- 11 hours ago
Paul Toboni joins The Sports Junkies to break down the latest Washington Nationals news.
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00:00President of Baseball Operations for the Washington Nationals, 80 games in.
00:04They're a couple games above 500.
00:07I pressed go, and he hung up.
00:10He hung up.
00:11I don't know.
00:12I'm sure we'll reconnect.
00:14Not a problem.
00:15He's a pro.
00:16I'll press it again.
00:17Paul, are you there?
00:18Yeah, you guys got me?
00:19Yeah, we're good.
00:20Hey, buddy.
00:20Sorry about that.
00:21What's up, Paul?
00:21Sorry if we hung up on you there.
00:22What's up, Paul?
00:23No, no worries at all.
00:24How are you guys doing?
00:25Doing great.
00:26Frustrated yesterday.
00:27You know, this is what happens when you're, like, super competitive way before anybody
00:31planned.
00:32Now, you know.
00:33People care now.
00:34People care now.
00:36I know you guys care, obviously, but the fan base is getting emotionally invested in this
00:41team.
00:43What kind of, is it just another loss for you guys?
00:45How do you process this as you're about at the halfway mark and you guys are right there
00:49in this?
00:50No, I think you nailed the, you hit the nail on the head.
00:53I was driving home last night so freaking pissed off, you know what I mean?
00:59And it kind of hit me, like, as I was driving home, you know, like, it's a good thing, you
01:04know what I mean?
01:04It means that we got higher expectations than I think people had coming into the year.
01:10But, you know, I think we saw it with the loss in San Francisco.
01:14This team will bounce back and we just got to worry about winning tonight, winning this
01:18series these next couple days and then going to Baltimore and doing the same.
01:22What do you tell fans, obviously the bullpen has had some issues, what do you tell fans
01:27who say, now that they're competitive, they need to go out and get a real closer?
01:32Yeah, man, I hear you.
01:35You know, we're not shying away from the fact that we could have a lot more wins right now
01:39if our bullpen was thrown a little bit better.
01:41So, yeah, you know, I think the tricky part is the time of the year.
01:47You know, I think there are certain things that you can do this time of the year.
01:50You can be active on waivers and, you know, DFAs and that sort of thing.
01:55You can look to make trades, which we're doing at the same time.
01:59It's just a tricky window where teams are looking to see how these next three, four weeks are
02:05going to go, three, four, five weeks, I guess, before the deadline.
02:10And usually they're standing pat.
02:11So it's difficult to make trades at this point in time, but that doesn't mean we're not going to try.
02:18We're going to continue to have a bunch of conversations, and we'll see where it goes.
02:23Are there any more 30-year-old all-star pitchers you can pluck from Japan?
02:27Yeah, I know, right?
02:28He's been great, hasn't he?
02:30He's been incredible.
02:31Hey, I wanted to ask about, we were doing a show for the draft last night down at the Wharf,
02:35but Zach pitched through 59 pitches, pitched pretty decent.
02:40I mean, he gave up two runs in four innings, but only threw, struck out five, only threw 59.
02:44How come he only threw 59?
02:47Yeah, so this is, I don't know if you caught the first part of the game, but we opened PJ,
02:52and Zach was, he was throwing great towards the end of the outing.
02:55He ran into a little bit of trouble.
02:59There were some hard-hit balls.
03:01They're also, Philly's an interesting lineup, too.
03:05Like, even with Schwarber not in the lineup last night, you know,
03:09most of their best hitters are left-handed, obviously, with Harper,
03:14but not just Harper, with Marsh just having a good year and Stott, so on and so forth.
03:18So, we just like the matchup of the lefties on those guys,
03:23and, you know, at the same time, Zach pitched great and gave us a great chance to win.
03:29Yeah.
03:33After you guys hit the bomb, Vivas hit the bomb, and I've just kind of listened to it on replay
03:38on radio,
03:39and they were going crazy, but, you know, you have an 8-6 lead, and you're going to the ninth.
03:45Would have been a huge win, and then, and Lord's been really good, as you know.
03:50He's been really good.
03:51It was just one of those nights that, you know, he gets the two guys.
03:55I think he struck out the first two guys, and then Trey gets the single, and then Marsh hits the
04:00bomb.
04:02What were you thinking when you were watching that?
