00:00I guess we shouldn't cry over spilled milk.
00:02Man, would a sweep have been nice
00:04if you were able to get another inning or two clean
00:07from the bullpen in the sandwich game?
00:10You'll take winning the series two out of three.
00:12Cavalli was great yesterday.
00:13And C.J. Abrams, four more hits,
00:16has just carried this team on this road trip.
00:17They're thrilled to see him leave Colorado.
00:19My God, that guy tormented them.
00:20But you touched on the second game.
00:21I know it's not the point of this segment,
00:23but they left a couple of runs out there,
00:25and I'm not mad at the offense.
00:27They're just pointing this out.
00:28A couple guys thrown out at home.
00:30And runners on third, less than two outs,
00:31they didn't end up scoring them.
00:32They didn't play well enough to win.
00:33But it occurred to me, my God, the pressure on this offense.
00:37They've got to be so unbelievably great
00:39that you can't afford to do that
00:41because you need the 10th run.
00:42And that kind of crystallized this thing for me.
00:44Back to you.
00:44They've caught the Marlins
00:45after the Marlins lost late last night
00:47after the Nats had played.
00:49So they've gained four games on Miami
00:51just in the last 10 days.
00:53And they are now, even with Miami,
00:56they're one and a half back in the wild card.
00:58And that's probably more important than the record.
01:00But I think both in their own ways are relevant.
01:03The Nats are one over 500.
01:05But they're one and a half back of the Diamondbacks.
01:08Arizona is coming in here.
01:09So you get to control your own destiny with Arizona.
01:12D-backs are on a heater, by the way.
01:13They've won two in a row, eight of 10.
01:15They're good.
01:16So this will be a telling series.
01:17If Arizona sweeps you,
01:19then Paul Tabboni's probably thinking about
01:21giving some pieces up
01:22because you're four and a half back
01:23and you get exposed a little bit
01:25as maybe not being on their level.
01:27But if you do what you did
01:28when you went out to Arizona early in the year
01:29and you beat them in a series
01:31and you hit the ball and score a bunch of runs
01:33and you take two out of three,
01:35it changes the algorithm a little bit.
01:37The Cardinals and the Pirates
01:38are both one game above the Nationals
01:41and ahead of them,
01:42also on the outside looking in.
01:44So if you want to count the Padres
01:47who continue to lose,
01:49lost again today,
01:50two in a row, six of 10,
01:51look like they could end up being sellers
01:53if they don't turn things around.
01:55They're three and a half back.
01:56But I'm going to put them
01:57in a different tier right now,
01:58even though they're only two games back
01:59in the Nats
02:00because I think trading Mason Miller
02:01is looking more and more likely
02:02to try to recoup some assets here.
02:05I think there are basically now
02:07five teams vying for one playoff spot.
02:10We could change that in a week
02:12depending on the Padres' results.
02:14But I think the Cubs and the Phillies
02:15are going to make the playoffs
02:16or whoever doesn't win the NL Central
02:18and NL East.
02:19Those are good enough teams
02:20that two of them
02:22will be wildcard teams.
02:24And then there's one spot
02:25for the flawed next tier.
02:27Is that the Diamondbacks
02:28who end up being the best
02:30and getting the hottest?
02:31Cardinals, Pirates, Marlins, Nats
02:33are the other teams.
02:34And it's going to be up to an executive
02:36making a trade or two.
02:37We've heard the Pirates
02:38are willing to add,
02:39but they don't want to add salary.
02:41Makes it really hard
02:42to make a splash move.
02:43Yeah, how are you going to add then?
02:44The Marlins are really flawed.
02:46Uh-huh.
02:46I don't think Peter Bendix
02:47and their front office
02:48are going to go big as buyers.
02:50The Cardinals are in year one
02:52of a rebuild
02:52and they've overachieved.
02:54Sound familiar?
02:55And they're probably not
02:56going to be giving up young pieces.
02:57So unless the Arizona Diamondbacks
02:59add a ton
03:01or the Pirates maybe do more
03:02than we think they're going to
03:03and get a big bat or something
03:05to help that pitching staff,
03:08it would seem to me like
03:09none of those teams
03:10are really going to pull away.
03:12Maybe playing around 520 baseball
03:15gets you into the wildcard.
03:16And the Nats right now
03:17are close to that
03:18at around 510.
03:19Yeah, I think it stands to reason
03:21that most of these teams,
03:22and again, if San Diego
03:23was playing better,
03:24they're one of the teams
03:25that just damn the torpedoes
03:27always goes for it.
03:28But for the most part,
03:29you're going to be making moves
03:30around the edges
03:30in all likelihood, right?
