inning. You know,
• 10:39
  Speaker 3: sometimes sometimes it goes great, sometimes not so great, but
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: you know it's just you want you're you're out there
• 10:46
  Speaker 3: and you're just trusting in the in the plan that
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: that you and the staff have have come up with,
• 10:52
  Speaker 3: and it's just being in being the ultimate competitor, you know,
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: during the ninth inning. It's it's what everybody he wants
• 11:00
  Speaker 3: and you can feel the excitement pickup and.
• 11:03
  Speaker 5: You say, it's just different. I'm just say this real
• 11:05
  Speaker 5: quick before crowds. He goes.
• 11:06
  Speaker 6: Do you say that people say they want to pitch
• 11:08
  Speaker 6: the night. There's plenty of people I played with and
• 11:10
  Speaker 6: you've played with. They're like, I'm good in the sixth
• 11:12
  Speaker 6: and the seventh. Okay, I'm just gonna stay there.
• 11:15
  Speaker 5: Yeah.
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: I mean, you know, I guess it's not for everybody,
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: but for you know, a back end guy, I think
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: you would want as many guys that won't grad ninth
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: as possible.
• 11:27
  Speaker 4: All right, we're gonna we're gonna show that video again
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: that we just showed real quick. Here two things, did
• 11:32
  Speaker 4: you pick this light show out and like? And if
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: you didn't, do you like it? And the second thing,
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: you walked right by the bullpen cart? Will you ever
• 11:41
  Speaker 4: ride the bullpen cart?
• 11:42
  Speaker 5: In? So I did.
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: I picked the song and they our crew here with
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: the Nationals cued up the lights to the to the
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: what's the song? It's Tomorrow by Silverchair.
• 11:57
  Speaker 5: Never heard it, but I'll take your word for it.
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: It's pretty good. I enjoyed it. But the cart, I've
• 12:04
  Speaker 3: taken the cart one time and it was it was
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: like a tribute to do you know. We all took
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: the cart and actually I've took taking it twice. Steve
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: Steve c Schek, all time teammate. He said it was
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: his last year. He was thinking about hanging it up,
• 12:24
  Speaker 3: and he was like, you know, boys were taking the
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: cart today and we took it. We listened to Steve.
• 12:29
  Speaker 5: That's awesome.
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: I love that, Kyle. Awesome to see you. Thanks for
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: closing out the show with us, dude, and good.
• 12:35
  Speaker 5: Luck and I wish we could get the lights.
• 12:38
  Speaker 6: You know, Mark bought these cheap lights, so we can't
• 12:40
  Speaker 6: get them to change colors, right, so they're only white.
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: Sorry, guys, we'll save it for the Sea guys.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: Nationals longtime front office leader Mike Rizzo with us back
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: live on foul Territory. Mike, great to see you and
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: ask campaign so far. You like the team that you
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: put together?
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, all good? You know with this there's point
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: in camp. But no injuries is a good thing. And uh,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: guys are playing with energy and trying to get their
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: work done. It's it's it's nice. It's a nice. There's
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: a good vibe in camp.
• 13:10
  Speaker 5: How do you have such a good tam because you
• 13:11
  Speaker 5: just told me you have a two year old? Yeah,
• 13:14
  Speaker 5: like two one?
• 13:15
  Speaker 1: Two years old? Yes, yes, wow my boy Sonny Wow. Yeah,
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: well I'm out in the son all day, all day,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: all year, so yeah.
• 13:26
  Speaker 6: Wow, I can't imagine having a two year old. I
• 13:29
  Speaker 6: just I've been through it.
• 13:33
  Speaker 5: I mean yeah, I'm like, yeah.
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: No, it's a trainer. That's a trainer. AJ A best
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: way to stay and chape run around with.
• 13:40
  Speaker 5: The cha chasing around.
• 13:42
  Speaker 6: Yeah yeah, all right, Well let's get back to baseball
• 13:46
  Speaker 6: now because I'm kind of in the state of show.
• 13:48
  Speaker 5: So what's been the thing for camp? What? What? What?
• 13:50
  Speaker 5: What's maybe? What's the everyone You go to the camps
• 13:53
  Speaker 5: and everyone's like, Oh, how's the mood's gray? Where this?