04:05Yeah, I was just yo-yoed back and forth.
04:08Obviously, you know, we, we had the lead.
04:11They tied it.
04:12But, uh, Vivas hits that bomb.
04:15I was going crazy, and then, uh, you know, obviously, so we had, uh, I don't know if he caught
04:20the inning before,
04:21uh, but Beater came in, and, uh, Real Muto hit that ball to right that Woody almost made that dive
04:26in play on.
04:27Um, you know, Beater, we probably could have, uh, thrown him back out for the ninth, but, uh, but that
04:35was a tricky decision.
04:37I thought Blake handled it great.
04:38Um, you know, this stuff just happens sometimes.
04:40He, obviously, Lordy got the first two guys, got two strikes on Trey, and, uh, kind of felt we had
04:47it in the bag,
04:47and then, uh, obviously things unraveled from there.
04:50But you hit it.
04:51Like, Lordy's been awesome.
04:52Um, we're going to continue to go to him in big spots because he, uh, we believe in him, and,
04:57uh, last night was just one of those nights.
04:59So, you guys used eight arms last night.
05:01Um, so, Michaelis, there's no opener tonight.
05:04Michaelis is starting, correct?
05:06Uh, that's TBD.
05:07Oh, okay.
05:08All right.
05:08Yeah, we're, we're still working that out.
05:10Uh, we optioned Schultz last night, so there will be a move.
05:14We're just figuring out what it's going to be.
05:15Oh, okay.
05:15I missed that.
05:16Hey, um, I know Cakes has a question for you, but, so, CJ was scratched for, I think it said
05:21left tight.
05:22Tightness in his, in his, was it his ribs?
05:24What, what exactly was that?
05:26Are you concerned?
05:27You know, no, I'm not, uh, I'm not concerned.
05:30I don't think really anyone's concerned, including CJ.
05:33Um, we've just been playing him a ton, you know, and, and that's what happens when, uh, when you got
05:39a player like this.
05:40So, I think he's played in 77 or 79 games or something like that.
05:44Gotcha.
05:45He was just feeling it, uh, yeah, and it's like left side, uh, nothing major, uh, but feeling it on
05:50swings
05:51and then defending a little bit.
05:52So, uh, we just thought it was best to, uh, give him a day and Andy Price saw it, but
05:57Dalen, same deal.
05:58Dalen wasn't feeling anything, but we've been running, running Dalen pretty hard too.
06:02So, um, figure it was a good time to give, uh, both those guys a blow.
06:06Paul, how does Nassim Nunez go from batting 173 in May to he's hitting 407 in the month of June?
06:13And, uh, tip of the cap to him too, for leading the majors in swipes with 31 at this point.
06:20I mean, what a season he's having.
06:22Yeah, he, he turned it on, uh, these last couple of weeks.
06:26I think that, uh, huge unlock for him.
06:28And he would tell you this, like, he's just, uh, he's lowered his ball flight.
06:31So, um, you guys probably saw it, uh, but over the course of the first couple months of the season,
06:37he was just in the air a ton.
06:39And, you know, James Wood being in there, that's great because he hits the ball really hard
06:43and, and, uh, it can go over the fence to, to all fields.
06:47Uh, Nass is a little bit different where, um, he's got to, I think, stay, uh, with that line drive
06:52approach,
06:53uh, because, uh, you know, the more line drives he hits, obviously he's, he's, uh, on base.
06:58And then before you know it, he's on second and on third.
07:00So, and it just, it hasn't been offensively.
07:03I know you guys know it, that double play turned, um, the night before last was, was huge.
07:07Uh, he's an incredible defender, just incredible presence.
07:10The energy he brings every day.
07:11He's, uh, he's been awesome.
07:13And, uh, I'm happy that the results are, are finally starting to show for him.
07:17How does the guy change that approach?
07:20Like, what does he do?
07:21How does he tweak it to become a more line drive hitter?
07:25Oh, I think it's a couple of things.
07:26Like one, I think it's pitch selection.
07:28Um, he's been better in that respect.
07:30Uh, but then two, um, you'll, I mean, if you get out there early, you can kind of see the
07:35focus of his, of his batting practice now, um, is trying to hit line drives, you know,
07:41call it five to 15 feet off the ground.
