- 10 hours ago
People weren't happy at the time, but with what the Nationals have turned the trade into has been pivotal for the team's future.
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00:01C.J. Abrams has been one of the major league leaders in runs batted in this season.
00:05He is a huge reason why the Nationals are over .500.
00:09Welcome back, Grant and Danny on the fan.
00:11The Nats getting ready to play the Padres in a little over two hours here on your flagship home for
00:17baseball in D.C.
00:19James Wood, the best player on the team, is 23.
00:21And C.J. Abrams, who's having the best season, perhaps, of anybody on the team with James Wood,
00:27is all of 25 years old.
00:29Both of those guys came over for Juan Soto from the San Diego Padres.
00:34They're the faces of the franchise.
00:36And as of this week, Danny, they ranked one and two offensively in B-War from baseball reference.
00:41Wood and Abrams, two of six pieces originally, that came back from San Diego for Juan Soto.
00:49But as the Padres are here, Soto long gone from San Diego.
00:52They didn't win a World Series with him.
00:54Yeah, a couple teams later.
00:54He went on to play for the Yankees, who they traded him to.
00:58And now he's with the Mets for the rest of his career, very likely, with his very long contract.
01:03But I wanted to just look back and take inventory on what Washington got back in this deal.
01:07We'll start with James Wood, who's a superstar.
01:09He is a Soto-esque presence for the Nationals.
01:12He has not completely become Soto, who's a unicorn, who's on base percentage routinely was around 42-43% for
01:19long stretches.
01:20But his .967 OPS is Soto-esque.
01:23His .276 batting average, leading the league in strikeouts, those are not quite on the Soto level.
01:29He's bigger.
01:29He's got longer arms.
01:31He's a different kind of player, so he's going to swing and miss some.
01:33But he's got more power than Juan Soto, probably.
01:36Him and Soto are on a short list with Judge of opposite-field home run power.
01:41James Wood's a guy that's going to hit 40 home runs several times in his career.
01:45Might hit 50 home runs in his career.
01:47He's also the only player in the big leagues right now with 15 homers and 10 stolen bases.
01:52This is a 23-year-old star who's about to be a second-time All-Star in D.C.
01:57He's the centerpiece of it, right?
01:58I mean, this is the dude that you're building around at this point, right?
02:02I mean, a lot of the same attributes you mentioned is Soto.
02:04The patience, which is clear and is obvious.
02:07He's leading the league in walks.
02:08A lot of bold ink in that regard.
02:10And that's, again, a very Juan Soto-esque trait.
02:12You know, strikeouts come with that, so he doesn't have the elite, not only am I walking,
02:16but I'm going to walk more than a strikeout Soto thing, which is just beyond remarkable.
02:21It doesn't happen in this day and age, except for guys like him.
02:23But I think you said it, more natural power than Soto, who's got light tower power,
02:27who's done some astounding things in that way.
02:30But James Wood this season is leading the league in games played and played appearances.
02:34He's got the most runs scored in baseball by a wide margin.
02:36You mentioned the most walks in the league.
02:38He's leading the National League right now in on-base percentage.
02:41He's leading in OPS.
02:42He's top five in all of Major League Baseball.
02:44He's leading in Ops Plus as well.
02:46He has been 76% better than a league average player.
02:50Basically two times a league average player this year.
02:54So he was the key piece back in the Soto deal.
02:57Then we go to CJ Abrams, who's got a 167 Ops Plus.
03:0067% better than a league average player.
03:03Who himself is on his way to a second All-Star game in three years.
03:08Who's on pace for well over 30 homers and well over 130 runs batted in.
03:13As I mentioned, he's got a chance as of right now, a third of the way through, to lead the
03:16big leagues in RBI.
03:17Now, I don't know if he's going to last the entire season here or not.
03:21The Nats are playing good enough baseball that he may not be traded, which was the expectation coming into the
03:26season.
03:26He may still get traded in the offseason in the winter coming up after this year.
03:31But regardless, a 2.3 war player, not a good defensive shortstop, probably needs to end up at second.
03:37He's one of the best offensive players on the infield in all of baseball.
03:41And he's still kind of coming into his own.
03:43You know what they say in baseball that your prime starts when?
03:46Right around age 27.
03:48He's 25 years old, man.
03:51This guy's going to hit 30 home runs at some point in the majors.
03:54Could be this year, by the way.
03:55But he's going to hit 30 homers and steal, potentially, 35 or 40 bases.
04:00He is a very, very rare, unique talent.
04:02If he was playing on the Braves or one of the best teams in baseball, he'd be an MVP candidate
04:07right now.
04:08He came over in this deal as a former top-10 pick who had barely played at the big league
04:13level.
04:13He was rushed to the major leagues at 21 by the Padres.
04:16And that season was in the major leagues with the Nats, and he keeps getting better and better and better.
04:20It is hard to overstate how good he's been.
04:22He's had stretches where he's been this good.
04:24We're familiar with him.
04:26They make his whole season, right?
04:27Where you have, I forget which month it is, but he has the May a couple years ago where he's,
04:31oh my God, look at the pace he's on for 50 steals and 30 homers and oh my God.
