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Barry Svrluga joins the program to discuss the state of the Wizards and Nationals rebuilds.
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00:00And right now we're jumping on the Rude Guest Hotline
00:02to talk to our friend, Mr. Barry Sreluga of The Athletic.
00:07Barry, how's life at The Athletic, dude?
00:09How's it going?
00:11Living a dream, man.
00:13Kind of doing a version of my old thing at a new place.
00:16So, feels pretty good.
00:17Good.
00:18So, what have you been doing?
00:19I imagine the Nats kept you pretty damn busy last night
00:22sending down Brady House, calling up Dylan Cruz.
00:26They also had a wacky game in between with a big old 12th inning.
00:30What do you make of kind of where the Nats are
00:33playing competitive ball now, almost a Memorial Day,
00:36as well as some up and down personnel decisions?
00:41Yeah, so there's a couple things about all of this.
00:44I was down there pregame yesterday
00:46and actually talking to Paul Taboney about Cruz
00:49because I had had in mind,
00:52hey, I should go try to catch Rochester somewhere
00:55and check in on how he's holding up mentally
00:59because his numbers, frankly, were not that great at AAA.
01:03And I asked Taboney, who obviously knew what was happening
01:07in terms of making the move, how he was doing,
01:11and his face kind of lit up because he said Cruz had smoked
01:15a bunch of balls over the last week.
01:18You know, they are way into advanced analytics and real data.
01:24He was just like kind of offhandedly, like he's hit eight balls 105 miles an hour
01:28or faster exit velocity, and a bunch of them have been right at people.
01:33So he was really positive about the decision-making at the plate
01:38and the way that Cruz was swinging it that it got me thinking,
01:41oh, he's not that far away.
01:43Well, I didn't know he was like 24 hours away from getting called up.
01:46So that's a good development because this is a guy,
01:50the number two pick in the 2023 draft,
01:53that really has to be part of the future
01:56if they're going to have success going forward.
02:00And House has struggled.
02:01And struggled defensively, frankly, too.
02:04So I think that's a really interesting change.
02:07The other thing I would say is I don't know how they're doing it,
02:11and I'm trying to do some reporting around it,
02:14but this is a team that has scored more runs than any team in baseball.
02:19I mean, more runs than the Dodgers, more runs than the Yankees.
02:22Like, they lead the sport in runs scored and are fifth in OPS
02:29with a lineup that, if you look at it every day,
02:32is really James Wood and C.J. Abrams and a bunch of guys.
02:37Like, Blake Vutera, the manager, is doing a great job
02:39of putting him in great matchup situations,
02:41but they're also, I think, developing hitters at the major league level
02:45in a way that hasn't happened recently.
02:47So they might not be a good team,
02:49and this flirting with .500 is probably not sustainable
02:53through 162 games because they just don't prevent runs well enough.
02:57But they are an interesting watch on a night-to-night basis.
03:00So it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks of what the Nats are doing,
03:04but I am curious if other organizations are taking notice
03:09and kind of saying, hmm, they might have something interesting going on there
03:14with this extreme youth and really leaning in on the numbers end of it.
03:20Yeah, and I think, Dave, that there's a lot of organizations
03:24that lean in on the numbers.
03:26I think the early returns here are they're doing a good blending
03:31of what do the numbers say and how should we use our personnel
03:35that might be limited in talent to put people in the best position
03:41to succeed with a human element of, you know,
03:46I'm trying to write about the hitting coach's completely new hitting operation,
03:50obviously, and that's where they're having success.
03:54And what I'm finding out is that they are really connecting with each player
04:00and having them understand, here's what you're doing well,
04:03here's what you need to work on, but also, like, being people
04:06that they can just kind of hang out with and talk to.
04:08So, again, I don't want to oversell it because they're not going to be
04:11a playoff team, and they're very, very much in the early stages
04:15of talent acquisition.
04:16But I know in talking to, like, another GM earlier in the season
04:22who had played the Nats recently said, you know,
04:25I think they're going to play better and harder for Butera,
04:28and the moves they're making might not be splashy,
04:32but they're logical and they make sense.
04:37And, you know, they're platooning when they should platoon.
04:39They're pinch hitting when they should pinch hit.
04:41They're using an opener when it makes sense if there are, like,
04:44a lot of lefties at the top of that lineup that they're playing that night.
04:48They're just doing very modern, logical things that have helped lift,
04:53you know, if they win the next two games, they're back to .500 again,
04:56which there's no way I would have bet that, you know, 50 games into the season.
05:00Yeah.
05:00The other thing, too, which is wild to think about is that, you know,
05:03these rebuilds have timelines.