03:32It's up to a true
03:33honest-to-God contender
03:34with a budget.
03:35They're the ones
03:35that are going to trade
03:36for Mason Miller.
03:37None of those teams
03:38that you mentioned.
03:38It's not for the Cardinals
03:39or the Pirates right now
03:41or some of these other teams
03:42that are, as you said,
03:43flirting around with 500
03:44up one day below the next.
03:45But right in that mixture
03:46that are at certain points
03:48of their build or rebuild,
03:50whatever you want to call it,
03:51those are probably
03:52the more edge part
03:53of your roster.
03:54Let's fix the 23rd guy
03:56as opposed to let's go
03:57get the best player
03:58on our team
03:58for a playoff push.
03:59The Nats have tiebreakers,
04:01by the way,
04:01over almost every team
04:03they're competing with
04:04based on how they've played
04:05this season.
04:06Might be one or two
04:08of the seven teams
04:09that that's not the case.
04:11But for the most part,
04:12you think about the Padres
04:13and some of these other clubs,
04:15like they will end up
04:16actually head-to-head
04:17having a better record
04:19if they continue
04:20to handle their business
04:21because they've been
04:21so good in some of these
04:23series against these clubs.
04:24But that could change.
04:26You still play Arizona
04:26coming up this weekend.
04:27Again, you've got San Diego
04:29again at their place
04:31as you do Pittsburgh again.
04:33Those types of things.
04:34But I guess I bring this up
04:36to say that
04:40Paul Toboni continues
04:42to suggest
04:42they haven't made up
04:43their mind
04:44the team will do that
04:45for them.
04:46And the closer and closer
04:47we get to the deadline,
04:48when he originally said it,
04:49it was one month away.
04:50Then the next time he spoke,
04:52it was three weeks away.
04:53Then the last time
04:53we heard him talking
04:54on the Junkies
04:55a couple mornings ago,
04:56it was two weeks away.
04:57And now you're like
04:58closing in on being
05:0010 days away
05:01and nothing's really changed.
05:03Because this is who you are too.
05:04This is who you are.
05:05It feels like it's
05:06who a lot of teams are.
05:07Everyone's waiting
05:08for them to win a bunch
05:09in a row
05:09or lose a bunch in a row.
05:10You know what I've said
05:11all year?
05:12Their lineup is too good
05:13to lose seven in a row.
05:15Yet their pitching staff
05:16is too bad
05:18to win
05:19seven, eight in a row.
05:20So what you get is
05:22you win a couple,
05:22you lose a couple.
05:23Like the lineup's too good,
05:25it's not going to let you
05:25get cold.
05:26The bullpen is
05:27too horrendous
05:28to actually let you
05:29rip off a long winning streak.
05:30So you know what
05:31you end up being?
05:32Right around 500.
05:34But Taboni said something
05:35that I wanted to really
05:36drill down on today.
05:37When he was on
05:38with the Junkies
05:39yesterday,
05:40right here on the fan,
05:42and he talked about
05:43how good they've been
05:45this year
05:45and how you'd be crazy
05:47not to allow that
05:48to change
05:48your plan
05:50if you're running
05:51the team.
05:52and that he needs
05:53to acknowledge,
05:54and he did so
05:55in this interview,
05:56that the timeline
05:57has changed some
05:58based on this year.
05:59Listen to this.
06:00No, you know,
06:01what I keep going back
06:02to is
06:03it's this line
06:04that I really believe in,
06:05which is that
06:06we should be stubborn
06:08on the vision
06:09of what we're trying
06:10to achieve,
06:10but then flexible
06:11on the details
06:12of achieving it.
06:13And, you know,
06:14if we're projected
06:15to lose
06:16100 games this year,
06:18yeah,
06:19that's a different
06:20dynamic than if we're,
06:21you know,
06:22doing what we're
06:22doing right now.
06:23So, yeah,
06:25I think you have
06:25to be flexible.
06:27You know,
06:28how much does it
06:29accelerate it?
06:30You know,
06:30those are conversations
06:32that we'll have,
06:33but I just,
06:34you know,
06:34I think it'd be foolish
06:35to say that it's
06:36not accelerating
06:37our timeline
06:38by some amount,
06:41but we also want
06:42to be really disciplined
06:42so we do this right,
06:43right,
06:44so we're not
06:44winning one year
06:45and then losing 90 games
06:47the next year
06:47and then,
06:48you know,
06:49just going through that.
06:50That's Paul Toboni
06:51on the Junkies yesterday
06:53and I love that quote.
06:55I loved his answer.
06:56Everything he said
06:57makes a lot of sense
06:59to me.