07:44And, uh, you know how it is like anything that you practice, um, the more you practice,
07:49you know, what you're trying to do in the games, I think the more it shows up in the
07:52games and Nas has been really committed to doing so.
07:54And, uh, it's finally starting to show up for him.
07:57All right.
07:57Let's talk about Dylan.
07:58Um, Dylan, um, Dylan had a couple of hits last night, scored three runs, averages up
08:04there to two 20.
08:05Uh, we, you know, we've been asking about him, uh, every time we have you on just because
08:09there's so many expectations for him, but, and you said, you told us, Hey, look, he's
08:13been a little unlucky.
08:14He's been hitting the ball hard, just at kind of at guys.
08:17And, um, it's starting to turn around a little bit.
08:20Nats fans are starting to get a little excited because this is what we were kind of waiting
08:23for with, with him.
08:24Um, he was hitting in the three hole a couple of games ago.
08:27Maybe that was the first game of the, of the Philly series, but, um, and he was usually
08:31down at the bottom of the lineup and I think he was hitting four last night, maybe four
08:35or five.
08:36So, uh, talk to us about Dylan, what you're seeing.
08:39Yeah.
08:39Dylan's been great.
08:40Uh, I think he, he finally started to show these last couple of weeks that, um, I don't
08:45know, there's, there's like a different level of comfort for him in the box, I think.
08:48And so, um, and he's square and balls up left and right.
08:51We saw it last night.
08:52We saw it the day before.
08:54Uh, he had a chance to have a really good day.
08:56He got rung up.
08:56I don't know if you saw it.
08:57He got run up on that three, two fastball out of the zone.
09:00Um, they probably shouldn't have been run up on.
09:02So, um, he's just putting together really quality at bats, um, you know, over the course
09:07of, you know, call it the last couple, couple of weeks.
09:10And, uh, I think a big thing for Dylan is just his timing.
09:13You know, when he's on time and, uh, he, uh, he catches one on the barrel, as you guys
09:18know, the, the ball flies off his bat.
09:20So, um, you know, just getting him on time, not having him be in between, um, in between
09:26pitches, uh, and, uh, yeah, just being really aggressive to what he's looking for.
09:30I think he'll be just fine.
09:31And we've seen it over the course of the last couple of weeks.
09:34He's been one of our better hitters.
09:35So, and then the defense and the base running that shows up every day, which, uh, which
09:39is really fun to watch.
09:40So, um, he's been great and, uh, yeah, looking forward to even better things to come here
09:45in the future.
09:47Well, I said this, uh, Paul, I said this a few days ago.
09:50I don't think you guys are going anywhere because I mean, I know the bullpen has struggled
09:54and you don't have any big name starting pitchers, but the starting pitch has been good, but
09:59the lineup has been so good.
10:01I mean, you guys are scoring runs, getting hits, putting pressure on opposing, uh, pitchers.
10:06So I don't think you guys are going anywhere.
10:08And I, and I know Nats fans and we want to see some additions to the bullpen just to kind
10:12of help close out some of those close games.
10:15But, um, this is no fluke, man.
10:17You guys are, your offense is so good right now.
10:20You've scored 80 more runs, 80 than the Phillies.
10:24Think about that.
10:25Uh, about the same amount of games, which is so impressive.
10:28So, um, let's just get a win tonight, um, against Aaron Nola.
10:34Yeah.
10:34Sounds good.
10:34I was not, I appreciate you saying all that.
10:36Uh, and I feel the same.
10:37So, uh, we'll continue working and, uh, hopefully we can, uh, win this series.
10:42And like I said, go into Baltimore and win that series and go from there.
10:45So appreciate you guys having me on.
10:46All right.
10:47Appreciate it, Paul.
10:48Thanks guys.
10:49All right, buddy.
10:49It is amazing to think they're 41 and 39, 80 games in.
10:53And when you guys were considering over, under, the number was 66.
10:5865 and a half.
10:59I went over.
11:00Yep.
11:01I abstained from that bet.
11:03Because of your scar tissue from the years past.
11:06You didn't want to jinx it?
11:07You didn't want to jinx it?
11:08I think I tailed Savannah for the last two seasons and hit.
11:12Which, for whatever reason, I didn't place it.
11:14This year, well, this year, because she wanted to go under.