04:36And then it's, you know, he's a slightly below average player for months at a time afterwards.
04:41The valley has not come yet.
04:43And maybe it doesn't.
04:45Maybe the new coaching, the new paradigms, the new drills, the new things to focus on, the new work, his
04:50own maturation, his own ability kind of shining through.
04:52You've seen those flashes where he's as good as anybody.
04:55That's not, you know, people go, ah, he's as good as anybody.
04:57No, no, literally as good as anybody for a month at a time.
05:01He's now been as good as anybody for three months.
05:03And you're now more than a third of the way through the season where he's putting up astounding numbers at
05:09a middle infield spot.
05:10Another of the players still in the org from that deal, Harleen Susana, is one of the top pitching prospects
05:14in baseball.
05:15Currently not fully healthy, but should be pitching soon enough into this season.
05:2022 years old now, wrapping up a stint on the 60-day injured list.
05:25Last year in the minors, struck out 15 batters per nine.
05:28Best case scenario, he's a mid-rotation starter who connects the dots.
05:32It's worst case scenario, he's a back of the bullpen, kind of lights out closer, throwing 102 miles an hour.
05:38He's the first guy I've ever seen in person touch 103 when I saw him pitching in Fredericksburg shortly after
05:44they acquired him in this deal.
05:46Another player still in the org from that trade is Robert Hassel, a depth outfielder who's currently playing at AAA
05:51Rochester with the Red Wings.
05:53He's hitting just 231 with a 619 OPS.
05:56He's struggling at AAA right now.
05:58But Robert Hassel, if you called him up right now, and we saw him in the major leagues,
06:02when he got called up last year and played a little bit before he got supplanted by Dalen Lyle in
06:07the organizational pecking order.
06:08He played in 70 games in the majors.
06:11Didn't hit a lot, 220, 570.
06:13But Danny, he's a good defensive player, a good base runner.
06:17If he doesn't hit, he's not going to be an impactful everyday player.
06:20But he's a really nice depth piece that in another system, another organization, he may well be in the majors
06:25right now as a third or fourth outfielder.
06:27And so this was a guy, I think, a couple years ago when this trade was made, I don't want
06:32to say he was the surest thing because I think people still had more confidence in Wood and rightfully so
06:36because the ceiling was so high.
06:37But he was considered the highest floor guy as like a 15-20 homer, 65-70 RBI, good left fielder.
06:43Yeah, and I'm still a fan of the player, but it has not gone well this year.
06:47Remember, he's a year removed in 2025.
06:49In 75 games or so, 850 OPS in Rochester, hitting over 300, looked like, okay, I'm too good for this
06:55level.
06:56And the major leagues did what the major leagues does and made it really hard for him.
06:59It has not gone well this year.
07:00And so, you know, now at 24, I'm starting to lose a little bit of steam behind my love affair
07:07with Robert Hassel, but still have some confidence, still hopeful for the player.
07:10But again, that's the, as you said, if that's as bad as it gets, you're doing pretty well in that
07:16deal.
07:17So I moved him into a different group like a year ago where he's not an everyday player, but he's
07:20going to be, he's an org soldier type.
07:22You can bring him up or down and you could have him as a depth major leaguer who's not going
07:25to embarrass you.
07:26He can play all three outfield spots defensively very well.
07:29Well, he's a good bench player.
07:30You need those two to get that as your fifth player in the deal, a major leaguer, which I think
07:35he is, is pretty awesome, by the way.
07:37Now, he may or may not end up being a major leaguer for the Nats because they have so much
07:41outfield depth in the minor leagues, in the high minor leagues especially.
07:44That's the most loaded spot in the entire organization.
07:48And then the fifth guy was Mackenzie Gore, who pitched as their ace for multiple years, started on opening day
07:53multiple times, and has been an all-star, who they have subsequently traded into another five players.
07:58So if you do this like a branch off of a tree, it's Wood, Abrams, Susana, Hassel, and then another
08:06five guys that include top 100 prospect, Devin Fitzgerald, who might be top 60 in all of baseball, Jeremy Cabrera,
08:14Gavin Fiend, who's going to be a top 100 prospect, Abimelech Ortiz, who could be in the big league soon,
08:19and Alejandro Rosario.
08:21Fitzgerald, who they just got, this kid, Devin Fitzgerald, father of coaches at Stoneman Douglas in Florida, where he was
08:27a four-time state champion and one of the great powerhouses for high school baseball in America.
08:32He's got 12 homers and 11 steals.
08:34He's hitting 300 with a 1,000 OPS in the minors.
08:37He's one of the best players in minor league baseball right now.
08:39It's a monster breakout coming over from the Rangers organization.
08:43Jeremy Cabrera, who they got in this Gore deal, has played, so far, 40-plus games in the minors.
08:48He's up to A-plus ball.
08:50He's got eight home runs equaling last year's total.
08:53He's hitting 300 with a 970 OPS.
08:55Again, a massive breakthrough for him in the minor leagues.
08:59The centerpiece of this deal was a first-round pick just last year in Gavin Fiend.