05:05And you're like, we've got to plan to get good,
05:08but we don't want to get too good too quick because that'll mess up our timeline
05:12on what we're planning, right?
05:15That that's now a function of how teams plan rebuilds?
05:20You're not wrong.
05:21I think it's maybe a little bit different in baseball where I don't want to call
05:28the drafts a crapshoot because that takes away from the people who put so much
05:32time and effort into evaluating prospects.
05:34But it's not quite like the Wizards tank where you really needed them to finally
05:39get a break in the lottery and win it to make sure they're, you know what I mean?
05:43It's just a little more muddled at the top of the draft.
05:46So you're trying to get a high pick year after year when you're in these rebuilds.
05:54And I think an interesting part of the Toboni administration rebuild is they're not
06:02scarred by what has happened here since 2020, second most losses in baseball in that time.
06:11But the fan base carries that weight and that frustration.
06:14And we were sold that trading Juan Soto would be a good thing.
06:18And I would argue it still was a good thing because James Wood and CJ Abrams are your best
06:22players right now and that's how they got here.
06:24But there is a, you know, it just gets frustrating year after year when you've already been through
06:32100 lost seasons to be told you're probably going to have another one, which is why this
06:37feels kind of refreshing.
06:38Because even if I don't think it's sustainable to be an 81 and 81 team over the course of the
06:45year, that you see real signs of progress and you, you get the idea that like, if these
06:54guys are as good at acquiring talent in the draft coming up as they have been in developing
07:02the talent that they have on hand, then there is reason for hope going forward.
07:09So it'll be really interesting to see, and I haven't asked this, like, does what's happened
07:14in what amounts to a little over a quarter of a season change anybody in the front office's
07:19evaluation of what the timeline should be?
07:22Or has this been a kind of a fortunate stretch and, you know, good asset management that,
07:29that, you know, kind of clouds over that, that, that rebuild is really years in advance
07:36still.
07:37Yeah.
07:37It's interesting because you, you also have, I always say this about the NFL, it's a self
07:43preservation league, right?
07:45And, and probably one of the, the biggest problems for Dan Quinn going into this season
07:51is that they went 12 and five, two years ago.
07:53Right.
07:53Yeah.
07:54This is what happened to the commanders.
07:55And I think like Will Dawkins and Michael winger made sure they were terrible.
08:00And Denny Avdi is not on our timeline.
08:02And that's why he's a all-star for the blazers now.
08:05And a lot of that sucks for fans, but it's these executives that take over want their,
08:10want their leash to be long and to have the time.
08:14And, and knowing that Barry, do you feel like a CJ Abrams trade is almost inevitable this
08:19summer?
08:20You know, it's really the biggest question about the franchise, um, in the, in the near
08:27future.
08:27Um, and I don't know if it has to be this summer because it could still be this winter.
08:33You still would get, you know, the difference is you get three playoff races.
08:36If you trade them this summer and you get only two, if it's over the winter, they did
08:41do that with Mackenzie Gore.
08:43They held onto him last year and then Mike, the Bartolo interim regime, and then traded them
08:47in the off season because they thought they got an offer, um, that was too good to, to
08:52refuse.
08:53But that, you know, Abrams, depending on how you evaluate him, like, should the, should
09:00the discussion be, we should trade him or should it be, we should extend him.
09:06Now that's a two-way street.
09:07We've always talked about that.
09:08Like, you know, if Abrams is not interested in sticking around or doesn't think, believe
09:12in the future than that, maybe he, maybe that makes the decision for you.
09:17But if I, I'd put it this way, JP, I would think it's probably 60, 40.
09:22He gets traded, um, by this trade deadline because he's playing at an all-star level.
09:27Um, offensively he is, he's been not good defensively and a lot of metrics would show
09:33he's not a good defensive shortstop period.
09:35Maybe his future is at second base.
09:37Maybe it's in center field.
09:38I don't know.
09:38That would be up to the, to the buyer, but the bat and the speed and the athleticism,
09:44there's, there's no doubt about any of it.
09:46He, he is, um, a really electric player when he's, when he's at his best.
09:50And this is a, a really good sustained, consistent, um, quarter of the season, uh, for him.
09:56But I don't think there's any more interesting or important question for a Nats fan or Nats
10:01front office than what's the future of CJ Abrams in the next two months.
10:06And then if not the next two months, the next two and a half years, we are talking with our
10:11friend Barry's for Luga here on the rude guest hotline.
10:14You can follow Barry at Barry's for Luga S V R L U G A read all his work in
10:19the athletic.
10:20And one of the reasons I always enjoy talking to you, Barry, and whether it's on the radio,
10:23we're just kind of BS and is you, you truly cover everything and you can speak in depth
10:29about everything.
