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Everything to know about the Nationals trade deadline · District Territory

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Welcome back to the District Territory Podcast. I'm Eric Shellhouse
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: from bat Boys Baseball and joining me today Spencer Nusbaum
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: of The Athletic. The Nationals have completed their deadline moves.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: They have acquired nine different arms at the deadline. Spencer,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: it was a hectic weekend for you covering it all.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: I'm curious, has your initial reaction to the trade deadline
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: moves changed it all? And what's your overall grade?
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: Perhaps? Yeah, I mean, I excuse me.
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: I'd start off with the premise that I'm surprised I
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: wasn't created for a picture of this deadline. It feels
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: like that's kind of the overarching theme here with the
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: Nationals is for as much as they've said, hey, we
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: don't want to be dogmatic er, we don't want to
• 0:47
  Speaker 3: be too zeroed in on just acquiring pictures and pitching prospects,
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: that is ultimately where they landed, and that was the
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: biggest area of need, both for the big league club
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: as well as in the farm system, and so for
• 1:02
  Speaker 3: Nationals fans who are are curious about how this deadline went.
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: I ultimately gave it a B plus kind of leaning
• 1:08
  Speaker 3: towards maybe a soft bee given the kind of tail
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: off with the Foster Griffin return.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: At the end.
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: We can definitely talk about each of the individual moves,
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: but I'd say, big picture, the most important takeaway is
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: that all of the players who the Nationals traded, save
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: for perhaps Curtis Meade, probably weren't going to be on
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: this roster while they were contributing for the World Series.
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: And I think that's ultimately what Paul Tabony laid out
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: right was he didn't go so far as to trade
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: c J. Abrams and really reset this thing, but he
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: did want a foundation, and he wanted a stronger foundation
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: in terms of getting as many pictures as possible in
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: the system. And ultimately, if that's your goal, I would
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: say he accomplished it, so overall, more good than bad
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: at the deadline.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Yeah, let's just jump right into the Louis Scarcia Junior move.
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: I want to start there the Nationals. I think this
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: is one of the most notable ones and ones sticking
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: out the most Nationals fans. For those of you that
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: do not know me personally, I'm a pretty emotional, at
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: times overly emotional person. So the departure of Louis Scarcia
• 2:18
  Speaker 1: Junior really stung for me. I can't remember the last
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: time I cried over a trade since twenty eleven off
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: season when the Nationals got rid of Michael Morris. But
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: this guy was a fan favorite and it hurt bad
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: in the gut for a second spencer. But what does
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: his departure mean for the lineup? And tell me about
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: the return package as well.
• 2:40
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean it's such a sharp departure right where
• 2:43
  Speaker 3: Louis led the National League and slugging. If he didn't
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: lead that clubhouse, he was definitely one of the people
• 2:50
  Speaker 3: who was the heartbeat in it, right where you had
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: kind of this loose, fun energy that carried the Nationals
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: maybe more than the average fan might expect, and Louis
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: was at the center of that, singing, dancing, always hutting
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: teammates in the dugout at the end of home runs,
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: like all that stuff matters. And you lose that on
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: top of the whatever eight fifty ops or whatever he
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: had towards the end there, and so yeah, that's that's
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: a significant loss for the lineup. As we've kind of stated,
• 3:20
  Speaker 3: the Nationals believe that they can develop hitting, but when
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: you look at what these last and next couple of
• 3:26
  Speaker 3: months might look like, especially with kind of the TBD
• 3:29
  Speaker 3: status of James Wood at the moment after yesterday's game. Yeah,
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: it's a significant loss.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: As for what they got back, however, to me, this
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: was always more.
• 3:39
  Speaker 3: Or less the sort of return I expected, Which isn't
• 3:42
  Speaker 3: to say I knew that they were going to get
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: these four players back, or that they were going to
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: go for for bulk over maybe like one premium prospect.
