Gwynn & Chris On Demand
Spencer Nusbaum of the Washington Post gives us some insight on the Nationals
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Very nice weather. Very nice weather right now. You're catching us at a good June. It's a little gloomy during this time, but you're catching us right. We get a chance to see a former Padre last night in CJ Abrams put on a nice show, Mackenzie Gore going here for them tonight. What's been your take on CJ this year? He seems like he's covered a lot of ground from the time you guys got him to the player. He's turning out to be now. Yeah, you know, it's funny when they got him from the Padre's, I think he had like two home runs that year and both were at the Padre's. There wasn't a whole lot of power in his bat. You could see the skill was there, but he hadn't really come into his own as a player. These last two seasons, and especially you look at the second half of last year and the start of this season, it's like he's a whole new player. You know, he started to find his groove middle of last year when when Davey put him at the top of the lineup. And, you know, every since then he's talked about, you know, finding his confidence, finding his rhythm as a hitter. And, you know, it was a little streaky in the sense that he got off to a really good April and had a slow may, but it feels like things are turned around in June. I think he has an OPS over a thousand, like, you know, what what he's been able to accomplish this season and, you know, it might not be getting a whole lot of all-star votes. But he's kind of on the bubble as one of those, you know, premiered becoming one of those premiere shorts stops in the league. So, yeah, it's been really cool to see his development over the past year or so. Spencer, the trade in and itself, which happened in August of 2022. So we're coming up on almost two years. Josh Bell came here. He's obviously no longer here. Soto came here. He's no longer here. You mentioned Abrams. Mackenzie Gore, both still there. Luke Voigt came and went. Jarlin Susanna, James Wood, Robert Hassel III. I know Wood has made a lot of noise in the minors. How do the people in DC grade this trade now? And if you can go back, how are they grading it then as opposed to now? Yeah, you know, it's funny. You look at the core of what Washington is right now, as you said. And I mean, it's, you know, basically guys from that trade, CJ is their best position player at the moment. Mackenzie, it's far as stuff goes, results-wise, it's close, but he's, you know, potential-wise, your best pitcher, James Wood, one of the best prospects in baseball. And then you have those kind of lottery tickets in the minor leagues as well that you hope pan out. When you put all those things together, like, yes, the, you know, DC loved Soto, loved Soto in a way that, you know, they've only loved a handful of athletes, especially ones who, you know, are now, you know, 25 or whatever it is at this moment. All of that being said, when you get that sort of fall and when you look at where the franchise is at right now, you know, I think that they can live with that. I think they see, you know, they weren't going to be anything without Soto. Or they weren't going to be anything with Soto and just Soto. And now they have a foundation to build upon. I think there's always going to be, you know, a collection of fans who are not going to love it. But when you think about where the team is at and the fact that, you know, they have a promising future, largely because of those guys they got from the Padres, you know, that you can't complain too much, especially with, you know, how they produced go down about it. Spencer Nussbaum joins us here on Gwen and Chris and Spencer, you know, aside from the Padres guys, this team is, I would say, a surprise to folks this year. I mean, they're playing close to 500 baseball. They're right behind the Padres for their last wild card spot. As we speak, I mean, how has this team been able to do it? I mean, how has it seems like, at least from now, outside looking in that they've overachieved to this point, how have they done it? Yeah, I think that's the assessment from everyone outside of the clubhouse. That's included in the media. They weren't supposed to be here at this moment and that is a huge, huge credit to their pitching. You know, they had a ERA as a staff and as a bullpen over five last year. This year, it's in the, you know, mid to high threes. They've gotten great production on Mackenzie Gore, Jake Ervin, Mitchell Parker, who is walking five guys for nine in the minors this year, has thrown more strikes than almost anyone else in baseball as a rookie. Yes, Patrick Corbin has not been good, but has passed three star, she's been great. Yeah. It's really a credit to the pitching staff. They brought on Sean Doolittle in the offseason as the assistant pitching coach to, pitching coach Jim Hickey and those two have worked fantastically together. They've kind of, you know, added a more data-centric approach after being old school for a long, long time. And it really has been at the strength of their pitching. The offense, you know, guys have been up and down at different times and they've never really been consistent for more than a week in a row, but just game after game after game they're pitching the lights out. Spencer, do you think the Nationals five weeks from now will try to pick up somebody and maybe use, you know, some of these minor league guys that they have to try to get a little bit better make a, make a run or is the fact that they're ahead of schedule, maybe going to keep them from, you know, you know, make them kind of resist the temptation to do it. Yeah. I think they're going to lean on resisting in the sense that you don't really want to let good be the enemy of great with where you're at. I think this team has overachieved and if you look at town on the roster, it doesn't necessarily scream a team that can make the playoffs the year after year after year. That said, the guys in the minors, James Wood, Dylan Cruz, you know, both top 10 prospects and baseball. Those are guys who can kind of shepherd