Washington Nationals: Playoff Prospects and Strategy

Bottom line is you're right, Washington's headed in the right direction. Are they a playoff team next year, Joe? I don't think so, but they're closing in. I would say within two years with the prospects that they have, they should be able to make some noise. I am in agreement with you. I think they're finally now doing the right thing. The problem is CJ Abrams has one year left. So are they gonna do the old Juan Soto situation and trade him next year? Or do you sign him? And that to me will tell you everything you need to know about what the Nationals, if they lock up Abrams and James Woods, and they got Josiah Gray coming back, they got this kid Ortiz looks good. They've got some talent, but I think it begins and ends with CJ Abrams. One year left, either sign him or you know they're gonna trade him. And you think they're gonna trade him? Yeah, yeah, based on the way that they're doing business, it would seem to me that's the move. All right, well, then you know what? Forget that. I'm gonna go with the Pittsburgh Pirates then. I think the Pittsburgh Pirates are on the verge of maybe something better than we have seen from them. You don't buy in them either, huh? No, you don't like them, and schemes, and then. I agree with you, but Joe, that was supposed to be this year. This is the year the Pirates were supposed to win 80-something games. They're gonna end up losing close to 90, man. You know, no, no, no, no. Pirates are gonna have to. Look, some organizations are gonna have to make big decisions in the offseason. Yes. How many chances do you give the Pirates to show that you can make the playoff, Joe? How many years in a row do we gotta go, oh, maybe this is the Pirates' year? They had some good signings. They signed Ryan O'Hearn. He turned out to be great. They traded for Brandon Lau. He turned out to be great. In the end, Pirates, what's their record? 73-89, you know, something like that. It's not good enough. They waited far too long with that bullpen. It was atrocious, and they knew it early, and it was not good. But if you're gonna give me a better version of Paul Skeens, Ashcraft, Jared Jones, Mitch Kagan, that's a pretty formidable front group there, but the bullpen has gotta be addressed. I even think Bubba Chandler's got some pretty good, you know, some pretty good opportunities. Yeah, so that's a heck of a starting rotation. But again, it's nowhere, nowhere. They can't, Paul Skeens likes his Doritos, apparently, and that's the end of that. But the good news is next year is a totally different year.