- 21 hours ago
We're less than two weeks away from the MLB trade deadline and the Washington Nationals have a big decision to make. Paul Toboni tells us about Washington's mindset ahead of the trade deadline.
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00:00What's up, Paul?
00:02What's up, fellas? How are you guys?
00:03Hey, Paul, are you a one-phone guy or two phones?
00:08Oh, no, one phone.
00:09Oh, really?
00:10So you don't have a personal phone and a business phone?
00:12No, I just go all on one.
00:15Has it been heating up lately?
00:18Yeah, you know, what's funny is heating up is probably a little strong.
00:23Like, I think it's just, at this point in time, casual check-ins.
00:25But I think once we get, you know, three, four days from the deadline, I think it will start to
00:30heat up.
00:31So, but I think right now it's just, you know, teams are checking in and staying in touch.
00:38To be candid, like, I think there are a good amount of teams that don't exactly know what they're doing
00:43yet.
00:43So I think these next, whatever it is, 10, 11, 12 days will be really important.
00:48And then, yeah, and then we'll have more specific conversations as we get closer to August 3rd.
00:54Paul, do you place all the calls yourself or is it like the scenes in Moneyball where Brad Pitt is
00:59playing Billy Bean
01:00and he yells to his receptionist to call the Tigers GM, get the Tigers GM on the line?
01:06How exactly does it work?
01:08Is it mano a mano?
01:10He's probably texting.
01:11Do you reach out to their people?
01:12How does it work?
01:14Yeah, we spread it out amongst a number of people in our leadership group.
01:18And, you know, it's for a couple different reasons.
01:22Like, one, as you get closer to the actual deadline itself, you can trip yourself up a little bit if
01:28there are, you know,
01:3029 calls just coming in to me.
01:31So that's the first thing.
01:34The second thing is, you know, like really any other sport as well, I think a lot of the time
01:41where you match up on these trades,
01:42it's rooted in really good relationships, right, where you just trust folks with other teams
01:48because you've either worked together or you're good buddies with them or whatever it is.
01:51And so we want to, you know, leverage those relationships as well.
01:55And there are different folks in our front office that have tight relationships around the game.
01:59And we want to take advantage of those.
02:01Is there a guy or a couple of guys where you see their number on the phone
02:05and you know that they're just going to offer you something ridiculous that you would never, ever accept?
02:11Yeah, you're not going to mention any names.
02:13But are there some of those guys in the league where you know that you get into, like, trade talks
02:18and trade discussions where it's just never going to, you know, come to fruition?
02:23Yeah, 100%.
02:24And it's probably not all that indifferent from, I don't know if you guys play fantasy football,
02:30but I'm sure you guys have a buddy.
02:31Oh, yeah.
02:32Yeah, he sends you the kicker for, like, your quarterback.
02:35Right, right.
02:36Wide receiver.
02:36Yeah.
02:37Yeah, we've got a couple guys like that.
02:39Oh, really?
02:40You're not going to answer the question, or maybe you will.
02:42You can say no comment.
02:43How many teams have called you about CJ?
02:46Yeah, I won't answer that.
02:49What I will say is just, I mean, the same goes for, really, everyone on our team.
02:54It's no different what, you know, we're doing with other teams as well.
02:57Like, when you've got really good players, you just check in on them.
03:00You know what I mean?
03:03I mean, it is crazy, Paul, that the guy leads the majors in RBIs.
03:08He's been freaking awesome.
03:10I know.
03:11I can't say it enough.
03:13Last night was especially cool.
03:15He was just so locked in.
03:17I thought that, actually, that at-bat that he walked in, I thought he was going to hit a third
03:24homer.
03:25You could just tell he was seeing it really well.
03:29Yeah, like I keep saying, man, he's been such a pleasure to be around.
03:33He's such a stud player.
03:35It's been really fun.
03:37I wonder, Paul, has this success accelerated your, oh, I assume that when you guys took the job, you guys
03:45sit down, right, the brain trust, and you have, like, you have your five-year plan, whatever.
03:49You have your one-year plan, your three-year plan, your five-year plan.
03:51And this success, I got to believe it surprised you a little bit.
03:55Has it accelerated your timeline?
03:56Are you still going to stick to what your original plan was when you took over?
04:03No, you know, what I keep going back to is it's this line that I really believe in, which is
04:09that we should be stubborn on the vision of what we're trying to achieve, but then flexible on the details
04:15of achieving it.
04:16And, you know, if we're projected to lose 100 games this year, yeah, that's a different dynamic than if we're,
04:24you know, doing what we're doing right now.
04:26So, yeah, I think you have to be flexible.
04:30You know, how much does it accelerate it?