11:16She definitely wanted to go under.
11:17She wanted to go under.
11:18Would have been a big fat loser.
11:19I just said, I said, that number's too low.
11:21I'm doing a good job losing whatever's left in my account on World Cup bets.
11:25So the plane is approaching the mountainside at this point.
11:29I don't know if I can pull out of it.
11:31Jason, what are the big World Cup matchups today?
11:34Brazil plays Scotland, I think.
11:36Brazil plays Scotland.
11:37What time is that one?
11:38That's at six.
11:40So there's three doubleheaders.
11:42So there's two threes, two sixes, and two nines.
11:46I need a win from Qatar in the opener against Bosnia.
11:48I need it.
11:49I need some points.
11:51I think they have four teams in a group all play at the same time.
11:56Yeah, this is the last game of the group play.
11:58So tomorrow night, the U.S. plays at 10 p.m.
12:01Correct.
12:0210 o'clock out west.
12:03Well, I started PT yesterday on my elbow.
12:06It's been bothering me for months, and I'm kind of discouraged.
12:10They kind of tell me, you really can't play golf for a while.
12:13I've got to rest and do all the rehab and stuff.
12:15So I'll just be sitting around and watching the World Cup.
12:17I don't know what else to do.
12:18There you go.
12:19Soccer EB.
12:20I'll like exercise and stuff, but I don't know what to do.
12:22I guess I'll become a World Cup expert.
12:25Sure.
12:25Well, you can watch Bosnia and Qatar and then Switzerland and Canada at 3 o'clock today.
12:29The big one is the six, though.
12:31That one should be fun.
12:33Scotland and Brazil?
12:34Yeah, I think.
12:34That should be.
12:35And I need Brazil because I got them in our pool.
12:37Right.
12:37Brazil, though, doesn't have – they don't have any standout guys like they've had in the past.
12:43I know that Neymar is on the roster still, but he's not what he used to be.
12:46I don't know anything about the roster.
12:47But I know they were one of the top four favorites to win it.
12:50Oh, yeah.
12:51Collectively, they're good.
12:52Yeah, collectively, they are good.
12:54But I need Brazil and I need – oh, I need Bosnia to win.
12:58I need three points from each of them.
13:01Give me back in the mix.
13:02I'm waving the white flag.
13:04I know that my team is dead in the water.
13:07I got no shot.
13:08But it comes down to – we all know it comes down to having more teams make the semis
13:12and then the finals.
13:14Like right now, it's great to get your three points on a win, but it's not going to matter
13:18if you don't have any of your team's advance.
13:20My top dog is Portugal.
13:21All they can do is beat up on Uzbekistan so far in this World Cup.
13:26Okay, they had a disappointing first game.
13:27It was a draw.
13:29You have to be encouraged.
13:31Cristiano Ronaldo scored a couple goals.
13:33Can I tell you something real quick?
13:35I know we're going to – I think we're going to finally get to the EP next segment,
13:38but this just infuriated me when I saw this from Jay Williams.
13:42Jay Williams, who we had on the show when he was in high school.
13:44Okay, he would have –
13:45In studio.
13:46In studio here.
13:46Okay, when he came for the McDonald's All-American game or whatever,
13:49or whatever, the Cap Classic.
13:50Who was the other player we had?
13:52We had two players, but go ahead.
13:54Yeah.
13:54I don't remember Jay Williams.
13:55About Joe Forte, was there?
13:56Is that Wade?
13:56We did have Forte.
13:57We did have Forte with the other guy, with Bogans.
13:59With Keith Bogans, yeah.
14:00Yeah, but we had Jay with somebody else, too, I think.
14:02Okay.
14:03But who knows?
14:04Nevertheless, we had him in studio.
14:05Nice kid, whatever.
14:06Nice career.
14:07I mean, you know, motorcycle injury, whatever.
14:09But a nice career in media.
14:12This quote infuriates me as a Wizards fan.
14:15Oh, boy.
14:16He goes, I trust the first pick in the draft, A.J. DeMonta,
14:20but I'm not sure I trust the organization of the Washington Wizards.
14:24And that is just a lazy, ignorant take.
14:29Is it because of the Trey Young signing?
14:32I just think he's basing it on 40 years of Wizards.
14:36He thinks Ernie's still running the show.