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: But as I was kind of looking at, you know,
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: historical markers for a trade like this, a lot of
• 3:57
  Speaker 3: what I found out is like, guys like even if
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: they're having exceptional seasons, don't necessarily command like a team's
• 4:05
  Speaker 3: top three prospect or a top one hundred prospect. Right
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: Usually you're you're getting good depth for your system and
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: maybe a couple of big leaguers in the future. And
• 4:16
  Speaker 3: so what the Nationals get here is they get a
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: bunch of relief prospects, which feels need as well as Jack.
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: I'm gonna maybe.
• 4:23
  Speaker 3: Mispronounce this, but Jack Siebert, I believe this was pronounced.
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: Who's Who's a starting pitching prospect who could eventually also
• 4:30
  Speaker 3: move to the bullpen. So I'm always a little cautious
• 4:33
  Speaker 3: about like acquiring relievers and relief prospects, but given just
• 4:38
  Speaker 3: how shallow the national's pitching depth was, and especially their
• 4:43
  Speaker 3: you know, depth of potential future relievers, ultimately you kind
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: of understand the move. And so that's for me, it
• 4:51
  Speaker 3: was like a b quality trader, but I definitely talk
• 4:53
  Speaker 3: to people in the industry who were either more or
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: less bullish on it.
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: Yeah, what I'm cre about from your perspective, Spenser, is
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: which of these four names stands out the most you
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: is the most intriguing. I'm sure I'm going to buy
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: botches too, but Jack, Siebert, Yovanni Cruz to me is
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: my my favorite, personal favorite out of this group. But
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: is there one that stands out to you? Is one
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: that has the highest ceiling compared to others.
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's four very distinct and different types of arms,
• 5:24
  Speaker 3: which is like you kind of get to pick whatever
• 5:27
  Speaker 3: you like the most.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: For me, I'll always kind.
• 5:31
  Speaker 3: Of angle myself towards starting pitching prospects, and so for me,
• 5:35
  Speaker 3: like Siebert is the easy answer. Cruz was also the
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: one who, like I think you probably saw, is initially
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: intriguing because he's already pitched in the major leagues and
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: throws a hundred and right, like, that's pretty easy to
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: dream on. But I think Ben Grabel is someone who,
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: like if we're talking about both the floor and the
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: ceiling of what they could be. Maybe I'm mistaken on this, right,
• 6:00
  Speaker 3: but you know, every everything that I've heard from other
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: evaluators and seen in like all the you know, not
• 6:07
  Speaker 3: that I'm basing my opinion off Twitter accounts, but there's
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: a lot of good yeases out there and accounts out
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: there that grade pitch metrics and they're like this fastball
• 6:18
  Speaker 3: that he has is truly truly, truly special between the
• 6:22
  Speaker 3: carry on it and the angles coming at and all
• 6:25
  Speaker 3: these kind of different things. And so yeah, for me,
• 6:28
  Speaker 3: I think Grable's the one I'll probably attach myself to
• 6:32
  Speaker 3: a couple of weeks from now. But Cruise is the
• 6:34
  Speaker 3: one where if I'm looking at impact now and just like,
• 6:38
  Speaker 3: oh look there's a big number on the on the
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: velocity screen, Yeah, I'm probably a leaning Cruise at the moment.
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Right if you kind of take a step back and
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: look at what the National's bullpen has been missing all season,
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: that swing and miss, I think he is the clear
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: cutting answer to someone that's been watching the games every
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: day is hey, he will hopefully come up here soon
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: and have big league impact. And before we take our
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: first break, Spencer, you asked fans in the live chat
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: last night about their updated record prediction for the Nats
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: at the end of the season. I'm curious where yours stands.
• 7:09
  Speaker 1: I wrote mine down last night. I'm I'm right at
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: the seventy five and eighty eight mark. I'm pretty bad
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: at this stuff. My predictions are also quite bad, although
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: I don't publicly put them out there as often as you.
• 7:21
  Speaker 1: But but where do you sit on that right now?
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: Yeah?
