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Who the Nats do, don't need to replace after roster cuts · 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 today I'm joined by Spencer
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: Nussbaum of The Athletic and some exciting news for the
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Nationals this morning out of the baseball world. CJ Abrams
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: and James Wood are both named Silver Slugger finalists in
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: the National League and the Nationals as a team. were
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: also named finalists for the Silver Slugger Award. It was
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: an incredible season for CJ. Started at shortstop in the
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: All-Star Game, finished with 33 home runs and 106 RBIs.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: An incredible campaign to watch him put it together for
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: 162 games, Spencer. I think he's got a real shot
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: at winning this award for the Nationals.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I was going to say that's the
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: exciting part if you're a Nationals fan, right? Or I
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: guess if you're CJ or James, you know, individually is... uh,
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: you know, there is decent competition in both fields, but, um, yeah,
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: CJ absolutely has a shot at winning at shortstop. I
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: think LA De La Cruz is probably his main competition there. Um,
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: and in the outfields, again, there's three spots. So you
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: never know exactly how it'll shake out, um, or how the, uh,
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: you know, voters and, uh, Louisville will kind of land on,
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: you know, who deserves the award, but, um, Yeah, I mean,
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: super cool that they're nominated. I think it's even cooler
• 1:22
  Speaker 2: that they'll both have a real shot at winning. Yeah,
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: I mean, it's kind of just like the perfect encapsulation
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: of the national season, right, is recognizing these two guys
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: who really led the way, you know, especially in the
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: first half. But, you know, to a certain extent throughout
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: the whole season, yeah, you know, well-deserved awards for award
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: nominations for both of them. Yeah.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Yeah. I know that James maybe fell off a little
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: bit towards the end of the season, but man, he
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: was just on a roll there in the summer and
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: it was an incredible season for him too. You wonder
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: what he looks like if he can figure it out
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: there late in August and September. Is he a 40
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: home run? Is he a 50 home run sort of guy?
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: I think the sky's the limit with him, but it's
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: exciting to see what these guys' futures will bring in
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: 2027 whenever we have a baseball season.
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: Right, and that's the thing is both of them are
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: still on the ascent where you know, CJ had the
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: best season of his career offensively by a decent margin. Um,
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: but it still feels like there's more in the tank,
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: whether it's, you know, adding a little more strength, cutting
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: down on again, some of those ground balls and especially
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: the chase habits. Um, and especially those habits in the
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: second half, um, hard things to work on, but the, the,
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: you know, feels like there's more in the tank there
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: as well as obviously defensively, as we've talked about a
• 2:41
  Speaker 2: ton on the show. Um, and with James, yeah, I don't,
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: I don't know what the ceiling is, but I, Can
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: tell you right now it's not 30 homers. It probably
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: isn't 40 homers. Is this to say he'll ever have
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: a 50 homer season? I don't know. But it's fair
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: to speculate on that with him in a way that
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: it probably isn't for 99, 99.5% of players in baseball.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: And so, yeah, even if he doesn't win the Silver
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: Slugger this year, man, it feels like he'll be in
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: the running for the next 10 if everything shakes out
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: the way it's supposed to. Yeah.
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: Just got to find a way to keep that guy
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: a national for the rest of his career. Ownership has
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: got to make that happen. Ownership was also busy in
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: other departments this week. The roster had to be cut
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: down to 40 players ahead of the Rule 5 draft,
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: and the Nationals announced they are designating Jose Tana for assignment.
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: He spent two and a half seasons with the Nationals.
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: Spent a lot of it coming off the bench this
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: previous season, so you feel for him in that regard
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: that He maybe wasn't able to get regular at-bats and
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: sort of get into a groove, but the Nationals just
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: traded for a very similar profile player, and there just
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: wasn't much room on the roster for him, but his
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: departure was something that we had discussed a bit on
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: this show before as far as moves that the Nationals
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: would have to make to slim down their roster.
