The Washington Nationals Decided To Hold Onto MacKenzie Gore But It May Be The WRONG Decision

The Washington Nationals Decided To Hold Onto MacKenzie Gore But It May Be The WRONG Decision

The Nationals decided to hold on to ace McKenzie Gore. And let me just say this, no one should be upset, but in this scenario, you might be able to. You are Locked on Nationals, your daily Washington Nationals podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network, your team every day. And thank you all for making Locked On Nationals your first listen every single day as we are free and available wherever you get your podcast. And yes, we are part of the Locked on Podcast Network where it is your team every single day. And of course, we are talking about the Washington Nationals in yesterday’s MLB trade deadline. So, let’s jump into it. But later on in today’s show, we have got a discussion on Alex Call with four years left of control at 30 years old. He was shipped up shipped up to the LA Dodgers and the Nationals did really well in that return. So, we’ll have that discussion later on in today’s show. And in the second segment, we say goodbye to our closer, Kyle Finnegan. Kyle Finnegan got chipped up to the Detroit Tigers. We’ll break down that trade as I think the Nationals did fare pretty well for what Kyle Finnegan is. So, stay tuned for that discussion later on in today’s show. But the storyline that we all followed was McKenzie Gore in the Nationals. They decided to hold on to him and I feel good about it. But also, there’s one scenario out there that I do believe is likely, and that kind of gets my temper flaring a little bit. So, this episode is brought to you by 5H hour energy transfusion. Go to 5hour energy.com to today and use my promo code locked ongolf to receive 20% off your order. Only valid through September 30th. Order transfusion flavored 5hour energy shots today. So, the Nationals hang on to ace McKenzie Gore. And I don’t really think it was that surprising. I went into yesterday thinking that the Nationals would be holding on to them. And just kind of as everything fell apart there with the Nationals and the trade deadline, crazy things happened and I just felt as if the Nationals will hold on to them. But one thing stunned me about the trade deadline, and that was that the San Diego Padres’s traded away the number three overall prospect in baseball, Leo Deere, who is a stud player who’s already in high A. And again, the third best prospect in baseball for Mason Miller and JP Sears. Mason Miller is one of the best closers in baseball, controllable for the next three plus seasons. Same goes for JP Sears. So, obviously, it’s going to be a high price tag, but it got me thinking with this. Were the Nationals ever offer that deal? Because the one report that came out at 6 p.m. yesterday as the deadline closed was from John Morose that the Cubs, the Red Sox, and the Padres’s had interest in McKenzie Gore. Ladies and gentlemen, if the Nationals passed up on getting the number three prospect in baseball today, the number 10 consensus prospect across the board in baseball who’s already in high A, and we said no to that, I would not be a happy camper. The reason why I speculate that is because number one, honestly, I think we even mentioned on the show, I thought the Padres’s would be involved with McKenzie Gore. I think we all expected AJ Prowler and really any team out there who is in contention for this postseason to be serious players for a guy like Gore. But to really get down to the nitty-gritty of it, I believe that the Cubs would be involved, which they were. I thought the Red Sox would be involved and which they were. But I also thought the Padres’s would be involved and they were. I want to know what the Nashville were offered before I can sign off on keeping McKenzie Gore. And this is not an anti- McKenzie Gore podcast. By the way, McKenzie Gore is great. He is an ace in my opinion. I think this guy is going to be paid handsomely in the next two and a half years and he is going to be a stud for hopefully the next decade and hopefully it’s here in DC. But let’s be honest with ourselves, we have read this book before and we have done this thing time and time again when it comes to Scott Boris clients. They come here, they rise up their value and then they leave first thing in the morning. the Nationals. If you decline a trade that involves top talent out there in a very good system like the Padres’s, what are we doing? And this is not just on Mike Darlo because I do think it’s fair to speculate whether or not that the Nationals ownership wanted to trade away Mackenzie Gore because listen, it’s a business at the end of the day. they have to sell tickets, but also they don’t run it just like a business. That’s not fair to them to say that they just run it the way that they want to run it. Some cases it may feel like that, but I think in this case it’s a little more deeper than just that thought of it. I think that the Nationals ownership may have gotten involved in this deal. And again, I have no inside information. I’m just a baseball fan. I follow this team forever. I feel like I know this thing from top to bottom. It makes sense if the learners were like, “Listen, unless