- 16 hours ago
It could be an active day in DC with the trade deadline at 6pm - but the Nats struck a big move already last night, dealing Luis Garcia to the Yankees for four pitchers! The Junkies react here.
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00:00Probably a month, maybe even longer than that.
00:03Every week we have Paul Tiboney on.
00:04We've been intimating about the trade deadline.
00:07Yeah, we've been talking to him a lot about it.
00:09And they made a move when they traded away Meade
00:12and got a starting pitcher who they liked.
00:16Connelly early.
00:17And the fatal flaw for this team all season has been the bullpen.
00:22And we knew Luis Garcia might be moved.
00:26And, in fact, he was moved for four arms.
00:30The Nationals traded away Luis Garcia, who was having his best year.
00:36Having a great year.
00:3723 home runs.
00:39If you look at some of the metrics like OPS and those things,
00:43Garcia was crushing the ball.
00:46He was near tops in the league in a lot of those metrics.
00:49I mean, as of, I think, a day or two ago,
00:51he was leading the NL in slugging percentage, fourth in RBIs.
00:54He was having a great year.
00:55Right, so they trade him away for right-handed pitcher Ben Grable,
00:59right-handed pitcher Giovanni Cruz, right-handed pitcher Jack Siebert,
01:04and right-handed pitcher Jake Bird.
01:08So Grable seems to be the best of the bunch.
01:12I think he's been labeled as a potential closer.
01:16He has a 5.6 strikeout-to-walk ratio.
01:19His whip is under one.
01:23Opponents only hit 162 against him, but it's his first pro season.
01:27Yeah, he hasn't pitched in the bigs yet.
01:30Throws 99 miles an hour.
01:31So he's got a cannon for an arm.
01:36Cruz had a 1.69 ERA, and hitters were only hitting 167 against him.
01:43But, again, limited experience with the Yankees.
01:46Yep.
01:46I believe he only pitched in about five games this year.
01:48He was the number 24 prospect, according to Baseball America, for the Yankees.
01:54Siebert, who's 24, is the number 11 prospect,
01:58or was the number 11 prospect for the Yankees, according to Baseball America.
02:02He was, like, in high A and double A.
02:07So minor league pitcher.
02:09And then Bird, he's probably the guy that has the least potential.
02:13They just threw him in.
02:14They just threw him in there.
02:16But he's an arm.
02:17I believe his ERA in the bigs is about 7.5.
02:20Yeah.
02:21Now he has a strikeout ratio of 8.46 strikeouts per nine innings.
02:25So all these guys can strike guys out, and the Nationals need a bullpen arms.
02:33Probably two or three of these guys are immediately going to be part of their bullpen.
02:37Yeah, I mean, I'm reading some of Grant Paulson's tweets,
02:39and he says basically Cruz and Bird are going to be the guys who are going to be in there
02:44pretty much from the jump, and then you're going to have to wait on the other two.
02:48Correct.
02:49But, I mean, the Nats need bullpen help immediately.
02:52They need a lot of help immediately because the series in Atlanta did not go well.
02:57Well, it was awful.
02:58Yeah.
02:58I mean, they scored 11 runs in four games.
03:01Offense dried up.
03:02Dried up.
03:02They're going against a good team in a crucial series.
03:05We talked about it last week after the Toronto series.
03:10So they lost five straight and scored 13 runs in the five losses.
03:13So the bats just kind of died over the weekend.
03:17But, yeah, four straight losses, and they went from, you know,
03:20they were one, one and a half out of the last wild card spots,
03:23now four and a half.
03:24It was just a bad, bad weekend.
03:26Really bad weekend.
03:27Now they have to face the Phillies.
03:28Now they've got to face the Phillies.
03:30Correct.
03:30So it doesn't get any easier.
03:31A team that they're chasing.
03:33But, yeah, I mean, it was just, if they had split or won three out of four
03:38against Atlanta, you'd feel great coming into this Philly series,
03:42and maybe they would have made some other moves or maybe not traded Garcia.
03:46But, you know, now that they've lost five straight, it's not a surprise.
03:50It's going to be interesting to see how the Yankees use Garcia
03:52because he plays mostly first base this year and second base last year.
04:00But they're probably not going to put him at second.
04:03You know, they got Ben Rice at first, who's an all-star.
04:06So they might just DH him against right-handed pitcher.