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think we're going to kind of get into
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: this for the rest of the episode, right, is how
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: these 40-man moves fit in, and Um, candidly, I hope
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: people don't turn off the show when you say this,
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: like these, these are to a certain extent, marginal moves, right? Um,
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: they're also the moves that, you know, certain organizations win
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: and more than that. Um, I think we can look
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: at the sort of profiles, the nationals let go, um,
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: not even just the players, but the types of players
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: they let go, uh, and kind of speculate and walk through, Hey,
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: is this a type of player the nationals want on
• 4:38
  Speaker 2: their roster next year? Or is it someone. or a
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: certain type of player who maybe they should be moving
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: on from, or maybe who they don't need because of
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: what else they have on the roster. I think in
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: Tena's case, I mean, it's kind of similar to Vivas,
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: and we were surprised at the start of the season
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: that both he and Vivas were on the roster to
• 4:56
  Speaker 2: begin with, you know, together. And I think if you're
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: thinking through what is the replacement next year, do the
• 5:05
  Speaker 2: Nationals want two left-handed hitting infielders off the bench? I
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: think there's a world for that, but I think they
• 5:11
  Speaker 2: need to have different profiles where, you know, Furman and Vivas,
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: there's probably only room for one of those two. And
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: I think there is real validity to having a left-handed
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: slugger off the bench. I just don't know that Tena
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: was able to have the sort of power production or
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: candidly the outfield experience as well that the Nationals need
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: in a spot like that. So if you want, you know,
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: a left-handed hitter, off the bench, someone who doesn't play
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: all that regularly, but really, really, really kind of dominates
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: those matchups. I think there's room for it, but I
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: candidly don't see it as a priority when I think
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: about the roster or the bench in particular. And I
• 5:50
  Speaker 2: think that's part of why they moved on.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: Yeah. His time here in DC will be missed, but
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: we have other players that will be able to fill
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: in those roles as we get rolling into the 2027 season.
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: Really quickly, I'll just remind everyone before we get into
• 6:06
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• 6:08
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• 6:11
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• 6:14
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• 6:17
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• 6:20
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• 6:25
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• 6:36
  Speaker 1: what we have. See if you want to rep the show.
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: Another move the Nationals made, they announced that Mitchell Parker
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: was placed on waivers and he was claimed by the
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Atlanta Braves over the weekend. When he came up into D.C.,
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: there was some promising stuff that we saw from him.
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Last season, he was operating mostly out of the bullpen.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: Of course, he pitched in that disastrous game in San
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: Francisco that a lot of Nationals fans remember. But he
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: just couldn't really find the strike zone in 2026. And ultimately,
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: the Nationals had to move on from him. But maybe
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: the Braves can find a spark down in Atlanta with
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: the Southpaw.
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: Exactly. And I think, again, if we maybe move on
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: to archetype, because I think it's pretty easy for Nationals
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: fans to figure out why Parker was let go. I
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: think it was pretty... narrow to see him either make
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: it and thrive in DC or candidly, I mean, he
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: needs to get healthy. Um, and the nationals want to
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: churn the back of that, um, 40 minute roster and,
• 7:32
  Speaker 2: and figure things out this winter, you know, in a
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: transaction form. Um, but yeah, in terms of the type
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: of player Parker is, I mean, he was someone who, um, again,
• 7:42
  Speaker 2: kind of from that high arm angle, but more than that,
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: just someone you really needed to get length and needed
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: to get length, um, from the, you know, left side,
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: like you, you needed, um, someone who is both a
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: long reliever and a lefty. That was kind of the
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: Parker role. That's a role that I think to a
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: certain extent can be valuable because I think, you know,
• 8:04
  Speaker 2: and we'll get into this a little bit, I think
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: with pooling as well. You know, having someone who can
• 8:10
  Speaker 2: only get lefties out, who can open, I don't, I'm
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: still kind of working through the value of that, but
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: I will say someone who can get both handed hitters out,
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: but especially lefties who can work through a lineup, uh,
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: once through the order, meaning you get basically nine guys out.
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: If there's a team that has a bunch of left-handed hitters, um,
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: that still has value. And so I think if you're
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: the nationals, you look at what will Dion had this year. Um,
• 8:35
  Speaker 2: and you say, Hey, we're still figuring out his role.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: We don't know exactly if he's, you know, going to
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: be a three out guy, a nine out guy, exactly
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: how we'll work them. But, um, when you have someone
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: who can fit multiple roles, one of them as a
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: three out guy, one of them as a, candidly like
• 8:51
  Speaker 2: a better version of what Mitchell Parker.
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: Gave you this season.
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: Um, I have to imagine if you're the nationals, you're,
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: you're quite comfortable with that in the bullpen. And that's
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: why we, you know, when we talk about the a
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: side of the bullpen next year, it will probably include, um,
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: you know, outside arms, but we think about the top
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: four arms in the nationals bullpen right now, Eric, I mean, it's,
• 9:11
  Speaker 2: it's Revolta, obviously it's Cruz, obviously it's Coleman, obviously. And
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: that fourth spot, I don't know if it's obvious for
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: nationals fans, but, um, Just again, from talking to people
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: on the org, my own understanding of the game, Deion
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: just feels like that kind of fourth A-side guy right now.