14:38Yeah, I mean, is he not aware of the intelligent turnover
14:42we've had in the front office throughout the organization
14:44over the last three years?
14:45It's a completely different team.
14:47Wasn't Stephen A. Smith spewing the same nonsense recently, too?
14:51And I expect that from Stephen A.
14:52I expect that from him.
14:54Jay expected to be a little bit more informed.
14:55That's, honestly, lazy.
14:57That's intellectual laziness from Jay.
15:01That's kind of grouping all of the front offices in together at one.
15:04Yeah, yeah, this is a culture.
15:05They haven't been able to do it,
15:07so why would this one be able to do it?
15:08Well, also, look at the players they've acquired
15:10over the last couple of years.
15:11Look at the move.
15:11Look at the...
15:12All he's looking at is wins and losses.
15:14He's not paying attention.
15:15He's not paying attention.
15:17And I'm personally pissed about it.
15:19They have to turn around with the wins and losses.
15:22Yeah, I think they will.
15:23Because Jay could be justified
15:24if they never end up turning into a winner.
15:26All right, I'll make all the bets
15:28they're going to turn around with wins and losses.
15:29This will be a winning organization.
15:31I'm not predicting a championship.
15:32I'm not disagreeing with you.
15:33Okay, so he has no leg to stand on.
15:35You agree with me?
15:36We're going to win more games.
15:37We're going to win more.
15:38It seems like a very unimportant take.
15:40It's going to be a competitive team.
15:41It is a lazy, ignorant take.
15:45I like that you're perturbed by Jay Williams.
15:47That bothers me.
15:49Because you're just grouping us in for...
15:51Yeah, it's true.
15:52...past sins of totally different people.
15:54Yeah.
15:55It's also easy to hate a Dookie, too.
15:57No matter how long he's been out of Duke.
15:59Yeah, I guess.
16:00Maybe that's a touch.
16:0215, 20 years ago?
16:03There's a long time more than that.
16:04Yeah.
16:05That's a lazy take, buddy.
16:07Just so you know.
16:09Anyway.
16:09Yeah, I would agree with that.
16:11That bothers me.
16:11I would agree with that.
16:12You won't send him an email.
16:14Now look.
16:14Or a letter.
16:15The pressure.
16:15I'm happy to argue with him, though.
16:16If he wants to argue, he gets Sice to argue.
16:18There is pressure on...
16:20And I don't agree with Williams on that.
16:22I believe that they're going in the right direction.
16:24But there is pressure on this.
16:25Well, no.
16:26Yeah, you've got to win now.
16:27You can't just sit there and lose.
16:28This year is a big year.
16:29Yeah, sure.
16:30Monstrous.
16:31Yeah.
16:31And I say this year because it starts later this year.
16:34Yeah.
16:3420, 26, 27 is a big, big year.
16:37The last three years, they took over year one, 15 and 67.
16:42Year two, 18 and 64.
16:44This year, 17 and 65.
16:45Do you know that's never happened before, I believe?
16:4864 losses in three consecutive years.
16:51I don't believe that's ever happened before.
16:52No, it's a model of ineptitude.
16:54Yeah.
16:55But as we said...
16:55But they were trying to do that.
16:57Yeah, intentionally.
16:58As we said to Will earlier, they turned over a team that had Bradley Beal, Chris Stapps
17:05Porzingis, Kyle Kuzma, and just Denny Avdia.
17:09And they kept flipping it and changing it.
17:11And now they've got the team that they want.
17:13They had a vision.
17:14By the way, there was a guy there last night at the Anthem wearing a Porzingis Wizards jersey.
17:19And he was really in character because he had a knee brace that was like his entire leg.
17:25His entire leg was in a brace.
17:26He probably just tore his ACL.
17:27His entire leg was in a brace.
17:29Kind of like Chris Stapps Porzingis.
17:31Throughout a lot of his career.
17:33I thought that was kind of on brand.
17:35But he's not taking a vacation, K.
17:37Because there's a little thing called free agency about this time.
17:40They've got a lot coming up.
17:41Yeah.
17:41Now they made their big free agent move, which was re-signing Trey.
17:44I spaced on free agency.
17:45He could take his vacay in August.
17:48Next up, the entertainment page.
17:49Here are the junkies.
17:50Here are the junkies.
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