Nationals Consider Trading Pitcher Amid Wild Card Race
The Washington Nationals weigh trading Foster Griffin for their wild card bid, focusing on outcomes from the upcoming key series. Would that be a smart move?
Video Transcript
I keep hearing different names for different pitchers here, and I think it's gonna be fascinating.
Tampa's always in the market for pitching.
Philadelphia- Mm-hmm could use some pitching.
But the Nationals here, Tom, are one game out of the wild card spot, one game right now.
Mm-hmm.
And all I keep hearing is Foster Griffin, who's been one of their better pitchers, starters this year.
Nobody's been hotter than he has, and yet I keep hearing him associated with the Rays or the Phi- Like, are we punting on the season if we're the Nationals here?
To me, it's a wait and see.
And it's solely because, you know, I honestly don't know who the N- the Nats play after it, after the series versus the, the Blue Jays this week, but this is a winnable series for them.
Yep.
And they are chasing down both the Diamondbacks and the Pirates.
And again, that, one of those teams are going to lose multiple games this series, just because that's what's going to happen.
So they have a spot to jump into an actual wild card spot come the end of this series versus the Blue Jays or the end of the weekend.
I don't think they can make a determination until Sunday night when that happens and knowing where they sit.
Because if you are in a wild card spot, you can't be trading away Foster Griffin and CJ Abrams.
Now, if you fall back over, you know, the course of the next week, that's a different story, but it's, I think it's a pure wait and see for them.
And if you trade any of them, it should be Foster Griffin.
Four games at Atlanta, four games- at Philadelphia, and three games at Cincinnati.
That is their upcoming schedule there, Tom.
So it's a big road trip coming up for them.
And yeah, Atlanta on the, on the 30th, this week.
So all of a sudden, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, the teams that you gotta chase are in front of you.
You're gonna be facing them here over the next week and a half.
So yeah, I think Foster Griffin on the mound would be much better.
I'm not a big believer.
We saw Baltimore do this a couple years ago.
We saw Seattle do it, where teams like this, you know, hey, would, how great would it be for the fan base to get into the postseason?
And they're like, "We're not really about this postseason.
We're gonna kick the can down the ro-" Like, we've heard this how many times from teams like that, and yet what?
It, where are they?
I, you know, it, it's the here and now.
If you have a chance to make the postseason with as much mediocre baseball, why not push it all in here at this point?
Why are we trading pieces away?
I would not be trading pieces away, and that's just me, es- especially the CJ Abrams- move, which we talked about before.
I can understand trading away Foster Griffin.
That is a team bound for the postseason that, you know, teams want that type of pitcher in their lineup- in their rotation.
Being a second or third starter for a lot of teams, that's what they need.
The Abrams thing is a cornerstone of your franchise alongside James Wood.
Those are your two pieces.
Yep.
That's who you need to be building around.
That's what I think they should be keeping.
Now, again, if they get some offer that's over the top, it is also in the GM's best interest to do what's best for the franchise.
And if you can get back six prospects or some crazy number, you have to also consider that.
Unbe- yeah, this is gonna be interesting with these middle of the road teams, Tom, that have an opportunity for a, you know, a dejected fan base to really make a run at, at maybe a postseason.
But I, I don't know how happy these fan bases are gonna be when, in another week or so, and all of a sudden their, their favorite and best players are no longer on the roster.
I think that's, going to be extremely interesting, to say the least.
So lot of question marks on I, l- I think Foster Griffin, don't get me wrong, y- you send him to the Rays, I'm giving them the heads up to win the American League East.
I think they've got- a shot at doing some damage.
I think if the Phillies get him, I think that's also huge.
I think that's the kind of pitcher that could go into teams like that and actually be a difference maker, no?
I would agree totally.
They, it would put themselves Just more depth, more quality pitching depth is never- Yep and it never something you, you, a problem to have, or, never something you don't wanna have when it comes to the postseason.
When the Rays play at home, they're a machine.
We know that their home road record speaks for themselves of that.
They would use, they would excel with a pitcher like Griffin.