06:59You've got to be
07:00really careful
07:01not to get overexcited
07:03and possibly
07:05do too much
07:06too soon
07:07and next thing you know
07:08you're in a bad position
07:10where you're losing
07:10the following year.
07:12But for him
07:13to acknowledge
07:14that, yeah,
07:15this has changed
07:16how we feel
07:16a little bit.
07:17This has changed
07:18the timeline
07:19on winning,
07:21on winning rather
07:22and I'm willing
07:23to look at this differently
07:24I think is a huge thing.
07:25He says,
07:26I think it'd be foolish
07:27to say
07:28that it's not accelerating
07:30our timeline
07:30by some amount
07:32but we also want
07:32to be really disciplined
07:33so that we do this right.
07:36How much does it change
07:37what they're doing?
07:38That's the question.
07:39What does rubber meet the road?
07:40Because it's easy
07:41to say those sorts
07:41of things
07:42where you've got
07:42to be crazy
07:43to not acknowledge it.
07:45Okay, well what does that mean?
07:46Does that mean
07:47four trades at the deadline
07:48instead of one?
07:49You know what I mean?
07:50It's really hard
07:51to figure out
07:51how that's going to manifest
07:52that just
07:52his point about
07:53there's certain attributes
07:55certain virtues
07:55certain paradigms
07:57that they're going
07:58to stick to
07:58and rightfully so
07:59by the way
08:00that's good
08:00that's how you get
08:01the thing
08:02that he's talking about.
08:03The previous regime
08:04did it too.
08:04They had certain paradigms
08:05and certain ways
08:06of building
08:06where you go
08:07it's going to lead
08:08to the second most success
08:09in the sport
08:10over a 10 year period
08:11give or take
08:11them and the Dodgers
08:12and there was
08:13some success there
08:14of course we all know
08:15what happened
08:15hard times
08:16and now this group
08:16is here to do
08:17to put their print
08:18on things
08:19and print on things rather
08:20so there are certain
08:23non-negotiables
08:23that have to happen
08:24we're going to develop
08:25our way
08:25we're not going to go
08:26oh this guy's ripping
08:27it at single A
08:27we're going to put him
08:28in the majors tomorrow
08:28that's of course
08:29an extreme example
08:30but it's just
08:31there's a path
08:31there's a way
08:32that we're going
08:32to do things
08:33but also
08:34the analogy
08:35that I would use
08:36is
08:36this never happens
08:37in construction
08:38but bear with me
08:39you're told
08:39hey it's going
08:40to take
08:4010 months
08:41to build this thing
08:42turns out
08:43it actually
08:43only took 5
08:44well we don't
08:45pause the rest
08:46of the construction
08:47around the thing
08:48you just move
08:49the timetable up
08:50and that's okay
08:51but you're still
08:52doing this
08:53you're still
08:53building the same
08:54thing
08:54you're still
08:54building the same
08:55parts of it
08:55you're not
08:55cutting any
08:56corners
08:56the fan base
08:57wants them
08:58to change
08:58direction a little
08:59bit
09:00and to actually
09:01push some
09:01chips in
09:02what I want
09:03to figure out
09:04is how much
09:05so
09:05and so this
09:06is a chance
09:07to touch you guys
09:08and have Nats fans
09:09chime in here
09:09I'm very very
09:10curious about this
09:11I think this is
09:12the beauty of radio
09:13if you're writing
09:14columns you can't
09:14do this
09:15if you're talking
09:16on local television
09:17you're not able
09:17to just touch
09:18the people in this
09:19way
09:19this is what's
09:20cool about our
09:20medium
09:20but I want to
09:22get a feel
09:22for this fan base
09:23on how will
09:25you react
09:26if they sell
09:28if they are
09:30tied for the
09:31wild card
09:31a game up
09:32a game back
09:33what have you
09:33roughly where
09:34they are right
09:35now a game
09:36or so over 500
09:37and they trade
09:38Foster Griffin
09:39and Luis Garcia
09:39and they bring
09:40in kind of a
09:41middling reliever
09:42and they said
09:42look we did
09:43both
09:43and they added
09:44some pieces
09:45in the system
09:45but you look
09:46at it
09:46and they
09:47basically sold
09:47it was soft
09:48but they did
09:49how will you
09:50react as a
09:51fan
09:51after watching
09:52this team
09:53lose every
09:53season since
09:542020
09:54getting somewhat
09:55reinvested and
09:56excited
09:57and then
09:59I would say
10:00to an extent
10:00having the chair
10:01pulled out from
10:01under you a little
10:02bit here at the
10:03deadline when they
10:03are very much
10:04in the mix
10:06800-636-1067
10:07definitely
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