you’re getting a Wanoto type package, which they would not get, then we don’t want to trade our best pitcher. This guy sells jerseys. He’s a great pitcher right now and we don’t know where we’ll be in the next two and a half years. This team could be competing and he might want to come back here.” Maybe that’s their thought process behind it. But the second I heard AJ Prowller’s name was involved in the McKenzie Gore sweep stakes and then the second that I heard what he gave up for one of the best closers in baseball who’s under team control for the next four seasons and then also a solid five starter with JP Sears. It made me think, what if he went to the nationals with that package first off and said, why don’t you give us McKenzie Gore and Kyle Finnegan for that deal? I don’t think it’s that crazy. And I don’t maybe think that that exact package would have been it, but I do think the number three overall prospect in baseball would have certainly been in play for the Padres’s to land McKenzie Gore in a solid closer with Kyle Finnegan. We don’t know the answers at this point. It’s too early to speculate, but that was my first thought. And if the Nationals ultimately decided that, you know what, it’s bad for business to trade away Mackenzie Gore. Wrong. You saw what the Juan Sodto trade did. The only reason that the Nationals and this fan base had hope for winning in 2025 was because of that Juan Sodto trade. That helps his team now. That helps his team in the future. And by the way, it gets you out of a huge headache that is coming up your way in the next two and a half years. And the other reason as to why you might be upset, I’m not upset about this for the record, but I’m pretty mad about this. Let me just say that. I feel as if the Nationals will likely shop McKenzie Gore this off season. Again, no inside information. It’s just knowing this team and knowing the thought process behind it. It’s all out there for Major League Baseball. They know the Nationals are shopping Mackenzie Gore. Teams will call this off season anticipating a move for him. And again, I don’t think it’s that crazy. But when the Nationals do trade him this off seasonason, that’s my prediction at this point is that they will trade Mackenzie Ward this off season. you will lower the price tag for him. Number one, and number two, why didn’t you make the move yesterday? Why didn’t you make the move when teams are desperate? When you have a clock that’s ticking, striking midnight any second at that point, and they get desperate and they throw in another player that maybe you wouldn’t have gotten previously, you take away value of your return if you do trade him. And for what? for the rest of the 2025 season, which by the way, he could get hurt. He might fall off. We don’t know. Baseball is a weird sport. These things happen. I just find myself a little frustrated with this move. I’m not going to lie. It’s not the fact that I’m mad about it because again, you’re keeping an ace pitcher with McKenzie Gore, but when and if they do trade Gore this off season, that is where I will just question everything. What was the plan? Did you have a plan? Because if you don’t move him yesterday, you’re taking away value that you would be getting in return. And again, I go back to this. For what? The remaining of the 2025 season, the season of which you can’t pick inside the top 10 because of the MLB lottery rules, which are so stupid. It doesn’t make sense. So, Nationals, we have our A still in town. Some people may be happy about that, and you should. He’s a great player. He goes out there every five days. He’s an ambassador. I love McKenzie Gore. I wish I could give him a huge extension right now, but that’s not going to happen. I’ve read this book before. You’ve read this book before. We have read this book before. Scott Boris clients leave DC. And when in this scenario, if you are getting a huge package in return, which we haven’t seen any Cubs rumors at this point of what was offered, but I can tell you this, as soon as we do get those rumors, we will talk about it. And I bet you you’ll probably take those trades looking back on it, especially if you trade them this off season. And the package in return is all not that great. So ultimately, the Nationals keep their ace. Good for them. You’ve got McKenzie Gore. I love Mackenzie Gore. This is not about him. This is not about Mackenzie Gore. I love the guy. And you should be happy that you have your ace. But again, I am pretty mad about what could have been with the Washington Nationals. So, thank you for making lockdown on Nationals your first listen. But let’s not talk about trades that didn’t happen. Let’s talk about trades that did happen. And that is with closer Kyle Finnegan going to the Detroit Tigers. We’ll talk about that after this. Time to fuel up and turn it up with 5hour energy transfusion. And it brings the bold grape, ginger, and lime flavor of your favorite golf drink minus the alcohol into a quick energizing shot. 