Nationals Consider Trading Pitcher Amid Wild Card Race

I keep hearing different names for different pitchers here, and I think it's going to be fascinating. Tampa is always in a market for pitching. Philadelphia could use some pitching. But the Nationals here, Tom, are one game out of the wildcard spot, one game right now. 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 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 Nats play after it, after the series versus the Blue Jays this week. But this is a winnable series for them, and they are chasing down both the Diamondbacks and the Pirates. And again, 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 wildcard spot come the end of this series versus the Blue Jays for the end of the weekend. I don't think they can make a determination until Sunday night when that happens and know when where they sit. Because if you're in a wildcard spot, you can't be trading with Foster Griffin and CJ Abrams. Now, if you fall back over the course of the next week, that's a different story. But 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. 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 got to chase are in front of you. You're going to 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 of years ago. We saw Seattle do it where teams like this, you know, hey, 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 going to kick the can down the road. Like we've heard this how many times from teams like that? And yet what? Where are they? I, you know, 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, especially the CJ Abrams move, which we talked about before I can understand trading away Foster Griffin. That is a team down 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. That's who you need to be building around. That's what I think they should be keeping up 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. Yeah, this is going to be interesting with these middle of the road teams, Tom, that have an opportunity or a, you know, a dejected fan base to really make a run at maybe a postseason. But I don't know how happy these fan bases are going to be when in another week or so. And all of a sudden they're their favorite and best players are no longer on the roster. I think that's going to be extremely interesting to say the least. A lot of question marks on, I think Foster Griffin, don't get me wrong, you send them 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 them, 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 put themselves just more depth, more quality pitching depth is never in it. Never something you, a problem to have or never something you don't want to have when it comes to the postseason. When the Rays play at home, they're a machine. We know that their home road record, at least for themselves that they would use, they would excel with a pitcher like Griffin.