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: And I would be shocked if he didn't have a
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: big role in the Nationals kind of 2027 bullpen. So
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: he is kind of that upgrade over Mitchell Parker, and
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: I think that's part of why the Nationals were comfortable
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: moving on from him.
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, what you saw from Deion after the trade last
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: season was pretty impressive. His ability to go in and
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: get three outs, or if you were asking him to
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: work through the order full time, It was brilliant stuff
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: from him. And to give you that left handed angle
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: down in the bullpen was important for them. And yeah,
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: I think he fills the role that uh, Mitchell Parker
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: is departing from quite well, whether they're asking him to
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: open up games or if it's going to be multiple
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: innings and relief. Uh, I think the nationals can count
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: on will Dion to get the job done. Uh, he
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: was really quite impressive down the stretch last season. If
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: you look at the, uh, Other moves the Nationals make,
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: as you mentioned, P.J. Poulin clears outright waivers and he
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: elected free agency. Ken Waldachuk cleared waivers and is headed
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: to AAA Rochester. Paxton Schultz was claimed off of waivers
• 10:28
  Speaker 1: by the Cincinnati Reds. And Drew Millis and Matt Waldron
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: have been reinstated from the 60-day IL. The P.J. Poulin
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: move to waivers is the one that confuses me a
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: little bit. I remember when this guy was healthy earlier
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: in the season. He was really good opening games for
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: the Nationals. We just didn't see much of him from
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: the second half because of the injury. But I guess
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: walk me through maybe the process of the Nationals moving
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: on from him.
• 10:53
  Speaker 2: So I will say one thing I come back to often,
• 10:56
  Speaker 2: and this was like something that was subtly hinted at
• 10:59
  Speaker 2: throughout the course of the year, but Blake said pretty clearly, actually,
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: I believe in that San Francisco series. I may be misremembering,
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: but I have a clear image in my head of
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: Blake kind of talking through why they make the bullpen
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: decisions they make, why they make the roster decisions they make.
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: And so much of it has to come back to
• 11:17
  Speaker 2: the underlining data. And like, sure, to certain Nationals fans,
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: that's obvious, right? But also you look at Poulin who had,
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: I don't remember exactly what the ERA was this season,
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: I guess 308 as we have it on the screen.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: Low ERA, again, just seemed pretty consistent in the various
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: roles that he was put out in, whether it was
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: an opener, whether it was a seventh inning guy. But candidly,
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: the underlying stuff was pretty concerning, right? Where it was
• 11:46
  Speaker 2: basically as many walks per inning as it was strikeouts.
• 11:52
  Speaker 2: The FIP was about as high as the pitchers are
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: going to have in a bullpen. And when you think
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: about what the Nationals need next year, I don't necessarily
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: think they need like a lefty opener, right? Like, I
• 12:06
  Speaker 2: think that had value last year, absolutely helping Michaelis, Littell,
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: others kind of navigate through lineups. But you shouldn't be
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: in the spot as an organization where you have someone
• 12:18
  Speaker 2: kind of designated to open for, you know, right-handed starters
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: that would otherwise have ERAs in the fives, right? I
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: think you just need, candidly, a better rotation. And so
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: you can fill out your bullpen otherwise. I am curious
• 12:33
  Speaker 2: to see how the Nationals, you know, navigate or potentially
• 12:36
  Speaker 2: target having low slot left-handed relievers. So the sorts of
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: guys with like weird low arm angles, I know that
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: was a big thing for them last year. I would
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: be shocked if they didn't have a couple in minor
• 12:51
  Speaker 2: league free agency, a couple maybe on the fringes of
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: the 40 man roster, or even, you know, right off
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: the 40 man roster because they valued that so much
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: last year. But I, I just don't, necessarily know that
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: unless you have like one elite version of that guy
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: that you need him if you have tolman dion and
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: maybe a free agent in the bullpen so um i
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: think you know just to quickly summarize it for for
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: nationals fans poland is gone because of the underlying data
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: and because the nationals candidly did not have a spot
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: for a pitcher like that um and it will be
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: hard for a pitcher like that to find a role
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: next season but i wouldn't necessarily rule it out as
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: impossible and I also wouldn't rule out Poulin having a
• 13:35
  Speaker 2: decent stop somewhere else just because of the top line
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: results that he had.
• 13:39
  Speaker 1: Yeah, we were talking about this in the group chat
• 13:42
  Speaker 1: the other day, but you don't want to go into
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: a season planning on having an opener as part of
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: your rotation. And I think the Nationals are stacking themselves
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: up so that they don't have to do so next season.