09:03So they have the number one pick from last year's draft, Eli Willits, and the number 12 pick from last
09:07year's draft, Gavin Fiend, both in their organization.
09:10He's been hurt for the majority of this season, but there's a lot of hope that he could turn into
09:14an elite-level prospect.
09:16Abby Ortiz from the Rangers, who at points in the minors is at 33 and 25 home runs over full
09:21seasons, already has 10 homers, nine of them in May, with an OPS of almost 900 at AAA.
09:27Looks like he's ready for a call-up as a left-handed power-hitting DH-type, thick guy, built like
09:32a bowling ball.
09:33First baseman when you need him to stand there.
09:35And the arm that they got in the deal, Alejandro Rojas, is hurt, and it's going to be a little
09:40while before he's pitching again at the big league level because he had Tommy John surgery.
09:45But you're talking about, like, nine guys from the Soto deal, Danny.
09:49Nine.
09:50At least I would guess pretty conservatively, six of them will be major leaguers, maybe all nine.
09:56And I would say right now, comfortably, six to seven of them could be very good major leaguers for them.
10:02That deal that people despised and hated, that we talked about on the show quite a bit, I'm not trying
10:07to pat us on the back for liking the deal.
10:09I'm going to pat Mike Rizzo on the back.
10:11That'll be my effort here.
10:12It was the correct thing to do.
10:14And guess what?
10:15As the Padres turn on the TV tonight and watch their team, that deal, which made sense for them at
10:21the time because they tried to win a title, is kicking them in the butt.
10:23But it must pain them every single time they see James Wood and C.J. Abrams, who you're going to,
10:29if you don't trade them, get a combined 12 to 14 seasons of here in D.C.
10:33Can you imagine what, as a Padres fan, it must be like to watch this team play above its head,
10:38hitting the way it is, thinking, God, we could have any of these guys?
10:41They would sting the nostrils, I'll say.
10:43And again, it made sense for everybody.
10:45I mean, San Diego went all in, and to their credit, they had the ammunition to pull off a trade
10:49for a player of the likes of Juan Soto.
10:50Their World Series window closed, they moved him to the Yankees, they tried, and failed too.
10:56So, yeah, it's one of those things where everybody at the time got the thing that they were setting out
11:03to do, right?
11:04And I know it's painful because you give up so many pieces for that, and that's your future, but those
11:08banners fly forever.
11:09That's the philosophy of a lot of execs that pull off those kind of things.
11:12I mean, we celebrate Les Snead for that.
11:14That's a Les Snead-like move, but in baseball terms.
11:17But for the Nats, this always made perfect sense to me.
11:20I understand when, if you're looking at a series of moves, you look at 10 non-decisions to pay guys,
11:28right?
11:28And you go, they never pay anybody.
11:30Yeah, okay, totally fair, fine.
11:33They paid Steven Strasburg, went around the GM to do it, and it turned out to be one of the
11:37worst contracts in pro sports history.
11:39Okay, they don't pay anybody, fine.
11:41Sometimes each individual moment, though, is the right call.
11:44When you put record amounts of money in front of him as a starting point, and you're laughed out of
11:49the room, and you get the silent treatment from Scott Boris, you realize, oh my God, we're never signing this
11:53guy.
11:53And the instant you realize we're never signing him, and we don't have a championship window.
11:57In other words, if 2019 was 2023, and you've got a great team, you go, you know what, we could
12:03probably get a great haul, but we've got a great squad here.
12:05We've got a bunch of veterans.
12:06It's Rendon, it's Kendrick, it's last ride for Ryan Zimmerman, we've got Scherzer, it's Strasse, and all these dudes.
12:11Then, yeah, you let it ride.
12:13You're in last place with the player that you can't re-sign.
12:17Again, this is the most no-brainer, obvious trade scenario.
12:21Like, it's sort of like GMing 101.
12:23Would you like to be a GM?
12:24What do you do here?
12:25You fill in the Scantron.
12:26We'll trade him for a massive haul and reset the organization.
12:29Ding, ding, ding, go on to the next question.
12:31Could have been easier.
12:31And I know it's painful.
12:33I was there, too.
12:34Yeah.
12:34But it was obvious.
12:35What if they didn't?
12:36Yeah.
12:37Imagine this team, the last couple of years especially, before all these other guys were added to the minor league
12:42system or in other trades that have helped them.
12:44What would this team look like?
12:46Take James Wood and C.J. Abrams off of this thing.
12:49I mean, my goodness, they're the Rockies.
12:52You know, this is a terrible team without those guys, without this deal.
12:57What is the rotation the last few years without Mackenzie Gore?
13:00What was the system without Susana and Hassel?
13:03And that was a really bold trade.
13:07I think revisionist history is going to say, of course you would trade Soto.
13:10Why wouldn't you?
13:12Rizzo got eviscerated for that deal.
13:15Eviscerated.
13:16By the local fan base.
13:17Especially because it came on the heels of all the other guys that they hadn't been able to keep.
13:22How do you think the Juan Soto trade has aged?
13:28800-636-1067 if you want to hop.
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