• 13:55
  Speaker 6: What's what's kind of the theme? What are you guys
• 13:57
  Speaker 6: looking to see or accomplished in this years camp? Before
• 14:00
  Speaker 6: you break to start the season.
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: You know, it's a good time of year. You know,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: you've been through it. It's my forty third spring training.
• 14:06
  Speaker 1: You know, it's spring training is great, it's you know,
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: everyone's optimistic, it's it's but it's it's really time to
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: get your work and to really set the foundation of
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: what we're trying to do and accomplish this year. And
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: I think that, you know, Davey's a good messenger, he's
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: you know, he's always the upbeat guy and uh and
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: uh you know players love playing for him. And I
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: think that when when we start a camp, you know,
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: we want to get you know, a couple of things,
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: you know, uh, out in the forefront right away, it's
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: you know, you know, we're we're we're here to compete
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: this year. You know we're not you know, you know,
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: I'm not on this on the radio saying that we're
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: the best team and we're going to win the World Series,
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: but but we're going to compete every day to win
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: every game. And and you know, uh I remember in
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: twenty twelve, you know, I want to you know, all
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: the analysts and all the all the systems and picked
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: us to win, you know, seventy one games we winn,
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: winn ninety eight and the division and playoffs and that stuff,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: and so.
• 15:01
  Speaker 5: We're, uh, you know what the Cardinals. No, that wasn't
• 15:04
  Speaker 5: the Cardinals.
• 15:05
  Speaker 1: That was the Cardinals year in the playoffs. Yeah, we
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: had the game five, we had the leading game five,
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: and we lost. Sorry, that was uh, it was a
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: painful time in my life.
• 15:13
  Speaker 5: Pretty sorry, I'm sorry.
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: We got back in twenty nineteen, so yeah, that was
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: you know, it was a year we weren't you know,
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: we were we were young and up and coming and
• 15:24
  Speaker 1: that type of thing, and things clicked and we went
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: on a run with one of the most games of
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: anybody in baseball. So uh uh, you know, the messages
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: is to uh, you know, Davy says all the time,
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: keep you know, you know, be where your feet are
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: every day, want to know all that stuff. But that
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: that really translates for us, and uh and uh, you
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: know kind of put beside. We don't want to hear
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: that we're rebuilding and wait to the future. And in
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: the future is today at one o'clock when we played
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: you know, we played the Cardinals, So that's kind of
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: our mood. And uh, you know what we've laid in
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: front of these guys, and uh, I think they've you know,
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: if they've taken it to heart. And you know, we've
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: got and we've got one of the youngest teams in baseball.
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: But I think that that's that's no excuse for not
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: playing the game the right way, not having the right attitude,
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: not coming to work every day, you know, ready to
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: you know, you know, really compete against the opponents.
• 16:17
  Speaker 4: You're you were a player, so you still have that
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: competitive now okay, now can you hear me?
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: Now?
• 16:24
  Speaker 4: Yes, perfect, You were a player, so you still have
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: that competitive drive in there.
• 16:30
  Speaker 5: Did you have a good off season this year? Do
• 16:32
  Speaker 5: you look at it that.
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: Way as like as as a GM president of Baseball
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: Operations who's making moves to build a team. Did you
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: have a good off season if you don't necessarily execute
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: everything that you were looking to do in that particular offseason.
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, first of all, yeah, I am extremely competitive,
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: probably too competitive at times. But yeah, you know, we
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: we attacked the off season this way. You know, we had,
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: we had a budget to spend, we had we had
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: a lot of money from ownership. They gave us, you know,
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: they gave us our payroll and uh and you know,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: our my job is to do, uh, do the best
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: I can with the money I was given. And uh, look,
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: not only to win today, but win tomorrow and in
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: the future and be a be a sustainable, championship caliber club.
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: And we think that we checked off a lot of
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: the boxes that we that we wanted to check off.
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: And uh, you know, we're we're gonna give our young
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: core group of guys a real opportunity to play and
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: uh and get at bats and get innings under the belt.
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: But brought in some veterans to to help that process along,
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: you know, a learning process. You know, some veterans in
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: the middle of the lineup, some veterans in the bullpen
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: to help us win games when we're supposed to win them.