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: I think in the chat I put seventy seven, and
• 7:26
  Speaker 3: then James Wood exited and is getting an MRI tomorrow,
• 7:31
  Speaker 3: and so that may be down to like, you know,
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: is he worth three wins down the stretch? You know,
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: one win down the stretch? I don't know, but I
• 7:39
  Speaker 3: honestly I think seventy five is probably.
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: Seventy five.
• 7:44
  Speaker 3: Seventy four is a good spot to be out. But yeah,
• 7:48
  Speaker 3: it's going to be compelling, right because you lose you
• 7:50
  Speaker 3: lose Foster, who you've been almost unbeatable in games where
• 7:54
  Speaker 3: he starts. But you also probably upgrade the bullpen and
• 7:59
  Speaker 3: so I'm I'm really curious to see how that all
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: shakes out.
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: Yeah's talk about the Foster Griffin move and a couple others,
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: and that's at the deadline.
• 8:06
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• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Let's talk about the Foster Griffin move, Spencer. The Nationals
• 9:12
  Speaker 1: got four prospects as well in this return, but hey,
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: an outfielder that was certainly of note and wrote your
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: story a few days ago. Foster said that Nationals President
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: Baseball Operations Paul Devoni had been very transparent throughout the process.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: I'm curious if you thought that had any sort of
• 9:29
  Speaker 1: influence in his outing the other night, because these guys
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: are clearly human too, and the Braves came with a
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: game plan to be swinging early. But do you think
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: that got under the hood of his stuff at all.
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's a great question, and I think you know,
• 9:44
  Speaker 3: it's kind of the same one that we were asking
• 9:47
  Speaker 3: Foster over the course of his most recent outing, Right,
• 9:51
  Speaker 3: was how much of an impact there was? And he
• 9:54
  Speaker 3: used the exact words you did, right, like, I'm only
• 9:56
  Speaker 3: human for me when I think about that outing. Yeah, again,
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: like a lot of it is in the context of
• 10:05
  Speaker 3: the deadline looming, and I think it was it was
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: almost strange to see him not dominate a lineup, if
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: that makes sense, Like he's not gonna have a great
• 10:17
  Speaker 3: outing every single time ote, but yeah, to maybe not
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: be able to mix and match as much as he
• 10:23
  Speaker 3: usually does. It was I think disappointing for him just
• 10:29
  Speaker 3: because of what he has meant to this team and
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: done for this team.
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: I think one of the words I hear thrown around
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: his name most frequently is consistency, and that's just certainly
• 10:39
  Speaker 1: what he had been the last few months. So it
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: felt quite abnormal, to say the least. But tell me
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: a little bit about what the Nationals are acquiring in
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: return in this deal.
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: Yeah, this is Kendily the trade return that I was
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: probably the most bearish on. I know a lot of
• 10:57
  Speaker 3: fans on social media are killing it. I wouldn't go
• 11:01
  Speaker 3: that far personally. I think you have to consider that
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: what front office's value are underlying metrics and control, and
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: this is someone who, for as good as he's been
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: this season, had about a for expected era and was
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: set to become a free agent after the season. Now
• 11:23
  Speaker 3: a lot more goes into this right where he is
• 11:25
  Speaker 3: someone who you would expect to outperform peripherals because of
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: just how sharp he is with men on base. This
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: is someone who the Nationals were at least considering offering
• 11:37
  Speaker 3: an extension or keeping through the end of the season,
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: and then giving a qualifying offer, And so when you
• 11:43
  Speaker 3: bag all those things in, I think that also is
• 11:45
  Speaker 3: what frustrates fans, right, is this guy won us so
• 11:48
  Speaker 3: many games this year and we're just gonna, you know,
• 11:50
  Speaker 3: get rid of him for for like low level not
• 11:53
  Speaker 3: low level in terms of affiliates, but for kind of
• 11:56
  Speaker 3: lower ranked prospects. I think that's something that's hard for
• 12:00
  Speaker 3: for hands to grapple with ultimately, where I maybe have
• 12:05
  Speaker 3: some qualms, and this is without knowing explicitly what was
• 12:08
  Speaker 3: being offered, but hearing about the amount of interest in him.