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Whether you’re meeting with up with friends or trying to turn 18 holes into 36, get the energizing boost that you need to power through. Order transfusion flavored 5-hour energy shots today. And yesterday we had to say goodbye to our closer Kyle Finnegan. And that was a monster success signing for the Nationals back in 2020. And now we trade him away for a bag of goodies. So I’m Ryan Clary from Locked on Nationals. Again, look us up wherever you get your podcast. But the Nationals unfortunately said goodbye to Kyle Finnegan yesterday. And Kyle Finnegan has been an awesome player for the Nationals. He’s been great for this organization since 2020. The Nationals signed him from a minor league deal or actually they signed him for a major league deal after he never appeared in a major league game back before 2020 and everyone was kind of like Mike Rizzo you know you need bullpen help coming off a World Series and this is the signing that you make. Well, he had a 366 RA in 331 appearances over the past six seasons for the Nationals and Mike Grizzo has proven right. This guy was a big league arm and you got a big league return for him. So, first and foremost, again, the Nationals, you might be thinking to yourself, what is going to happen? Like, we don’t have a closer right now and this bullpen is a complete train wreck. Where do we go from here? Well, that’s a discussion for a different day. But let’s talk about this trade because I think that going into this deadline a month ago, people thought that there would be a pretty solid return with Kyle Finnegan and then the month turned July and Kyle Finnegan blew up for the Washington Nationals. It was unfortunate because again I do think that kind of drove down his price tag a little bit. Then also trading Ryan Hley, um Yan Duron from the Minnesota Twins, and other closers out there who weren’t really at first speculated to be on the market ultimately got traded. That kind of brought down Finnegan’s price tag just a little bit. So, in that trade though, I thought the Nationals did really well and I think I look at this Nationals return at this point and I think it checks out for what the Nationals want and need because I think they went into this deadline knowing that they need help with their pitching depth in their system. And the Nationals, they got Josh Randall, a right-handed pitcher from the Detroit Tigers, who now ranks for the Nationals, by the way, as a pretty solid prospect. number 23 guy. And yes, you might think to yourself, well, he’s in the range of like Clayton Beer and Kaden Wallace and guys like that in this national system, but the numbers that he has put up as a fourth or third round pick of last year’s draft in 17 starts the season, he’s got a 392 RA. That’s not nothing. I’m not just going to dismiss that and say, well, he’s not going to really be anything down the line. I don’t think he’s going to be a starter for this team moving forward. I think the Nationals might have plans for him to be a bullpin guy for them. And that’s, by the way, what it should be. He’s got a really good slider that plays that generates a lot of swings and misses. He back in the day played for the University of Arizona and being a third round pick of last year’s draft, that was a really good pitching class last season. and now he’s traded over to the Nationals and he’s has that power sinker slider pitcher with a low threequarter delivery and rotation according to.com. That kind of screams like late inning reliever in my opinion. Think to yourself this for a second with Josh Randall. What is the Nationals problem? They do not have a bullpen and they do not have the pitching depth at this point to help with their bullpen issues. I think Josh Randall kind of fits that category where Mike DeBarlo recognized that the Nationals, they have a weakness and we are going to attack that weakness and that weakness is getting better in the bullpen. I like this move. And again, Josh Randall is the headliner deal in this scenario here, but you also got back RJ Sales, who again is a 10th round pick in last year’s draft, and he actually has better numbers than him in low A. He’s got a 271 ERA in 15 starts, one game out of the bullpen as well in 66 and a third innings pitch. I’m not all too concerned about him at this point. I will say the numbers are pretty damn good. And again, I think the hope and the dream for him is to be a bullpin guy for the Nationals moving forward. But also with these trades and getting talent like this, it’s not like, oh my god, this guy’s going to be a star kind of talent. But I do believe that these are things that could number one help you out in the bullpen. But number two, if the Nationals were to be a contender within the next two seasons, these moves gives you options to A move off of these guys in trades to get better talent in the building or B just simply develop them like great organizations do and have them help your team. These are all smart decisions by the Nationals. And again, you probably won’t hear me talk about the guys like Josh Randall all too often or maybe even a RJ Sales who was a 10th round pick out of last year’s draft. We’re not going to sit here and break down their starts every five days. They’re solid prospects. They have put up good numbers. If they continue to do that, then you’ll see them rise in the rankings and we’ll talk about them appropriately. But the Nationals, again, one thing is for sure, outside of the