10:31And I saw that you got an interview with Ted Leonsis after the wizards landed the number
10:36one pick in the NBA draft.
10:38I'm curious if you can kind of share where Ted's at now with the wiz.
10:44Yeah, I thought it was a good time to check in with him because, you know, one thing I
10:49always think about these rebuilds, well, I agree with them philosophically, but people,
10:55not just the fans, but the people who run these teams and orchestrate the rebuilds, um, which
11:00in this case, you know, included an outright tank, um, you know, you've got to live through
11:06it and you've got to, it's, it's part of your plan and you can believe in it, but there
11:11will be people that question you.
11:13Um, so Ted, you know, he's, he's always good to go into that.
11:18He believes that his plan was the best plan.
11:20I mean, he loves, um, you know, being right about things, but I think, I think what he's
11:27right about here is that he made a good hire in Michael Winger and Michael Winger subsequently
11:33made a good hire in Will Dawkins and they executed this.
11:38They were honest about what to expect.
11:40They were honest about, um, how it would feel.
11:43They were honest about how long it would take.
11:46Um, and it's finally, you know, a year after the worst they could do in the lottery was six,
11:52then they were six, finally got some balls to fall their right way.
11:57And whether it's a Wemby year or a Cooper flag year or not, and it's not, um, they are in
12:04control in this draft and they can make whatever decision is best for them.
12:08If that's hold the pick and take the bond, if it's trade back with Utah, one spot, like
12:13whatever they think, um, and whenever they can get there, they are in control.
12:17And I think what Ted's, um, point is, is because they've gone through this in a methodical way
12:25and they've collected high picks in the past, um, that in his words, the deconstruction is
12:32over and now the actively trying to win begins regardless of who comes in, in this draft.
12:40They have some workable pieces, not stars likely, but really useful young NBA, um, players that
12:48have some experience playing heavy minutes and this new number one pick or number two
12:53pick or whatever, whatever it is, is inserted into an infrastructure that has some positive
13:00upside rather than, okay, we have the top pick in the draft because we're, we were terrible.
13:05And now we have to bop him up and build around him.
13:10I think some of the pillars are already there and it's much, the way I've thought about it,
13:14JP is like, when was the last time you were anticipating a wizard season in May?
13:19It was like, you know, maybe back in the Gilbert days or something.
13:23Yes.
13:23It's a long, long, long time.
13:25So that's a cool spot to be in.
13:27I don't know how they're going to use all the pieces.
13:29You got a lot of pieces now.
13:31Well, I mean, it's asset management, right?
13:33Now you have, you have picks and they've done a great job of trading like second round
13:38picks, second round picks and cycling through all this stuff.
13:40And, and, um, so you've got players, you can trade, you've got, um, picks, you can trade.
13:46You, you've got a lot going on.
13:48I will add JP that, um, I'm not stupid enough to get Ted on a call in May of 2026
13:54and not
13:55actually about Alex Ovechkin's future.
13:57So it's possible I'll sit back at my laptop, back down at my laptop when we're done and finish
14:02this Ovechkin column, um, because I think that's a good talk or two.
14:05When's that going to drop?
14:09It should drop tomorrow morning.
14:10Okay.
14:11Like that.
14:11Do we get a, do we get a, do we get a teaser?
14:13Yeah.
14:14Barry, come on.
14:15Well, I mean, I'll say this, like, I think he genuinely doesn't know what he's going to
14:21do.
14:21Um, and is really, really wrestling with stuff.
14:24Um, so I'll just, I'll leave it, I'll leave it at that.
14:28I think there's good arguments to be made on, on both sides.
14:31And, um, I mean, I just, I've loved writing about the guy for 20 something years.
14:36So, um, give it another shot here.
14:37I don't know if Ted would admit whether or not his side has asked for a certain number
14:43yet, but that would be the start to figure out what he wants to do.
14:48Um, well, one thing they, I think is important and I'll point this out in the column too,
14:53is like the NHL cap is going up.
14:57The caps get off the books.
15:01Um, John Carlson had a big number, um, because they, the cap is going up and they just have
15:08some natural attrition.
15:10They are going to, um, be in position to add whether Alex comes back or not.
15:18And I think, I don't know this, but my reporting would show that he's not, if he comes back,
15:25he's not coming back to, you know, hold them hostage or, or, you know, make sure he's the
15:32highest paid player on the team or, or whatever.
15:34Like, I think, I don't, I think the thing is genuinely less financial and more physical
15:41than, than anything.
15:42Well, that'd be great then.
15:43Cause I'm, I'm in the camp of whatever he wants reasonably, just pay it.
15:49I agree.
15:50He should get to write his own ending.
15:51And I think that's what Ted would want.
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