04:09I want to hear from some Nats fans, 1-800-636-1067.
04:15Do you like what Taboney has done?
04:17And I'm going to combine the moves.
04:19All right, Curtis Mead, who was a surprise, gave you 17 home runs.
04:26Luis Garcia, also a surprise because he's never played like this, 23 home runs.
04:32They gave away 40 home runs.
04:34This is a team that has been carried by their offense,
04:38but we knew they needed bullpen arms.
04:40They went out and flipped Mead for a starter.
04:44By the way, they also needed starters.
04:46Yes.
04:46So they flipped Mead for a starter, and then here you bring in four arms,
04:52and you're hoping a couple of them stick.
04:54And as I mentioned, one of them is kind of a long-term arm
04:58because he's in double A.
05:01Do you like the moves?
05:02I put this up as our junkies poll of the day,
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05:18The poll is simple.
05:19Do you like the trade?
05:21Or do you think, no, they should have kept Luis Garcia?
05:26See, Garcia's still young.
05:28You know, he was surprising everyone with the power,
05:35but that's kind of the bit that this regime has done.
05:40Like, all their guys who weren't power hitters are having career years
05:44because it seems like with the hitting coach, with the analytics,
05:48maybe with the technology they're using,
05:52that the approach is different for these hitters.
05:56They're more focused on launch angle and things like that,
06:00and, you know, they're getting more home runs.
06:01Well, they clearly felt like pitching was their number one need.
06:05All right, so they went and got five pitchers, right?
06:08Five pitchers they got.
06:10One of them's a starter, maybe, you know, possibly two starters,
06:13but they needed bullpen help.
06:15Like you said, Cakes, two of those guys will probably be pitching here soon
06:20with the Nats on the big league level,
06:22but since they were, you know, pitching for the Yankees.
06:24But they clearly needed pitching.
06:27You know, was Taboney going to make this move all along,
06:30no matter what happened in the Atlanta series?
06:32Maybe.
06:34But they don't feel like they needed more bats.
06:36They feel like they needed some pitching.
06:39The Meade trade, I loved it because you got a legit starting pitcher.
06:43When healthy, he's going to be in your rotation.
06:46And he's young.
06:47He's under team control until 2031.
06:4931.
06:49You got him for five years.
06:50Yeah, I like the Meade deal.
06:51You didn't need Meade anymore because you had Brady House.
06:54I agree with that.
06:56Now, Brady House had to play first base yesterday
06:57because they scratched Garcia, and Shapiro got hit in the helmet,
07:00and then House had to fill in.
07:02And, man, C.J. Abrams, I love C.J.
07:05C.J. Abrams is a great bat.
07:07He's a great bat.
07:08He's a terrible defensive shortstop.
07:10We talked about it.
07:11Remember earlier in the year.
07:12He is.
07:13He's borderline awful.
07:14I remember last, I think it was maybe two months ago,
07:17you brought up a stat where he was, and I might be incorrect now,
07:22but he was second in war for shortstops offensively
07:25and second to last defensively in the same metric.
07:28I don't think they're going to trade him, but he can't play shortstop.
07:32If they keep him, he can't play shortstop for the Nats.
07:35He's got to play center or move him somewhere else.
07:38He had a routine ground ball right behind second base.
07:41He was a little shifted, so it came right to him.
07:43So he threw the ball five feet above Brady House.
07:47Now, Brady House is not a first baseman.
07:49So the target's different.
07:50He's a third baseman.
07:51He doesn't really know how to go after the ball.
07:53He tries to kind of stretch out instead of just going up and catching it,
07:57coming off the bag, and then maybe tagging the runner.
07:59He just hasn't done it before.
08:01Yeah, but you still have to put it in the, like, close to him.
08:03You throw it to his chest.
08:04I mean, it's such an easy throw.
08:06Yeah.
08:06It's from behind second base to a first baseman who's 6'3".
08:11Right.
08:12Yeah.
08:13He's just a terrible defensive second baseman.
08:16So if they keep him, he can't play shortstop.
08:19And the rumor was any team that wanted to trade for him,
08:22they weren't going to keep him at shortstop.
08:24They wanted to move him to outfield or second base.
08:27But I don't think they're going to trade CJ.
08:30I guess I don't have a problem,
08:31especially after what happened this weekend with the Braves.
08:33You're four and a half out.