04:33You know, that's, those are conversations that we'll have, but I just, you know, I think it'd be foolish to
04:38say that it's not accelerating our timeline by some amount.
04:43But we also want to be really disciplined, so we do this right, right, so we're not winning one year
04:48and then losing 90 games the next year and then, you know, just going through that.
04:52So, yeah, the example I'd like to give is like the Wizards a couple of years ago traded Denny Abia
04:57and everybody's like, oh, why do you trade him?
04:59He's like our stud.
05:00And then he ended up, you know, having like, well, I don't know what he averaged at 25, whatever he
05:03did.
05:03All-star this year.
05:04Yeah, all-star.
05:05And, but they were like, listen, we have a plan.
05:07And I, I think they were right.
05:09And it just, his development didn't necessarily fit our plan.
05:12And now the Wizards are ready to take off.
05:14But everybody was bitching and moaning when they got rid of him a couple of years ago.
05:19Yeah.
05:19And, you know, man, I can't speak to that example as well.
05:22But I think, I think there are just, there are teams around the league that have really showed it.
05:27Like it's, man, it's really easy to just make the easy decision to, you know, just, just go with the
05:34flow and not make these hard decisions when they got to be made.
05:39But if you have this, you know, long-term plan in mind and you stay pretty disciplined to it and
05:46you make those, those hard decisions when they come up,
05:48whether it's, you know, trading away the prospect you really like for a player or trading a player off your
05:54big league team, whatever it might be.
05:56You just got to be really sure that it aligns with, with the vision and the long-term planning that
06:00you got.
06:00So that's what we're going to do.
06:03And the weird thing about the spot that we're in right now is, I know I keep saying it, but
06:07a lot can change in the next 12 days.
06:10So we kind of have to prepare for all fronts.
06:11Yeah, but I feel like, I'm going to just challenge you for a second, because I keep saying on the
06:16air, and I mean this, you know, obviously in a friendly way,
06:19but I don't think anything's going to change until you change it.
06:21Like, I think you are who you are.
06:22I think we know who the Nats are 100 games in.
06:26Yeah, I mean, what I would say to that is like, you know, if we get to August 3rd and
06:31we are 52 and 61, right, versus 62 and 51,
06:38that meaningfully changes things.
06:40You know what I mean?
06:41And listen, there's a, you know, probably the likeliest world is that we're in, you know, within a game or
06:47two of 500,
06:48and then we've got to figure out what we're doing.
06:49But I would hate to come to you guys today and say like, hey, you know, we're going to go
06:54for it.
06:54We're going to buy.
06:55And then, you know, we do whatever over the course of the next 10, 11 days, and like, you've got
07:00to eat your words.
07:01And the opposite is true, too.
07:02Fair enough.
07:03True.
07:04Yeah, it's just how we think about it.
07:06Not to say it's right, by the way, but it's how we're thinking about it.
07:10If you were 56 and 55 and a game out of the last wild card spot, what's your mentality?
07:19Yeah.
07:19I mean, those are conversations that we'll still have, we need to have.
07:23You know, and a lot of this, too, is how the market shapes up on both sides, right?
07:29Yeah.
07:31But that's all TBD.
07:33Talking to Paul Ciboni, president of baseball operations for the Nationals right now.
07:37Nationals are at 500, 51 and 51, one and a half back in the National League wild card race.
07:43So, another late-inning disappointment from the bullpen.
07:48Let's just talk about what you have right now.
07:51Is there anything strategically that can be done differently to be more successful?
07:56I think the team ERA in the eighth inning is right around seven and the same thing in the ninth
08:01inning.
08:03Yeah, I mean, I think you guys have probably seen it, right?
08:07Our bullpen looks completely different than it did just two weeks ago.
08:12You know what I mean?
08:13So, we're turning it over and trying to figure out how to get the best of these guys.
08:20Like I've told you guys in the past, though, it's tricky to do it at this time of the year.
08:26And there have been some guys that have been traded that we've been deep in conversations with to try and
08:33go get.
08:34It hasn't worked out to date.
08:35And we're still going to be active in those conversations and try and upgrade in any way we can.
08:41I feel like you were talking about the next, you know, 11 or 12 games.
08:46And I feel like this is kind of a critical point maybe to even, you know, for the front office
08:51to act or stand pat.
08:53But when you play teams like the Athletics and then the Rockies out there, I know you guys lost last
09:00night, but they're very beatable teams.
09:02I mean, Colorado is 21 games under .500.
09:04And hopefully you guys will get the series today.
09:06And then you get Arizona here.
09:08I think Arizona, they're probably shopping somewhere.
09:12Well, who knows?
09:13I mean, they're in the wild card hunt.
09:16And then you get Toronto here.