• 17:41
  Speaker 6: I have to ask because I as as a as
• 17:44
  Speaker 6: a baseball fan, you guys were like my sleeper pick
• 17:46
  Speaker 6: to make a big splash infe agency this year. I
• 17:49
  Speaker 6: was talking one of the big guys that were out there.
• 17:51
  Speaker 6: It didn't happen, which is fine. You have your budget,
• 17:54
  Speaker 6: you have you have to do what you have to do.
• 17:56
  Speaker 6: But are you disappointed because when the Nationals you mentioned
• 17:58
  Speaker 6: to do total when you guys not really good, you
• 18:00
  Speaker 6: go get Sures or you go get Corbin. You bring
• 18:02
  Speaker 6: in guys from outside the organization to help you get over.
• 18:05
  Speaker 5: The hump and win the World Series?
• 18:07
  Speaker 3: Right?
• 18:07
  Speaker 5: Is it time now?
• 18:08
  Speaker 6: With the core that you have of Cruise and Wood
• 18:11
  Speaker 6: and Ruiz and some of the Mackenzie Gore and some
• 18:13
  Speaker 6: of the other pitchers coming through, and some of the
• 18:15
  Speaker 6: young guys you still have coming Morales and House and
• 18:18
  Speaker 6: some of the other guys, is it time for the
• 18:20
  Speaker 6: Nationals to go out and make that splash again like
• 18:23
  Speaker 6: they did with Worth right and again sures are and
• 18:25
  Speaker 6: all these other guys. Is it getting to that point
• 18:27
  Speaker 6: where now we have a core, we need to go
• 18:29
  Speaker 6: supplement it with some veteran guys that can help us
• 18:31
  Speaker 6: get to the next level.
• 18:32
  Speaker 5: Which for the.
• 18:33
  Speaker 6: Nets now, because listen, you did it, you won the
• 18:35
  Speaker 6: World Series, So now that is the goal for the Nationals.
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: It's definitely the goal. It's always been the goal before, during,
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: and after, you know, since we won it. And you know,
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: nobody likes rebuilding, nobody likes losing games and wait till
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: next year and that type of thing, and we certainly don't.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: We're I think we're getting to the point where you say,
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: where you when you see an opportunity to make yourself
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: so much better for not only for that particular year
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: of what for years going forward. That's what we're That's
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: what we're looking to do when when the we've we've
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: always been aggressive when the opportunity knocks and when when
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: it's time for us to go Billy being told me
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: a long long time ago, when you see your when
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: you see your opening and your green light, step on
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: the gas and go for it. And I think that
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: we employed that that concept, you know, back in twenty ten,
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: twenty eleven, going into twelve and thirteen, and when we
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: we systematically when our young kids popped and they became
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: good players and allotted us to you know, go into
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: the free agent market and and kind of hand picked
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: the guys that not only fit for us positionally, but
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: fit for us between the lines in the clubhouse, in
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: the community and taught us how to become champions.
• 19:48
  Speaker 4: One of the guys that you dfaide, one of the
• 19:51
  Speaker 4: guys you dfaide this off season was Kyle Finnegan. Can
• 19:56
  Speaker 4: you walk us through the process of an ORG saying Okay,
• 20:00
  Speaker 4: we're gonna d f a you, but then come back
• 20:03
  Speaker 4: to him and say, oh, yeah, you were a closer.
• 20:06
  Speaker 5: We'd love to have you back.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: Well, you know the the again again. You know, we
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: we we all have we all have payrolls and we
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: have to adhere to and we felt that that you know,
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: uh at at his arbitration number, Finney's arbitration number, we
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: we could we could uh uh have more bang for
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: our buck using it somewhere else. And uh and then
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: when this the off season went through, we made some
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: uh kind of uh judicial bullpen helps and tweaks and
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: that type of thing. Uh, but always stayed in contact
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: with with finn Uh I have. I have a great
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: affinity for him and and uh, you know, he he's
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: a guy who fits kind of the uh you know
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: them o that I like in in in our players.