• 12:13
  Speaker 3: For me, it was maybe this this is a good
• 12:16
  Speaker 3: spot to get more of a premium prospect back, if
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: not a top one hundred guy, because I doubt you're
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: getting that for for a rental. Ultimately, maybe you know,
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: closer to a team's like number seven prospect or number
• 12:32
  Speaker 3: five prospect or number ten prospect if you really like him. So, yeah,
• 12:36
  Speaker 3: it's a it's a complicated situation, and we could definitely
• 12:39
  Speaker 3: talk more about the finances and the extension talks, but
• 12:45
  Speaker 3: you know, ultimately pretty bearish on this trade, but you
• 12:48
  Speaker 3: do get at least some compelling arms back and the
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: Nationals again ultimately opting for depth in this move.
• 12:56
  Speaker 1: I'm honestly curious, like if it falls under more scre
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: me on social media because it was one of the
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: later moves that happened overall in terms of this trade deadline,
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: and like maybe that's a reason it clings a little
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: extra traction, But it does seem like that move is
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: under a microscope, just given that you knew the Nationals
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: were going to be more than likely selling them off
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: at that point unless there is an extension that they
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: felt confident was in place. But it's obvious his departure
• 13:25
  Speaker 1: is going to hurt this rotation significantly.
• 13:28
  Speaker 3: Spencer right, just to speak to kind of the timing
• 13:33
  Speaker 3: aspect of it all, too right, I had heard pretty
• 13:36
  Speaker 3: frequently in this process that the Nationals were holding a
• 13:39
  Speaker 3: really high bar for some of their guys, and I think,
• 13:44
  Speaker 3: you know, it's not necessarily one to one of connecting
• 13:47
  Speaker 3: the dots, So I hope listeners kind of stick with
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: me here. But when you do hold such a high bar,
• 13:53
  Speaker 3: and every team does, but when you hold this high
• 13:55
  Speaker 3: a bar, for a lot of your players. You do
• 13:59
  Speaker 3: end up potentially getting burned in the sense that you
• 14:03
  Speaker 3: can you can lose some negotiations, or at the very
• 14:07
  Speaker 3: least you can you can lose some suitors who no
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: longer want to negotiate with you if you hold too
• 14:11
  Speaker 3: high of a bar, and so I do.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: This is by no.
• 14:17
  Speaker 3: Means a factual statement that whatever the Nationals lost this
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: trade or at least didn't win it because they, you know,
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: kick suitors at the door. But I think that's kind
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: of one of the curiosities I'm going to be exploring
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: over the next few years is how close were some
• 14:31
  Speaker 3: of these deals with the Nationals had with other teams,
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: What were some of the other packages they were exploring,
• 14:37
  Speaker 3: and at what point did they just not have anything
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: from other teams versus to what degree did they really
• 14:43
  Speaker 3: like these guys. It's probably that they really like these guys,
• 14:46
  Speaker 3: but yeah, you wonder what the deadline you're getting so
• 14:49
  Speaker 3: tight at that moment, just how close things were, because
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: I'm sure a team, you know, we talked about the
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: Astros at the Athletic as a team that was calling
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: them late. Did they have a package potentially that was
• 15:04
  Speaker 3: more compelling, but you you know, we're just scraping for
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: that extra piece. It's an interesting curiosity for me, and
• 15:13
  Speaker 3: to answer the second part of your question in a
• 15:15
  Speaker 3: much more concise way, Yes, this will hurt the rotation
• 15:18
  Speaker 3: quite a bit down the stretch.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: Absolutely. Let's walk me through this final move because this
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: is one that I think NAT's fans are maybe the
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: most lost on the departure of Christian Franklin. In return,
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: Joe Glassie, I am probably glazy. I don't know about
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: that last name, but tell me about this move and
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: what it means for the Nationals.
