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Washington has proved it can bounce back all season long. How much help will they get after the dust of the trade deadline settles?
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00:00The Nats now one game back in the wild card.
00:02Toby, it's a good time to be a D.C. sports fan.
00:05Yeah, it's a great time.
00:06It was a fun time at the ballpark this weekend,
00:09watching some good baseball for the Nationals,
00:11taking two of three after they dropped the opener.
00:14Danny Ruye was on the call.
00:15We maybe have to find some of those highlights
00:17and play and rate what he did in the broadcast booth.
00:21I think the question, Grant, is the updated leaderboard
00:24is now 10 postgame interviews for you.
00:26I got lucky to have two this weekend, so I'm up to nine.
00:30Danny only has three, and it was a tough weekend for him
00:32in that he got the win in terms of he was in the broadcast booth,
00:37so we've got to figure out how much that counts for.
00:38But two-thirds of his interviews have been Curtis Meade.
00:42So who's he going to talk to after Nats wins now
00:45if he's a postgame guy?
00:46I do want to talk about Curtis Meade
00:48and the significant trade that the Nats pulled off
00:51in just a second.
00:52But I think that's secondary for the moment
00:54because the bigger picture right now is the postseason push.
00:58Yeah.
00:58That they're within a game in the wild card
01:01after taking two of three
01:02in what was their biggest series of the year.
01:05And they lost the opener of this series, three to two.
01:08They get a two-run homer from Dylan Cruz
01:09and don't score otherwise.
01:10And it was a really tough, disappointing game
01:13where they used an opener.
01:14This was a series, by the way,
01:15where their two worst starting pitchers
01:17went against a team that's better than you in the standings.
01:21And you still win the series.
01:22And you need to win the second and the third game.
01:25But C.J. Abrams continues to carry them.
01:27He will be named the player of the week in the National League
01:30whenever those awards are named today for last week.
01:34He was unbelievable with seven home runs over seven games
01:37and played like an MVP in the biggest games of his career.
01:41James Wood yesterday hit not one,
01:42but two home runs in the biggest game of his season.
01:45So to see those young stars stepping up,
01:47combining for four home runs in a rubber match,
01:50to Polda within a game of the Diamondbacks was awesome.
01:54Foster Griffin, whose name's being bantied about
01:56in trade rumors, was dynamite in his start.
01:59Didn't have his usual prolific stuff
02:01and had to throw nearly 60 pitches over the first two innings.
02:04But I thought Foster Griffin settled in,
02:06put it on autopilot, was outstanding.
02:09Michaelis was just okay.
02:10Littell was solid after Palmquist struggled.
02:13But the bullpen actually pitched pretty well in this series.
02:16And certainly over the final couple of games,
02:18Matt Crook notwithstanding.
02:20And that's to be expected when he pitches
02:22because he just hasn't had a whole lot of success here
02:23and he's come and gone.
02:24And for whatever reason, they can't quit him
02:26and they keep bringing him back.
02:27They have a quota where they need like six lefties
02:29that don't help him very much at any given moment.
02:32But it's just amazing what they've been able to pull off.
02:34And now you've got the Toronto Blue Jays
02:36coming to town tonight.
02:37Three-game series at Nats Park.
02:39And wouldn't you know it, Max Scherzer
02:41is on the hill for the Blue Jays
02:43to kick off what is now the new biggest series
02:46of the year for the Nationals,
02:47as they all are, ahead of the deadline.
02:49Yeah, I mean, it's absolutely incredible
02:51watching this team.
02:52And the thing that stuck out to me all season long
02:54has been resiliency
02:55and what this team is able to do
02:57after every time there's a little bit of a heartbreak.
02:59They bounce right back.
03:01I mean, we've had numerous times this season
03:03where you've gone,
03:04all right, let's keep an eye on them,
03:05see how they bounce back.
03:06You go back to the Marlins series
03:09a couple of weeks ago
03:11and they get swept by the Marlins
03:12and they have to go to a West Coast road trip.
03:14And you're like, how do they bounce back?
03:16They bounce back by winning both of those series.
03:17They end that road trip, by the way,
03:19by blowing a 9-1 lead in the eighth inning.
03:21So you're like, all right, how do they bounce back?
03:23Right back on the horse.
03:24They lose three devastating games in a row
03:26to the Phillies.
03:27Bounce right back.
03:28They lose three against the Yankees
03:29before the All-Star break.
03:30And all of us are like,
03:31well, nah, you probably got to sell.
03:33They bounce right back
03:34by winning three straight series out of the break.
03:35How many times have we asked the question?
03:38Less recently,
03:39but early on,
03:40how formidable are they?
03:42How legitimate is this?