08:34I guess I don't have a problem with trading Garcia
08:36because you've got four arms, and two of them seem to be legit.
08:40By the way, I'm expecting Foster Griffin to be on the move at some point.
08:44I mean, Foster, he might go too.
08:46After the losing streak?
08:47Yeah.
08:47Why are you going to hold on to Foster Griffin if you don't have plans on
08:51resigning him?
08:51Yeah.
08:52You're right.
08:53You're right.
08:53That might happen today.
08:54What are we doing?
08:55The frustrating thing is it feels like it's just too late, right?
09:01You're four and a half out of the final wildcard spot now
09:04after this losing spell.
09:05Yeah, that was big.
09:06If they had had these arms a month ago, or in certain series,
09:12remember the series where they lost every game in the eighth and ninth inning?
09:15The Phillies series here, right?
09:17Or it was multiple.
09:19Well, they won one of those games.
09:21Of course, the season trajectory would be different.
09:25They would be a playoff team.
09:27And so I don't know if I love this.
09:29But remember, like Paul Tabone said, it wasn't as easy to get guys a month ago.
09:35Yes, I understand that.
09:36So you weren't going to be able to make these trades a month ago.
09:38The Garcia deal, so when you said maybe he's getting better,
09:42the last two seasons, I'm not saying we're great,
09:46but he hit 18 home runs and 16 home runs.
09:48And then this year, and roughly 140 games in both seasons.
09:52This year he's got 23 and 104.
09:56I believe he's 26 years old.
09:58He's 26, yeah.
10:01But maybe he was figuring something out.
10:03Now, the counter-argument, which we'll never know until next year
10:09and the year after is, well, this is the career year.
10:11Contract year, that sort of thing where guys just blow up.
10:14But maybe he was finding himself.
10:18Like I remember at the beginning of the year, I was like,
10:20Luis Garcia's going to play first base?
10:22Because I'm a traditional guy who thinks like first base should be a super slugger.
10:26Turns out he kind of was.
10:28Yeah, but maybe he had no...
10:30It appears clear they have no designs on retaining him past his arbitration year.
10:35He's a UFA in 2028.
10:37So Toboni just looked at it and said,
10:39I'm going to get what I can for him at this point.
10:41His value is never going to be higher.
10:43I can get some arms that hopefully develop in our system.
10:47Do you like that move?
10:49I'm fine with it.
10:50I don't really like it.
10:51To be honest, because you already gave up the mead bet.
10:55Yeah, but you didn't really need mead.
10:56You didn't need mead.
10:57I agree with the mead deal.
11:00I absolutely agree with that one.
11:01I don't agree with this one.
11:02I kind of feel like, especially if you're going to end up trading CJ, let's keep one
11:08of these bats.
11:08I think they might have some in-house arrogance as far as, oh, we don't need to keep Garcia.
11:15We can just get whoever and develop them into the hitter that you've seen these other guys
11:21like Jacob Young and Curtis Mead.
11:23They can just get the raw talent and develop those guys with the way that they teach them
11:28in the Nats.
11:29You kind of have to just kind of see how it plays out because if, I don't think all four
11:33of these guys that they acquired from the Yankees are going to be studs, but if two of them
11:38are, then you hit a home run.
11:41It's worth it, especially if you're not going to sign Garcia to a long-term.
11:45Especially if you get an eventual closer, like the Grable kid could be, if he's throwing
11:49a 99, I don't know if he's had arm trouble, but I don't have a problem with it because
11:55of what happened this weekend in Atlanta.
11:58They weren't going to win the wild card with the current roster.
12:00And it's not just about this season.
12:02They had to go out and get other pieces.
12:04He's looking forward into next year.
12:06Yeah, but don't you like Garcia as a potential piece for next year?
12:11Apparently Taboney didn't.
12:12I understand.
12:13They made the trade.
12:14Look, I'm going to defer.
12:15I'm fine with it.
12:16Taboney is a baseball expert.
12:18I'm not.
12:19He knows exactly what he's looking for as far as the way he wants his roster constructed.
12:24But that's the case in every sport and everything that we've ever talked about.
12:27This is true.
12:28We still have opinions.
12:30Are you asking me, do I like it?
12:32Yes.
12:32Yes.
12:33Okay, you like it.
12:34You want to pull the trigger.
12:35They're not going to sign Garcia long-term.
12:36So you have to get as much as you humanly can.