Gore thing, in my opinion, is they had a plan. They didn’t go out there trying to hit a home run with one prospect the way that we have seen in years past. They spread around the wealth a little bit. They want to get solid prospects, but a couple of them rather than just one. And that’s a philosophy that the Tampa Bay Rays have always had with their system. they have always got kind of spread the wealth around. It’s kind of the same thing with the MLB draft and what the Nationals did this this year. It’s that analytics method that quite frankly has been foreign to the Nationals for a few seasons now. But now we’re getting back into it and this is the right thing to do because again you might not be seeing like, oh my gosh, we just got a top 10 prospect from a team for this guy. That was never going to be the case. But you got two solid prospects who have put up good numbers, number one, but number two have good stuff and they fit a role. Because again, I think Josh Randall in this Tigers deal, he will be a bullpen piece for this team. Hopefully by the end of next season going into 2027 or maybe he just develops as a starter and the Nationals give him an opportunity to do such that. I like this move. And again, I kind of said this yesterday in my YouTube short, but did not really matter what the return was for Kyle Finnegan. As much as that sounds stupid to say, Kyle Finnegan was going to walk at the end of the season. The Nationals were not going to resign him. And quite frankly, they probably shouldn’t have resigned him either. I like Kyle Finnegan. I think he is an average closer, but he is not going to be the guy closing game for the Tigers in the postseason. I can tell you that right now. And maybe it is him. Maybe the Tigers find something and they catch lightning in a bottle and Kyle Finnegan is just on a heater for the last two months of the season and he’s going to be the guy for them closing things out in October. But if I had to be a betting man, which I am, I would bet against that. I would bet against Kyle Fingan closing games in the ALDS or the ALCS or even the World Series. But if the Tigers get that, then great for them. But I don’t believe at this point in time that the Nationals think that Kyle Finnegan is some long-term closer. He’s not. And again, I like Finnegan. Finny is awesome. He is 33 years old. He’s, by the way, from Detroit, Michigan, which I think is pretty cool that he’s now going back home to play for his hometown team. But the results are in with Finnegan. It’s been six years. He is a good reliever. Is he your best closer option for the Nationals? He was. But for a team like the Tigers, probably not. He’ll find a role and he’ll probably fit just right within them. But next, the one trade that number one surprised me because his name wasn’t really popping up on the trade market. But once things kind of transpired there in the Nationals have Dylan Cruz coming back from injury and you know they traded for Christian Franklin, another guy from the Chicago Cubs the other day. Like this was a relatively surprising move, but more surprising was how good the return was for Alex Call. So, let’s jump into that after this. And yes, today’s episode is brought to you by Game Day Hugh, and so is this hat I’m wearing. For Nationals fans like me, this one hits the mark because again, Game Day Hugh makes clean, no logo gear with team inspired colorways for every pro and college fan base. It’s all about letting your colors speak for you. No giant logos, just smart, versatile style that works on game day, on the course, or anywhere in between. Like tonight’s action with the Nationals and the Brewers, the best team in the National League coming to town. I am wearing my game day hue hat because you just look at it and it screams Washington Nationals without the logo in there. They’ve got the colorways with the red and the white and also just feels good and of course it looks good as well and we all care about how we look. So when you want to look good, go with our friends at GameDay Hugh. And right now you can get 15% off with code MLB5 at gamedayhw.com. That’s gamedayhue.com. The code even stacks on bundle deals. So now’s the time to load up. Let your colors talk because colors speak louder than words. That’s game day hue.com code MLB15. And thank you all for making Lockdown Nationals your first listen every single day as we are free and available wherever you get your podcast. And yes, check us out on Apple, Spotify, and of course the video version over on YouTube. Look up locked on nationals and hit that subscriber button, please. Alex Call was traded by the Washington Nationals yesterday. He was a waiver claim from the Nationals back in 2022 when he was DFAD by the Cleveland Guardians. And first and foremost, I want to say I love Alex Call. Sad to see him go, but number two, oh my god, what a return for that deal. Yesterday when I saw the Alex Col trade, I was like, “Okay, like maybe they got a team’s 30th best prospect.” No, they fared out really well in this deal. And it’s because of the four years of control that he has left. And by the way, he’s put up good numbers. He is a high motor guy. He can play anywhere in the outfield. He hits for average. He gets on base. And