03:44How good is this offense
03:45that's number one in scoring
03:46and home runs and runs
03:47and all these other things?
03:49I mean, it felt like a bi-weekly constant question.
03:52Well, when you respond as often as they have
03:55and you show that ability to get off the mat
03:57and keep on coming
03:58and to get kicked, right,
04:01and to be exposed,
04:03which they have been,
04:04their flaws have been cut open.
04:05Middle relief,
04:06late inning relief,
04:08anything really involving the pitching staff.
04:10Anything around that circle
04:11in the middle of the field right there,
04:12that pitcher's mound?
04:13But they just keep responding
04:15and that means you're pretty damn good
04:17and it's funny.
04:17You know, people wonder about this offense
04:19and how are they doing it?
04:20How is it possible?
04:21How have they become the number one team
04:23in baseball in runs or home runs?
04:25They have two of the top five guys in OPS right now
04:27in James Wood and C.J. Abrams.
04:29C.J. Abrams,
04:30after this recent heater
04:32where he's been the best player in the sport
04:33post-All-Star break,
04:35road trip,
04:36dominant,
04:37comes back home,
04:38continues to dominate,
04:3927 home runs,
04:41he's basically hitting 300 right now.
04:43Yeah.
04:43He's hitting 297.
04:45Remember,
04:46this is not the era
04:47where 275 is league average.
04:49It's going to be sub 250
04:50at the end of the year,
04:51the league average batting average.
04:53So he's basically 50 points
04:54above league average
04:55while hitting for tons of power.
04:58He's on pace to hit 40 home runs
04:59and he's got a 940 OPS,
05:01which is only 10 points below
05:02team leader and MVP candidate
05:04James Wood right now.
05:05So he has connected the dots, man.
05:07He has put it all together.
05:08This was always the best case scenario for him.
05:11I think he's exceeded everybody's expectations.
05:13But he was drafted 6th overall.
05:15He was the best high school talent
05:17athletically in his class.
05:18The tools and the twitch
05:19made him the number one prospect
05:21at his position at one point in time.
05:23And he is finally,
05:24with this staff,
05:25unlocking some of the potential,
05:27becoming what he was always supposed to be.
05:29And it's why the Nats
05:30were able to take this series.
05:31It's why they're 6-3 since the break.
05:33It's why they have started
05:35to force the hand of this front office
05:36to maybe view them through a different lens.
05:38Which brings us briefly to
05:40the early Meade trade.
05:42And we'll get into this in more detail
05:44coming up in a little bit
05:45because I want to bounce around
05:46all the things going on in DC sports
05:47in this first segment.
05:48But I do want to say really quickly
05:50that to go an inch deep and a mile wide,
05:53the great offensive team traded a bat.
05:55The bad pitching team got a bat.
05:57Got an arm, rather.
05:58That's very normal.
06:00That's probably what should happen.
06:01Curtis Meade is an excellent talent
06:03and it looks like this is who he's going to be.
06:04Four years of control.
06:06It's rare that you would trade a guy like that.
06:07In fact, we had people calling in last week
06:09suggesting trade him at peak value.
06:12And I basically shot that down
06:13over and over again
06:14because the deals that we were talking about
06:16were for shorter term answers
06:18or bullpen help or something like that.
06:20I didn't think there was any way in the world
06:22you could get five years of control
06:23of a middle rotation starter for Curtis Meade.
06:26The value to me seems a little bit out of whack.
06:28I'm somewhat surprised that Boston would do this.
06:31But I understand why.
06:32Yeah, the lefty Connelly Early,
06:33who we're hopefully going to have on the show today,
06:36is currently on the injured list with inflammation.
06:38There's always inherently more risk with arms than bats.
06:41I think Meade profiles beautifully at Fenway Park
06:43as a pull hitter in the air.
06:45He's going to play pepper with the monster, right?
06:47But they also are desperate for an infield bat.
06:49And so you get him.
06:51You have four years of control.
06:52If this is who he is,
06:53you know, an 800s OPS guy
06:54that can hit the baseball off the wall a bunch,
06:57really good thing.
06:58They have more starting pitching
06:59at the big league level right now
07:00than there are spots in the rotation.
07:02And some of their top prospects in the minor leagues,
07:04I just saw Anthony Ionson at the Futures game,
07:06are going to be there pretty quickly.
07:07They're the opposite of Washington.
07:09They need bats.
07:10They have plenty of arms.
07:11So they're willing to give up a lefty
07:13that I think is probably like a fourth starter,
07:15but could end up being a mid-rotation starter.
07:17And Tobias, this is exactly what Paul Tivoni
07:19should be doing.
07:19It's a benefit that he knows early really well,
07:22drafted him, developed him,
07:23one of his main guys in that system.