12:38But why not?
12:40You can always go out.
12:41That's my point.
12:41Like, why not?
12:42Like, Garcia, if he's your guy.
12:44You think he's worth $20 million a season or $15 million a season?
12:48I don't know what he would have been worth on the open market.
12:51I just know that this is a guy who's been with the Nationals for a couple years.
12:55Yeah.
12:56He's developed into the player that you want him to be.
12:59He's, you went through the stats, leading the National League in slugging.
13:03Correct.
13:04He's got 23 home runs.
13:05Your team, when they're winning, is being carried by the offense.
13:08Right.
13:09Why give up an offensive piece?
13:10I know, but look, they're four and a half back with that great offense.
13:14Why not go out and get some arms?
13:16They're four and a half back.
13:17I just don't know that I give up Luis Garcia.
13:19And maybe you can always find something.
13:21You can find a bat that can play first base.
13:23Yeah.
13:23Okay.
13:24You can just throw a guy in the available.
13:25Maybe they have confidence Chaparro can be the guy.
13:28Or maybe they just go out and get somebody.
13:30Or maybe they've got a prospect they really like at first.
13:31There's a guy who has been mashed in the ball.
13:34I'm forgetting his name right now.
13:35There's a guy who's pretty much crushing the ball.
13:38Who is it?
13:38In AAA.
13:39Is it?
13:39It's not Ronnie Cruz then.
13:42I don't know who you're talking about.
13:46I'd have to go back and look.
13:47We talked to Taboney about him a couple weeks ago.
13:48But you can always just go out and get a guy who's going to play first base.
13:51He's got a big bat.
13:52I mean, Garcia wasn't even a first baseman.
13:54He was a second baseman.
13:55He wasn't good.
13:55So they moved him to first.
13:57You need pitchers.
13:59I'm okay with it.
13:59But if they had won three out of four against the Braves and you're a half game out or one
14:05game out in the wild card,
14:06all right, different story.
14:06Four and a half out with less than 50 games left, it's over.
14:09I think that's valid.
14:11It's over.
14:12I'm just saying.
14:13They're not going to win the wild card.
14:14I'm just saying it kind of grew to like Luis Garcia.
14:16I know.
14:17And he's your guy.
14:17He's likable.
14:18I mean, that's fine.
14:19And he was good for them.
14:20But look, I mean, you see where they are.
14:22I mean, they had Garcia for 113 games and they're four and a half back.
14:26You need help at other positions.
14:28I'm okay with it.
14:30And none of the guys they got are premier guys.
14:34None of them were ranked in the top 10 in the Yankee system.
14:38Yeah, but who knows how they rank these prospects?
14:42I don't know how they do that.
14:45You know, the Dodgers traded three middle-of-the-road prospects for the best pitcher in the American
14:50League.
14:51You know, I don't know how that stuff works.
14:53I mean, I don't know how you rank these guys.
14:56I don't care where they're ranked in the minor leagues.
14:59I care about how they're going to play when they're here in the next couple of years.
15:03This is a tweet from Grant Paulson from 12 hours ago about Garcia.
15:06He leads with the fact that he leads the NL in slugging fourth and RBIs, eighth and homers.
15:11But he also adds, he's a poor defender who doesn't run well and he was almost non-tendered this
15:17offseason.
15:18The Nats are not going to get an elite prospect back for him.
15:22It went the route of adding as much MLB ready and high minors pitching as possible.
15:28Yeah, I mean, I think you have to feel okay with the deal.
15:30I mean, I know you're losing a big bat in this particular season, but those big bats weren't
15:36going to win it for you.
15:36You needed to add pitchers and they still have a really good offense, even without Garcia.
15:42Right.
15:42I mean, their offense is fine.
15:43She didn't show it in Atlanta where they only scored 11 runs, but the bats kind of died,
15:48but you're also going against a really good team with good starting pitchers.
15:51I mean, at some point, you're not going to score seven or eight runs every game.
15:54Like, this was that series for the Nats.
15:57All right, let's go to the phones, touch the people.
15:58You can vote at Junk's Radio on our poll today.
16:00Do you like the deal?
16:02Let's go to line three, Matt in D.C.
16:06Matt, what's up?
16:07Hey, Junk, long-time listener.
16:08I feel like I grew up with you guys.
16:09Thanks, man.