a team into the playoffs and even with trading your depth pieces, you don't want to give up on, you know, a lottery ticket and in the past few years, one thing that General Manager Mike Rizzo's done really, really well is flipping those veterans for core pieces. You know, they got Lane Thomas for John Lester. They, you know, have picked up pieces on the fringes. They have a new pitcher, DJ Herrs, who was flipped for Candelier this year and has looked really good. I think they're going to still stick with that path. Maybe, you know, tree guys, like Jesse Winker and then he would float around if some of the pieces in the bullpen are, you know, available as well. But I don't see them as buyers just yet. Not buyers. You mentioned, you know, some of the pieces that they have, Winkers having a pretty good season. I know the, there was talk that Lane Thomas was a guy last year come deadline time. Are those the type of pieces you expected to expect to be moved come deadline time? Yeah, I think that Rizz is really selective with those sort of players. You know, last year he mentioned he views Lane Thomas as a foundational piece and other teams were not viewing him as that. That being said, you look at again, the depth that they have in their outfield, especially in the minor leagues. And it'd be hard to say that he's not going to at least shop Thomas around a little bit in the sense that, you know, you only have so much time left on his contract. You have, again, like these guys coming up soon. So I think that, you know, he'll take calls, but, you know, I think it's more likely than not that Lane Thomas is a Washington national for the rest of the season. That being said, I don't know how much higher that percent chance is over 50%. Spencer, Spencer, I want to ask you about our guy from San Diego, San Diego State Aztec for life, Steven Strasburg. Now that he's a couple of years removed from how things ended for him there in DC, did he build up enough cache as a World Series hero and have enough of a career to always be admired and loved in Washington, DC? Or is the fact that he got hurt and never really was able to live up to that last contract detract from Steven Strasburg and the minds of DC fans? Yeah. I think there's always going to be a select group of people who are going to view Strasburg and that sort of light. You talk to people in DC, you look at how people interact, when conversations about Strasburg are brought up and really at this point, it's all love at this point. What he did for the franchise, you know, they were year after year after year getting in the postseason and couldn't get it done. Before he got there, they really weren't very relevant as a franchise. You rise in Washington and bring something special and obviously, you know, breaks his body down in order to win, you know, World Series in 2019. You can't tell me that doesn't contribute all those innings he pitched that year. I think weeding the league and pitching all those innings in the postseason and winning one for DC. Like, yes, there are going to be people who talk about the contract and, you know, I don't want to say rightfully so, but obviously, that's on the front of mind when you get all that money. But he got that money because of what he did, unfortunately, not for what he, you know, lived up to after the contract, but he did everything his body could to get back and, you know, just with the type of injury it was with TOS, he couldn't get back on. And I think that people in Washington understand that and they understand what he tried to do to get back in it. Last one for me, Spencer, Mike Rizzo, one of my favorite GMs in this game, still at the helm with the Nationals. Where is this organization in terms of the team selling and, you know, some of that business that has been going on? Is that something that's still up? Are you talking about with the ownership? Yeah. Yeah. So the learners have said that they're not selling. That being said, Ted Lianza, who owns a bunch of the other pro franchises in DC, you know, the Wizards and whatnot, he is seemingly chimed into radio stations every month or so and said, look, you know, I'm willing to buy this team if it's put up. So, you know, they said that they're not selling for now. They took it off. But would I be surprised to see different ownership in a year, especially with, you know, maybe the market rising on the Nationals with how their future has looked this season? I wouldn't be surprised. But at the moment, the learners have still said that they're not selling. I only brought up Rizzo because I know there was some discussion in terms of his extension and being with that organization a little bit longer. But it sounds like they're not selling it at this point. So hopefully that he gets to stay longer. Yeah. I mean, he's done a pretty good thing. They're looking pretty good right now. Yeah. Kind of an extension of that for me to finish things up, you know, I don't know that everyone out there understands the history of baseball and the nation's capital. I mean, you got to go back 100 years, the Washington Senators won a World Series in 1925. They eventually became the Minnesota Twins, then the Senators came back and they became the Texas Rangers. Now it's been 20 years since the Nationals started. The expos turned into the Nationals. Is baseball finally settled in DC forever, you think? I would have to think so at this point. It doesn't look like they're moving, you know, you read things from 2005 to 2010 and there, you know, there was interest in the team, but it really wasn't where it's at right now in the sense that people wanted a team, but they also wanted a team that looks good. And, you know, for a long time, they waited and waited and waited and, you know, I would be shocked if in the next 20, 30 years we hear anything about the team moving out of the PC. Well, Spencer, enjoy your stay in sunny San Diego. We certainly appreciate your time coming on and hanging with us. Perfect. Thank you guys. Thanks, Spencer. Thanks for joining us. We're going to talk about the future of the game. 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