• 15:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 15:40
  Speaker 3: So it's strange, right, because the Nationals have, for probably
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: a couple of years now have their biggest strength be
• 15:50
  Speaker 3: kind of upper level outfield prospects. That's changed the season
• 15:55
  Speaker 3: in part because of who's been promoted as well as
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: just some of either the tail offer departures that have happened.
• 16:03
  Speaker 3: The Nationals were at a spot where they still felt
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: really comfortable with their four outfielders in the major leagues
• 16:10
  Speaker 3: and felt that, you know, at least this deal indicates
• 16:14
  Speaker 3: felt that Christian Franklin probably wasn't going to help their
• 16:16
  Speaker 3: big league roster and wanted to move him again for
• 16:19
  Speaker 3: kind of an area of need. That being said, again,
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: as we've talked about, James Wood exited yesterday's game early,
• 16:27
  Speaker 3: is getting an MRI on his left side, if I'm
• 16:31
  Speaker 3: remembering correctly, And all of a sudden, you're in the
• 16:34
  Speaker 3: spot where, hey, Christian Franklin would look really good on
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: the roster right now if James does have to go
• 16:39
  Speaker 3: to the IL And so, yeah, it's a situation where
• 16:43
  Speaker 3: the Nationals are trying to trade from an area of
• 16:46
  Speaker 3: strength for an area of weakness. That being said, the
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: issue with doing that, which is not something that I
• 16:54
  Speaker 3: necessarily disagree with, but I think you have to be
• 16:58
  Speaker 3: cognizant of, is you never really know, especially at this point,
• 17:01
  Speaker 3: to rebuild what your true saying strengths are going to be.
• 17:06
  Speaker 3: And so I really liked Franklin. They're getting a relief
• 17:08
  Speaker 3: prospect back who gets a ton of strikeouts, and so
• 17:12
  Speaker 3: for me it's kind of a wash. But just to
• 17:14
  Speaker 3: focus very briefly on the short term, this could end
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: up hurting the Nationals without really an impact guy to
• 17:22
  Speaker 3: necessarily call up if James does have to go to
• 17:24
  Speaker 3: the eye off right.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: Of course, we're hoping that is not the case. With
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: the way he has contributed to the team this season.
• 17:31
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• 17:34
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• 18:54
  Speaker 1: Last night, the Nationals drop their sixth game in a row.
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: Spencer look worst using streak of the season. But the
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: biggest storyline to me Blakey Terra's first career ejection. That
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: was a prediction you had that he might just get
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: through the second half. He was so calm, cool and collected.
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: But I can't blame him in this moment. Kind of
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: just walk me through what you were seeing and hearing
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: in the press box last night. Really quickly. We're going
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: to get a replay of the play that caused this
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: whole disagreement. But he came out to contest with the
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: third base umpire and home plate Empire. Thought he had
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: something to say to the NACA dog.
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: App Yeah, when when I look at that injection.
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: First of all, I think that's a really cool moment
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: for Blake and for the team and what's been a
• 19:37
  Speaker 3: rough stretch. If you're watching online, you can see the
• 19:41
  Speaker 3: emotion there. If you watch the game, you can see
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: the emotion there. If you were in the park, you
• 19:46
  Speaker 3: could see the emotion. Even from the press box. I
• 19:49
  Speaker 3: couldn't hear what Blake was saying, but to see him
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: that animated, I think there is real real value to that. Again,
• 19:59
  Speaker 3: I I kind of asked Blake, and I think he
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: probably rightfully so didn't didn't really see much merit and
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: what I was asking, but what the meaningfulness is of
• 20:13
  Speaker 3: of just being ejected and being ejected in that moment.