07:25But if you can flip a hitter,
07:27especially one that as of six months ago
07:29meant zero to you
07:30because he wasn't even here yet,
07:32and you're able to get a rotational piece back
07:35that you're going to control
07:36for five years beyond this,
07:37I think you have to do that.
07:39No questions asked.
07:40Yeah, I mean,
07:41and they have a guy immediately fill in
07:42and gets two doubles in Brady House.
07:44Like, it's one thing if you trade away Curtis Mead
07:46and you're like,
07:46I don't know who fills the spot.
07:48Oh, you mean they're starting third baseman
07:49on opening day?
07:50Brady House?
07:50The guy that just immediately steps right in?
07:52Who's been hitting 300 at AAA?
07:53Yes, so he's going to step right in
07:55and is he going to give you Curtis Mead production?
07:57I don't know that he will necessarily.
07:59He should be an upgrade defensively, hopefully.
08:01But we'll see what he's able to do now
08:02coming back to the big leagues.
08:03But this is something where
08:05this team, Boston,
08:06they both had a surplus
08:07at their various positions.
08:08They swap.
08:10And one of the things that we love to do
08:12in the industry is,
08:13oh, who was going to win the trade?
08:15Let's give grades out.
08:16All the things that you see
08:17wouldn't shock me at all
08:18if by the end of these guys' contracts,
08:20Grant,
08:20we're looking at this in five years,
08:21and you both shake your hands and go,
08:23good trade for both sides.
08:24Really happy how it worked out.
08:26Curtis Mead's leaving dents
08:27all over the monster
08:28because he's having doubles
08:30and hard singles all over the place
08:31and turns into a really good player
08:33and this is more of who he is.
08:35And Connelly Early is a staple
08:36in your rotation.
08:37That's a win-win trade.
08:38It's totally fine.
08:39I think the only way this ends up
08:41looking bad for the Nationals
08:44is if Connelly Early's injury
08:46gets worse before he pitches.
08:48He is currently expected to make
08:49a rehab start on August 3rd.
08:51The Nats believe that he'll be pitching
08:53in the big league soon thereafter.
08:54Let's call it early to mid-August.
08:56He'll be helping them this year.
08:58Even though this deal is very little
08:59about 2026 and I think much more
09:01about 27 through 31.
09:03But if for some reason
09:05he either re-aggravates something
09:08or this gets worse
09:09or he needs some very lengthy recovery
09:11and a procedure done,
09:12and Curtis Mead just in that time
09:14has two really good years offensively,
09:16obviously it'll look bad.
09:17But even still, if you bake in a lengthy rehab
09:20and you get three years of control
09:22from a mid-rotation starter,
09:23it even still wouldn't be a bad return.
09:25I happen to think he's more of a four
09:27than like a two.
09:28That might make me a little lower on him,
09:30but I really do genuinely like the arm.
09:32I like the player.
09:33I've liked him in Boston.
09:34I just think he's off to such a great start
09:36in his career, like a Jake Bennett or something,
09:38that he's kind of viewed through
09:40a more positive, optimistic lens.
09:43Here, he's immediately your number two starter
09:45in a world where Foster Griffin gets traded.
09:47He's your number three right now.
09:48You go into a playoff series,
09:49a wild card series,
09:51if you're lined up with Griffin game one,
09:53Cavalli game two,
09:54Connelly, who pitched in the playoffs
09:55for his fifth career start last year
09:57at Yankee Stadium,
09:59that's not a bad little one, two, three.
10:00In a perfect world,
10:02if I'm a championship World Series team
10:04like the Dodgers,
10:04he's deeper down in my rotation.
10:06Yes.
10:06But this is the type of arm they don't have.
10:08Exactly.
10:09And in terms of sheer upside,
10:10Cavalli's the only guy in the organization
10:12that's healthy right now
10:13that's got a better chance
10:15to impact you positively
10:16over the next two years
10:17than Connelly early.
10:18Yeah, when you look at the 2027
10:19starting opening day,
10:22starting rotation,
10:22Cade Cavalli's at the top,
10:24and then it's a bunch of,
10:25well, maybes,
10:26and now at least you have Connelly early.
10:28So you at least have 40%
10:30of your rotation taken care of,
10:31regardless of whether early's a three,
10:33a four,
10:34maybe pitches incredibly well,
10:35looks like a two,
10:36whatever it is,
10:37he's your second best starter
10:38on opening day next year,
10:39assuming they don't get something done
10:40with Foster Griffin.
10:41So you feel a lot better about that
10:42and you try to figure out the rest of it
10:44and that's where the Sikoras,
10:45the Susanas,
10:46they fit in eventually down the line as well.
10:48But you solidify that rotation a little bit.
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