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: He's uh, you know, he's ultra competitive, takes the ball
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: never says no. Uh, you know, grinds it out and uh,
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: you know that twenty seven thousand is no joke. I
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: think it's you know, it separates a lot of relief pitchers.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: He's been, you know, he's been the guy on the
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: mound thirty out of thirty out of forty three times.
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: You know, got the final out for us, which is
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: which is a skill set in itself. So always kept
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: in contact with him, was always professional with him, and
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: with great respect. Even when when you dfa guy or
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: release a guy or whatever, trade a guy, you know,
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: there has to be that mutual respect between player and
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: general manager. And I think that at least from my side,
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: you know, I have nothing but respect for him and
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: his family. Always treated Finny in a professional way, gave
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: him an opportunity. If people remember when he was he
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: was a kind of a perpetual minor league player. Who
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: gave him that that one big league contract to get
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: him over here, and he just he just ran with
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: it with the help of Hickey and and do little
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: in those guys Ricky Bonus in the bullpen, helping him,
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: you know, develop some pitches. And you know, he had
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: that demeanor that was was conduced to get that twenty
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: seventh out an attitude, right, yeah, he has he has
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: an attitude and that definitely. Yeah.
• 22:07
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 22:07
  Speaker 6: We just had Nathaniel Lowe in here and he said
• 22:11
  Speaker 6: he was surprised he got traded here.
• 22:12
  Speaker 5: Why him? Why? Why? Why? Why? Nathaniel? I know he's
• 22:15
  Speaker 5: he's an awesome dude.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: So yeah, great guy, great guy. Had a lot of
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: good reports on him. You know, we we uh had
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: a lot of relationships with people in Texas and said
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: have they rave about him? But he kind of feeled
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: the skill set they were looking for, you know, kind
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: of two way player. Uh, that it can excel offensively
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: defensively with a young core of infielders.
• 22:36
  Speaker 5: You know how that is.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: Uh. You know, having a good defensive first basement over
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: there really changes the dynamic and that didn't field. I
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: think it will improve us, not only because he's at
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: first base and a Gold Glove winner and a and
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: a great defender, but because the the the ease of
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: of of of mind for the rest of the infielders.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: Let it fly, you know, just keep it down and
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: he's gonna he's going to help you out. And and
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: that thing. Uh, and the left handed bat that you
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: know it draw some walks, see some pitches, grinds out
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: at bats, he's got he takes really good at bats.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: And uh, and he's got some power and and a
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: guy that will hit in the middle of our lineup
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: and kind of eased the ease the burden of the
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: of the younger guys, you know, along with Josh Bell
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: and h and a couple a couple other veterans.
• 23:23
  Speaker 2: Hey, mike Wan Soto is forever a part of National's history.
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: You guys made a really really big offer to him
• 23:31
  Speaker 2: several years back. What was your reaction, you know, a
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: few months ago when you saw the final number for him.
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're you're only worth with someone's willing to give
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: you someone wanted to give. Thought one was worth you know,
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: seven fifty and and he took it. He's one of
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: the great players in the game.
• 23:49
  Speaker 5: I love him.
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: Uh, I I brag about that. Was the first one
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: to sign him for you know, for a lot less
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: than that. When he was sixteen years old, he turned into.
• 23:57
  Speaker 5: Offered hundred million or whatever it was.
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, we did, and uh and uh, but I
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: like the first sign when we were sixteen, we offered
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: him some money. We got him to sign, and we
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: developed him and he turned into a star before our
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: very eyes, you know, culminated in in a World championship
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: and uh, you know, uh, Juan and I will always
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: have that. So got nothing but fond memories for him.
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: Now we want to you know, we want to stick
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: it to him when we play when we played the Mets,
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: you know, one hundred and fifty times a year, it
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: seems like, but we'll be seeing a lot of Wan
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: and uh and but one of the one of the
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: great young men in the game.
• 24:32
  Speaker 2: The other part of that storyline, Mike, for me is
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: when Soto faces a team that has many players that
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: were received in that trade with the Padres. So what
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: have been your thoughts on the way that trade has
• 24:45
  Speaker 2: worked out for your franchise.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: Well, I think it worked out great for both sides.