• 20:16
  Speaker 3: He didn't want to read into it too much, but
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: I think he did at least allude to the fact that, yeah,
• 20:22
  Speaker 3: the Nationals are in a rough patch right now, and
• 20:24
  Speaker 3: he wanted to stick up for his guys and and
• 20:26
  Speaker 3: know that his clubhouse stands up for him. And I
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: don't think by any means he went into that game
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: planning to get ejected, or even really fully in that
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: moment planning to get ejected. But I don't think it's
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: merely a total coincidence that it happens the day after
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: the National sell at the deadline, right where you need
• 20:47
  Speaker 3: some sort of sparks, some sort of fire up. That's
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: exactly what that moment. Excuse me, exactly what that moment was,
• 20:54
  Speaker 3: right I You know, I don't want to share what
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: what Blake said off camera. I think that's between him
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: and reporters. But what I will say, and what I
• 21:06
  Speaker 3: think is conveyed in what he told us in front
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: of the camera what you saw there was Yeah. I
• 21:13
  Speaker 3: think he enjoyed that moment. Is all I'll say is.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think I enjoyed watching it so much and
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: Kevin's commentary of it that I might just have to
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: bring the subject back up again when we get him
• 21:25
  Speaker 1: on the podcast. It was totally an instant of Hey,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: I'm the older guy here, I'm the one in charge,
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: and I don't know it is a confusing ejection. I'm
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: looking forward to the John Boy media breakdown on that one.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: Somelip reading should be intriguing. As you mentioned, it's definitely
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: a rough patch for the Nationals and I found now
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: find themselves thirteen games back of the Mighty Braves and
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: five and a half back of a National League wild
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: card spot after selling it the deadline. Did you look
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: at the preview for later on today? Zach Lettel gets
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: the ball sensor. I'm curious the bulletpen didn't get a
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: ton of use last night. It kind of feels like
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: this might be a day where the Nationals are considering
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: an opener. Do you think that is a smart decision
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: on a daylight today?
• 22:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah? I actually know.
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: For fact, just found out they are having Carson Pomquist
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: open today, which is not fair to that graphic because
• 22:16
  Speaker 3: again we literally just found out. But yeah, I think
• 22:20
  Speaker 3: that again they'll probably keep using that strategy for Lttel
• 22:26
  Speaker 3: and for mic List when a lineup is a little
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: more lefty heavy. But as as we've kind of reiterated,
• 22:35
  Speaker 3: the Nationals are now going into more games where there's
• 22:40
  Speaker 3: uncertainty with their starters because Foster Griffin is gone. I
• 22:44
  Speaker 3: think Andrew Alvarez stepped up in a big way through
• 22:46
  Speaker 3: the first six innings yesterday. I think there's a chance
• 22:50
  Speaker 3: for a couple of guys in triple A to really
• 22:51
  Speaker 3: get a shot here if the Nationals deem that they're ready.
• 22:55
  Speaker 3: But when you think about some of these games down
• 22:58
  Speaker 3: the stretch an offense that has been depleted with the
• 23:02
  Speaker 3: moves of Curtis me and Luis Garcia Junior. These games
• 23:07
  Speaker 3: are they're going to have to score a lot of
• 23:09
  Speaker 3: runs in some of these contests, and we'll see if
• 23:12
  Speaker 3: they can do that with like an Abad, Melick Ortiz,
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: who I again believe in quite a bit, and you know,
• 23:19
  Speaker 3: some of the others filling in where it's a little
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: less of certainty. Yeah.
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: The last thing I want to finish up with today, Spencer,
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: what we also opened up with the Nationals did not
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: trade CJ Abrams at the deadline. This was the number
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: two candidate over the over at the Athletics Big Board.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: What does this signify to you as far as the
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: Nationals are still going for it to some degree this season,
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: They're not They're not losing CJ. And that they value
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: him very much so as someone they want to keep
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: around for this competitive window that they are in.