16:10I wanted to make the point that two years ago, these guys were trading Curtis Meade, Luis Garcia.
16:15They were nothing.
16:16They were afterthoughts.
16:17They were roster fill.
16:19Now they're stars.
16:19And that's because the managerial staff that we brought in was analytics pumping, going
16:23to develop players.
16:24And I'm seeing that happen.
16:26So it gives me excitement.
16:27Whoever we get, these guys will be the same way.
16:29They'll become the players they're supposed to be the best version of.
16:32And I trust them.
16:33They've got some streaks with me.
16:35The thing that I kind of worry about is in the clubhouse.
16:40If the James Woods of the world and CJ and Lyle and all those guys are going, oh, man,
16:45we're just trading all our bats away.
16:46Right.
16:47And we're acquiring pitchers that either aren't going to be here this year or won't be here
16:52until later August, like Connelly early.
16:56Um, it's kind of got to be a downer for them, but you know, you go to Atlanta in a
17:01huge series
17:01and you score 11 runs in four games.
17:04I mean, it's a downer for them, but I guarantee you about a month, month and a half ago, maybe
17:08three weeks ago behind the scenes, they're probably grumbling about, Hey, we really need
17:12some pitching to help.
17:13Yeah.
17:13Yeah.
17:13You're right.
17:14You're right.
17:14We need, we need, we could have won that game.
17:16We could have won that game.
17:17We're doing our part by score, by leading the league in offense and runs and we can't close
17:22out games and we just, we can't win games because the pitching is failing us.
17:26The prospect I was talking about is Yo-Yo Morales, who's 24.
17:31He was a second round pick.
17:33He leads Rochester in home runs with 21 home runs.
17:38His OPS is nine Oh eight.
17:40Well, I've got him to Boney about it.
17:42So maybe he's a guy they project can move to first base in the future.
17:45Let's go to line one.
17:47James is in Centerville.
17:49James, you're on with the junkies.
17:50What's going on?
17:52I hate to trade.
17:53It's too hard to find hitters.
17:55I mean, you see what happened over the weekend.
17:58It's going to even get worse.
18:00I mean, you're basically trying to get a lottery pick out of these four guys.
18:04The Yankees gave up nothing, basically nothing.
18:08They didn't even give up a top 10 pick in their farm system.
18:12I mean, what kind of trade is that?
18:13We should have gotten at least one of their top 10 guys instead of number 16 guy being
18:20one of the guys we got.
18:23One of them slides into our number 16 spot in our system.
18:27But the Yankees aren't going to give up a top prospect for Garcia, who is just a bat.
18:32He's not a great fielder, and he doesn't run well.
18:34Yeah.
18:35He's not as valuable as you think he is.
18:36He really isn't.
18:37And it's not that hard to find hitters.
18:39I mean, you can find a corner infielder who can hit.
18:41You can do it, especially if he's not a great defensive player.
18:46It's okay.
18:47Let's go to Matt in Richmond.
18:48Matt, you're on with the junkies.
18:49What's up?
18:51Hey there.
18:51I'd like to get two players out of these four of the Yankees to work right out for the
18:58Nationals as well.
18:59Just like Lurch said, except for the fact that I also want a playoff appearance in the next
19:04two years.
19:05There's no point in having this deal if we don't make the playoffs.
19:09That's fair.
19:09In the next two years?
19:11I mean, by the way, I don't think they've given up on making the playoffs.
19:14Obviously, it gets harder when you've lost five in a row.
19:16I mean, the percentage is very, very low.
19:20It's going to be difficult.
19:20It's going to be really tough at this point.
19:22To chase all those teams down, you have to have all those teams lose.
19:25I mean, you basically have to win like eight out of ten, nine out of ten.
19:27And it's going to be really tough when they deal Foster Griffin before the deadline.
19:32Why are you so certain they're going to do that?
19:34Because they're fading out of the race as we speak.
19:37They just got swept in Atlanta.
19:39At some point, doesn't this team have to keep their better players?
19:43I said last week multiple times, I'm okay keeping.
19:46Foster Griffin for this stretch run.
19:49But that was before they got swept in Atlanta.
19:52If they're still in the mix.
19:54We'll get some more Nationals insight from Jesse Doherty.
19:57He covers them for Notice Reports.
19:59He's going to jump on at 8 o'clock.
20:01Coming up next, did we hear the worst or the best National Anthem?
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