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: You have Cavalli early returning from injury, DJ Herz, who
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: came back at the end of the season. see if
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: Josiah Gray's future holds starting or if that's just going
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: to be a relief role. Jake Urban is expected to
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: come back and then you don't know what moves they
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: could make in free agency. So I think the nationals
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: rotation should be pretty well filled out going into next season.
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: And hopefully they don't have to rely on the opener
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: strategy as much as they did in 2026.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: Totally. Again, don't have a lot more on that front,
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: but yeah, Again, I would be shocked if the Nationals
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: use as many openers next season as they did this season.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: And if they do, I still, to a certain extent,
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: defend the strategy. But I think you need a good
• 14:35
  Speaker 2: enough roster where that is not the case.
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah. One move that we didn't have listed up there
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: was Tom Cosgrove, I believe, is not going to be
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: returning to the roster next season. He had some ups
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: and downs over the course of the season, but just
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: another left-handed reliever with the low slot release that the
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: Nationals are moving on from. I guess, do we expect
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: those replacements to come internally, potentially? Or is that something
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: where the Nationals look towards minor league free agency?
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it'll be a mix of both. And candidly,
• 15:08
  Speaker 2: I think they will be in a spot next year
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: where they're far better suited to replace from the Internals.
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: And that's why I would maybe lean in that realm, right?
• 15:18
  Speaker 2: Where when you were calling guys up, For the bulk
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: of the year, you were finding guys off waivers for
• 15:23
  Speaker 2: the bulk of the year. You really had to kind
• 15:25
  Speaker 2: of dig deep to find an interesting profile or something
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: worth hanging on to. And it almost never worked. Obviously,
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: that changed with Tolman and Sinclair at the end of
• 15:36
  Speaker 2: next year. But I just, knowing how the Nationals developed,
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: knowing about all their internal improvements, knowing about, candidly, the
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: guys they got at the trade deadline who we were...
• 15:48
  Speaker 2: high on in a bullpen role, but kind of confused
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: why they went out to get relievers. Like this is
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: part of the reason why is they have, uh, you know,
• 15:55
  Speaker 2: a Joe glassy or, um, you know, I could probably
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: list out 20 bullpen names right now. Uh, you know,
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: Jared Simpson figures it out. Um, any, any number of
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: Jack Siebert, who's a starter, but like, we'll see how
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: that goes. Um, all these guys, they acquired and churned
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: through and tried to add velocity for, These are going
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: to be the guys who are pitching in the B
• 16:16
  Speaker 2: side of the bullpen and not forced in these high-leverage
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: roles unless things really go south or unless they really
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: show up. Whereas, again, last year we saw Tom Cosgrove
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: giving it up in the ninth because the Nationals just
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: didn't have a better option. I think they'll have better
• 16:29
  Speaker 2: options this year.
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, this weekend we'll have the Arizona Fall League
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: All-Star Game on Sunday. I'll be out there covering that
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: day after my birthday on Saturday. But is there anything
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: else you want to toss in here, Spencer, as we
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: really get kicked off with free agency? We'll be watching
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: the Silver Slugger Awards with the anticipation to see if
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: any Nationals bring it home. But anything else?
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, I'll be at GM meetings next week,
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: and so we'll likely have a lot to work on
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: off of that. Usually these are where initial conversations take
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: place before the heralded winter meetings. Winter meetings are almost
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: certainly not going to happen this year because of lockouts.
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: And so I expect a little bit more of a frenzy,
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: a little bit more information getting out about the Nationals plans.
• 17:17
  Speaker 2: And I will be there to talk to people from
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: around the league, people from around the organization, figuring out
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: what the Nationals are doing. And so, again, hopefully, you know,
• 17:28
  Speaker 2: I arrive Monday. By the end of next week, we
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: will have a lot more clarity about just how serious
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: the Nationals are about targeting, you know, C.J. Abrams deals,
• 17:42
  Speaker 2: you know, things of that nature, potentially adding to the offense.
• 17:45
  Speaker 2: These are all things that we should really get moving
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: next week. And so I'm excited to really talk through
• 17:50
  Speaker 2: those things, you know, once I'm out in Vegas.
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: Sounds awesome. It's going to be exciting. Stay tuned for
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: that next week from the GM meetings. Safe travels out
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: to Las Vegas, Spencer, and hopefully we can get Franny
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: back next week. But until then, take care of yourselves, everyone,
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: and have a great weekend.