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 23:52
  Speaker 3: As someone who is not always concise on this podcast,
• 23:56
  Speaker 3: I will recommend reading my story at the Athletic on
• 23:59
  Speaker 3: it published on what is today Tuesday morning. Both of
• 24:05
  Speaker 3: the points that you just brought up are a big
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: part of it. The one of the other major elements, right,
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: is making sure that the guys in that room, even
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: if there maybe isn't as much belief in twenty twenty six,
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: know that at the very least there is enough faith
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: to keep around a guy who's been integral to the culture,
• 24:29
  Speaker 3: irrespective of what has happened with his production, which is
• 24:33
  Speaker 3: to say, tracking towards career highs and basically every metric.
• 24:40
  Speaker 3: To me, it's a little complicated, right because Paul Tibonian
• 24:44
  Speaker 3: when he talked to us yesterday, spoke about, you know,
• 24:48
  Speaker 3: the chance to really build a strong foundation and how
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: you only get so many chances to do that. And
• 24:55
  Speaker 3: ultimately what he opted with this foundation, right was I
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: want to keep around a players east through the end
• 25:00
  Speaker 3: of the season who has meant a lot to the clubhouse,
• 25:03
  Speaker 3: has meant a lot to the fan base, who has
• 25:04
  Speaker 3: produced over the opportunity to potentially sell, you know, the
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: heartbeat of this team in exchange for candidly would have
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: bet would have been a franchise resetting but also a
• 25:18
  Speaker 3: franchise altering hall because you look at what the Orioles,
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: for instance, got for Adlie Richman. You think about the
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: fact that the Nationals were connected to the Red Sox.
• 25:28
  Speaker 3: There is no idea yet exactly what those conversations could
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: have materialized around, but there was an opportunity here for
• 25:36
  Speaker 3: for the Nationals to get greedy in terms of what
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: they got back for Abrams, and I think that as
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: you can read my story at the Athletics, it's a
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: pretty nuanced decision that the Nationals made to keep Yeah.
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: Really quickly, I talk about handing out my rose and
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: my flowers on this podcast. Everyone gives some collaps down
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: in the comments for Spencer for his coverage over the
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: course of the weekend. Go go read the Yeah this
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: guy he put in good work, reminding you all again
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: to subscribe to the podcast, keep on reading the Athletic,
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: and keep on following the Nationals. It's going to be
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: an exciting season. And as I mentioned when we hit
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: a thousand subscribers, if we're going to give away this
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: Eli Willets sign baseball card, Spencer, we can finally breathe again.
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: Anything you want to throw in before you headed over
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: to the ballpark in Philly today.
• 26:25
  Speaker 3: Last thing I will say for Nationals fans who want
• 26:29
  Speaker 3: to give up on this season, I both understand the
• 26:34
  Speaker 3: impulse and also would say it's too early to do that,
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: I think. You know, you look at the Nationals playoff
• 26:40
  Speaker 3: odds and they're pretty low at the moment. They still
• 26:45
  Speaker 3: have an unreal amount of talent on this team. They
• 26:48
  Speaker 3: have a lot of intriguing pieces that are either coming
• 26:51
  Speaker 3: up or here right now, and especially on days where
• 26:56
  Speaker 3: you have either a young starter or again potentially thinking
• 26:59
  Speaker 3: out to some of the guy who are in Triple
• 27:00
  Speaker 3: A right now, there are real foundational pieces on this team,
• 27:05
  Speaker 3: and the Nationals are about to play meaningful games I
• 27:08
  Speaker 3: think in August for the first time in forever, even
• 27:12
  Speaker 3: with the recent losing streak, right, And so while it's
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: a it's a tough moment for the franchise to have
• 27:17
  Speaker 3: that sell off, I also think it's an important one
• 27:20
  Speaker 3: and I think it gives a chance for some new
• 27:22
  Speaker 3: guys to shine. So yeah, I would say it is
• 27:25
  Speaker 3: well worth your time to invest in this team, even
• 27:29
  Speaker 3: if you do feel a bit burned by yes these deadline.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and the longest losing streak this season has to
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: end eventually. They will try their best to go one
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: and oh today, But until next time, see you later.