he is an overall good player that I think was undervalued here by a lot of different people. But then I saw the return yesterday and I was like, well, he certainly was not undervalued by the LA Dodgers. The Nationals got the headliner in this deal was Shawn Paul Lean, who is a 20-year-old kid, uh, left-handed pitcher, and or actually, my bad, right-handed pitcher who now fits in as the National’s 10th best prospect ahead of Christian Franklin, ahead of Ronnie Cruz, who we talked about, I believe two days ago, ahead of Yo-Yo Morales. This was a very, very good return for the Nationals. And before we jump into it, check out his numbers this season in 18 appearances in 14 starts this season across again multiple different levels, three different levels this season with low A, high A, and then he was actually shut shipped back up to AAA Oklahoma City for the Dodgers. So, the Dodgers were flying this guy up through the system hoping they would help him in the postseason race. But again, in 18 appearances and in 14 starts, he had 74 and a3 innings pitch, a 278 erra, and 101 strikeouts in 74 and a3 innings pitch. Only 31 walks as well, a 109 whip. This kid is 20 years old and he is not going to go up to Triple A Rochester for the Nationals. I don’t know really why the Dodgers did that. I probably would just expect that they wanted this guy to pitch for them in October and they just started to fly him up because he was putting up insane crazy numbers. But this is like a legit big league prospect that you are getting in return for Alex Call. Kudos to the scouting department. Kudos to Mike Debbalo. Getting a bigname guy like this for Alex Call. What a deal for the Nationals. Again, Alex Call, you’re going to see him put up some good numbers for the Dodgers. I really like Alex Call. I think he was kind of underutilized here. But again, when you have an outfield filled with James Wood, Dylan Cruz, Dalon Lyle, Jacob Young, Robert Hassel III, Christian Franklin, Andrew Pinkney, the outfield depth is real. Alex Call had no future with the Nationals there. Unfortunately, he’s 30 years old and he’s on the wrong side of 30 and you had to move off him. But then you see this return, you’re like, “Oh my gosh, this is pretty good. And I think Shawn Paul Lean is that guy that you’re like, we could really put some stock into this pitcher here. Whether it be coming out of the bullpen, whether it be the Nationals using him as a starter moving forward, but the right-handed pitcher has got some really good stuff. He’s got a 65 grade change up with a 50-grade slider and a fast ball. That three pitch mix. I love this development here for the Nationals. I think this is what the good teams do. You get these kind of flyer guys here who have a ton of talent, who can have a ton of strikeouts there, a tight mid80 slider/ cutter, and it consistently provides strikes. By the way, according to mob.com, these are the moves that the good organizations make. So, I am really excited about this move here in particular with Shawn Paul Dan, but also they got another guy, Eric Swan, who is your number 12 prospect with this team who is a 2023 fourthround pick by the Dodgers in 16 games this season in high a he’s got a 443 erra. Not the numbers of Lan, but oh my gosh. Like again, you got two top 15 prospects in your organization now from an Alex call deal. Sign me up for that any day of the week. Talk about value and solid returns and scouting and doing what’s best for this team. Again, the Nationals were while they never said this, they were desperate to give up Alex Call and a team out there probably looks at their Alex. He’s a good player, but we could offer them nothing. Well, we got two solid players in return for Alex Call, who again is a good player, but has no future here in DC. He was the odd man out. He was always going to be the odd man out with the outfield depth that we have. But now you get back your number 10 prospect who’s a 20-year-old really good prospect. And you also get back an Eric Swan who was a fourth round pick of last year’s draft by the Dodgers. And oh by the way, you get two Dodgers pitching prospects. Sign me up for that. Thank you all for making Lockdown Nationals your first listen every single day as we are free and available wherever you get your podcast. So we will break down the trade deadline and all the returns starting next week. But what a week for the Nationals, what a week for baseball and what an MLB trade deadline. We now are have our eyes set on the end of 2025. It is August 1st and there are only two more months left of baseball. So, take advantage of it. Thank you all for making Lockdown Nationals your first listen. I will catch you guys on the flip side. Have a good one. Go Nats.

The Washington Nationals ultimately decided to hang onto ace MacKenzie Gore, but Ryan feels like this may have been the wrong move. He explains why he feels that way, and why he’s already pre mad about future decisions coming. We then breakdown the Kyle Finnegan trade as he was shipped up to Detroit, and the Nats got a solid return for the closer. The BEST return of yesterday was when the Dodgers traded for Alex Call, and the Nats got a LEGIT prospect in return.

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