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: You know, the Padres, you know, we're aggressive. They got
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: what they wanted to get, and we, you know, we
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: were we were in the market to uh to get
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: a bevy of aspects for him, and I thought we
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: we did a good job. I mean, you look at
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: the the talent level of the guys that we received back.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: I still think we're you know, we're still they're still
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: bearing fruit. But I see, I think everyone sees the
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: the skills set, the tool set, and UH and the
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: and the the impact they have on our roster each
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: and every day. And when you know, you get five
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: good players and a big leader that that they threw
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: in uh for for a guy, that's really all you
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: can ask for. And UH when when you trade a
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: guy like Juan Soto at his age, with his with
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: his service time and control left, you better get a
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: good a good haul for him and uh and oftentimes
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: no matter what you get for him, it's not enough.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: But we think that we did. We did as good
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: a job as you could do trading uh a a
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: superstar like jan.
• 25:51
  Speaker 5: So, okay, last one and we're gonna let you go
• 25:53
  Speaker 5: because you have a lot of work to do. Yes, No,
• 25:56
  Speaker 5: you can't.
• 25:56
  Speaker 6: You can't say, Frank Thomas only since you've been with
• 25:58
  Speaker 6: the Nats, best player you've drafted or signed, because you've
• 26:02
  Speaker 6: got You've got Harper Strasburg was really good when he
• 26:07
  Speaker 6: was healthy. I mean, Rendon, there's there's a lot of
• 26:11
  Speaker 6: swan So do we just mentioned so the best in
• 26:13
  Speaker 6: the national era of you? Who do you think is
• 26:16
  Speaker 6: the best player that you've drafted or signed.
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: Well, well, it's uh, Harp's won a couple m v
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: P since then. Juan's been great. Rendon was fabulous for
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: us for six years. I drafted Sersier back in the day.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: He's got three s. Trey was a trade, but he
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: was he was unbelievable before.
• 26:37
  Speaker 6: You really drafted him, because he traded for him, like
• 26:39
  Speaker 6: before he even played a game where we already traded
• 26:41
  Speaker 6: for him.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, it's uh, you know, I always get
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: to ask this question, you know, the Mount rushmore of
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: the Nationals and and all that stuff. But uh, but
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: we know we've we've run We've run a lot of
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: superstars through this organization. Uh. And when you say, you
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: know the guys that I've signed, it's a wee thing here.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: It's you know, it's never it's never me, it's us.
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: And uh, I a lot of times just put the
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: final you know, they get me to the two yard
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: line and I go over the I go over the
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: for the touchdown. But we had a lot of great
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: players here and we're pick one. I'm going to pick
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to pick one one.
• 27:18
  Speaker 5: Wesh.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, uh, you know the cy young winners
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: that I've had, you know, mad Max I. Uh, and
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: then you sign them draft. We're paying them. We'll pay
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: them for a couple more years. Brandon Webb was a
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: cy young winner. He was filthy, he was filthy. Uh.
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: Strauss was great, Jordan Zimmerman was great.
• 27:39
  Speaker 5: Uh.
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: You know, we've had we've had a lot of We've
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: been lucky here. We've we've done we've done some good.
• 27:42
  Speaker 6: Things at Bryser How about this Brayser.
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: One Bryser one, I'm going to say it's a tie.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: Oh my god, really talking about two time m v
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: P and uh and uh, you know, one of the
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: one of the best hitters on the planet to to
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: this day. So I I couldn't. I couldn't. I couldn't
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: decide between the two.
• 28:01
  Speaker 5: Got a great resume, I really could.
• 28:03
  Speaker 6: Listen, you've got a great I mean we didn't even
• 28:04
  Speaker 6: talk about Frank Thomas. I wouldn't let him because he
• 28:07
  Speaker 6: did sign Frank Thomas, so I can't even include that
• 28:09
  Speaker 6: in the conversation. I mean, it was a first ballot
• 28:11
  Speaker 6: Hall of Famer along with some of those other guys.
• 28:13
  Speaker 6: So you've had a nice run. Thank you very much,
• 28:15
  Speaker 6: che for joining US, and good luck to them as
• 28:16
  Speaker 6: it's pleasure.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Thanks Mike, good to see it. Thanks guys,