09:20But then you've got to go play Atlanta and Philly on the road.
09:22I feel like this is like a critical point in the schedule.
09:26Very winnable games here in the next five or six and then two division games or division series on the
09:31road.
09:32I feel like it's a critical time in the schedule.
09:35Yeah.
09:35No, I think you hit the nail on the head.
09:38Like, you're exactly right.
09:40But then you know how it's going to go, right?
09:42Like, we're going to get through Colorado, through Arizona, through Toronto.
09:47And we're going to be heading into Atlanta and Philly and be thinking the same exact things, right?
09:52Like, this is a critical, you know, whatever, six-game stretch.
09:56And what I will say, too, is those teams, Atlanta and Philly, we've played really tough this year.
10:02I know we had two tough games against Philly.
10:06Shoot, three tough games against Philly.
10:07Right.
10:07Last home stand.
10:08But you won the Atlanta series, didn't you?
10:12Yeah.
10:12Yeah, we've played them tough.
10:14I mean, dating back to one of the first series of the year against Philly.
10:17So, yeah, you know, we're, no matter who's out there, like, we're going to compete.
10:23And, yeah, I mean, this is a fun team.
10:26And as you guys have seen, I think they got a chance to put up five, six, seven, eight runs
10:32on anyone, really.
10:34So, that usually gives us a shot to win day in, day out.
10:37So, Paul, have there been any preliminary talks with Foster Griffin's camp about extending him past the one-year deal
10:44that he's currently working on?
10:45I'm guessing, like, your ceiling for him when you brought him over from Japan didn't expect him to have 11
10:51wins and a sub-3 ERA at this point.
10:55He's been just a rock for the pitching staff.
10:58Yeah.
10:59No, he's been awesome.
11:02And he's been so remarkably consistent.
11:04You know what I mean?
11:05It feels like the last 10 outings he's had, he's gone out there and given up a run or less.
11:12So, he's been great.
11:13And, you know, to go back to your question, I don't think it makes sense for me to open the
11:18book on all these conversations we're having with players.
11:20What I will tell you guys is just that it's front of mind for us.
11:24And it's something that we're constantly thinking about and talking about.
11:28I'm going to throw this out there.
11:30Do you expect the Washington Nationals to play in the postseason this year?
11:36I think we got a real shot.
11:38And, man, that goes, you know, independent of what we do at the deadline, right?
11:44Like, it's what I keep going back to in my mind is with this offense, right?
11:51I think that, you know, if you buy, if you sell, if you thread the needle in some way, I
11:57think we got a real shot.
11:59And, you know, I'm obviously biased because I got personal attachments to all these guys and so on and so
12:06forth.
12:07But no matter what we do at the deadline, I really think that this team can make a run because,
12:11yeah, I believe in the folks in the clubhouse, both the staff and players.
12:17And, yeah, I'm excited to see how they play down the stretch.
12:21So even if you sell a piece or two, you still think you can make a run is what you're
12:25saying.
12:26I think you're saying that.
12:27Yeah, I do.
12:28That's not to say it's what we're going to do, but I do.
12:30Yeah.
12:31Yeah.
12:32I mean, like I said, who knows, like how we thread the needle.
12:36So if we do, you know, if we do end up selling a couple of pieces and then, you know,
12:41buy a couple other pieces or, you know, no matter how it shakes out, like I, I believe in the
12:46team.
12:46And I think, I think we, we do have a chance to make a run.
12:51Yeah.
12:51Well, I know one guy you're not selling is pitching today at 310, Kei Cavalli.
12:56And he's going against Gabriel Hughes.
12:58Did they just, did the Rockies just call him up?
13:00I saw that he's only pitched in three games or was he hurt?
13:03Yeah.
13:04No, they're bringing him up.
13:05Um, he's, uh, yeah.
13:07I don't know if you know his backstory, but former first rounder, um, he, he debuted this year, but, um,
13:14he's been good for him.
13:15Uh, he's made some real changes to his mix.
13:16They've, they've done a good job with him.
13:18So, uh, it'll be a challenge for us.
13:20But, um, I mean, you mentioned Cade, we, we got, we got full trust in Cade to go out and
13:25do his job and, and, uh, put us in a position to win.
13:28All right.
13:29All right, Paul.
13:29Good stuff.
13:30Thanks for answering all the questions.
13:31Paul Timoni, president of baseball operations for the Washington Nationals.
13:34Joins us every Wednesday at this time.
13:35Thanks, pal.
13:36We'll talk to you next week.
13:37See you, man.
13:37Yeah, appreciate you guys.
13:38Yep.
13:38All right.
13:39Bye.
13:39Thanks, Paul.
13:39Coming up next, we'll touch on the Hollywood, the music scene.
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