BREAKING: The Washington Nationals Take A BIG Swing And Trade For Top Catching Prospect Harry Ford

BREAKING: The Washington Nationals Take A BIG Swing And Trade For Top Catching Prospect Harry Ford

[Music] Breaking news for the Washington Nationals as they have traded Jose Fra, a potential all-star closer for a top 50 prospect with Harry Ford from the Seattle Mariners. And Nationals fans, you should love this move. [Music] 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 Lockdown Nationals your first listen every single day as we are free and available wherever you get your podcast. And I am your host Ryan Clary. I am part of the locked on podcast network where it is your team every single day. And we are reacting today’s breaking news as the Washington Nationals have traded Jose Ferrer for catcher Seattle Mariners catcher one of their top prospects Harry Ford. And this is a trade that I think a lot of people did not expect. I mean no one was expecting the Nationals to trade Jose Fra. This is a move that I think that for the Washington Nationals, it makes a ton of sense. So, we can get into the Mariners perspective on why they trade for Jose Fra, but I want to tell you guys about Jose about Harry Ford first and foremost. And Harry Ford is actually someone that again, if you guys have been listening to this podcast for a while now, we talked about a potential McKenzie Gore deal and how maybe the Nationals try to swing a Harry Ford and a couple other their top prospects for McKenzie Gore, the Nationals all-star left-handed pitcher. But instead, the Mariners just said, “How about you give us Jose A. Ferrer, who is a very good reliever, and we’ll give you our top 50 catching prospect. Sounds like a good deal. And I think that’s what it comes down to because a lot of Nationals fans are sitting there, they see that Harry Ford is a top 50 prospect. He is one of the best catching prospects in baseball today. He was a top 15 pick a few years ago. He’s coming off an unbelievable season at AAA in which he batted .280. He had a 460 slug. And in this season, he had 16 home runs in just 97 games. I mean, he crushed the baseball in AAA Tacoma. So, you look at those numbers and you’re like, well, sign me up for that. Because when you look at the Washington Nationals catching situation, this is a position that has been a problem. And ever since really the past few seasons with Karise, ever since he’s gotten that extension, he has been a liability defensively and offensively speaking. And even then, go back to the backup catcher with Riley Adams. He also hasn’t been getting the job done. This is a situation for the Nationals in which Paul Deon signed me up for this each and every single day. when the Washington Nationals try to makes these big moves like you cannot tell me today that this is a bad deal for the Nationals. You are getting an offensive first catcher in Harry Ford who does have all-star potential. And by the way, the reason why the Mariners may give up a top 50 prospect in the game, well, you probably heard of the name Cal Raleigh, big dumper. They had no leverage when the Mariners are trying to trade Harry Ford because let’s be honest, after Big Dumper hit 60 plus home runs this season, you’re sitting there thinking to yourself, well, there’s no room for Harry Ford. He’s not going to be a backup catcher. That’s not valuable for them. And what do the Mariners need most? Well, they need left-handed relief pitching as we saw that really made them fell short in this playoff series in the ALCS against Toronto Blue Jays. if they have someone like Jose Fra, they might get by the Toronto Blue Jays. It was that close. And so it does make sense for the Mariners. Like if you’re a Nats fan out there today saying we just robbed the Mariners, I don’t think that’s the case. But also for the Nationals perspective here, you’re not getting any worse. This was a bullpen that was probably the second worst, if not the worst in all of baseball last season. I think the first takeaway when you look at trading Jose FRA, well, you’re bad with Jose FRA. You’re not going to be much better without him, obviously, and you’re not going to be much worse. So, at that point, that makes sense. This is a high upside kind of move for the Nationals. And in my case, I think that a lot of Nationals fans out there, you should be thrilled with this move. Harry Ford is someone who could easily come in here and maybe start on opening day. Like in my mind at this point on December 6th in 2025, I would probably make the prediction that Harry Ford would be your opening day starting catcher. And I think that is an obvious camp battle in spring training, which something that Paul Tabone has mentioned throughout this process. He wants to have competition and I think that this is going to be the first sign of the times of really changing things here in Washington DC. So seeing this move play out right now, this is a home run for the Nationals. Like you get a top 50 prospect. Forget the position. You get a young 22 very talented offensive upside piece with Harry Ford, but you also give up a potential all-star closer down the road at someday. I really like Jose Fra. I think he’s going to be great. I think he will be an all-star and I think he will be a closer someday. So that will obviously hurt you down the road. but also for where the Nationals are today. You are not going to trade Jose Fra for Harry Ford if you were ready to contend in the NL East. This is a team that again needs talent. Harry Ford is a very talented catcher and I think that with for again where the Nationals are today, this makes sense. I want to get into this tweet by Dave Jaggler, obviously one of the voices of Nationals baseball over on 1067. in the fan. He had a really good point that I think kind of puts this into perspective. Dave Jaggler, he said this, “Trading for Harry Ford, parenthesis blocked by Cal Raleigh is reminiscent of when the Nats got Wilson Ramos, who was blocked by Joe Mau, the Buffalo. This could be a good trade for both teams with Frera joining Brash settling up, setting up Andres Munoz. That’s a nasty back end of the pen for the Mariners. I think this is one of those trades where you kind of look at it and at first you’re like, “Oh my god, this is a huge win for the Nationals and it is a win, but also this is a win for both sides and this makes sense for both teams.” When you’re a team trying to win now, that kind of calls for some desperation. When you are Jerry Dotto, who in my mind was kind of in the hot seat a few years ago, I think you have to do everything that you can, especially when you are just one game away from the World Series. And I think that does put a lot of pressure on him to try to make this move. But when you are in the national seat like they are today, where listen, you can give up young talent if you really want to. It’s not going to hurt you at the end of the day. you just won like 66 games or whatever it was this season. It’s not going to hurt you giving up a bullpen guy who could help you for five innings every week or so. It’s not going to be the end of the world. But to get a top 50 prospect like a Harry Ford who could be a very good offensive piece, maybe has a little bit of work of work to do defensively, which I think he can get done here. He’s 22 years old. He’s by no means a finished product. And there is certainly a case for him to start off the year in triple AAA, but for where the Nationals are today, this makes so much sense. And I think that this is a move that quite frankly we have not made in the last few years. Like, who had Jose Fra being traded on your bingo card this off season? Not me. And who had Jose Fra getting traded for a top 50 prospect who was major league ready? Definitely not me. And I don’t think any Nationals fan expected that to happen this off season. So, as soon as I saw this trade, quite frankly, I thought it was fake. But Andrew Golden, the Washington Post, he did make this trade. And this was something that I think a lot of people were not really expecting. And this is a move that I do believe really will turn out well for the Nationals. And let’s talk about the downside, I guess, for just a little bit. Let’s say it doesn’t work out. It’s not that big of a deal. You are taking a big swing on someone who could be very good offensively behind the plate and might need a little bit of work defensively, but you are giving up someone with Jose Fre who is very good. And yes, you may look at the numbers and Mariners fans out there may say, “Well, look at his ERA and look at his walk rate.” You’re right. It’s not that great. But that’s a guy that I am willing to bet on being a very good player. And for the Nationals part of it, this is a bad bullpen. Your bullpen just got worse with Jose Frera. But guess what? This was a bad bullpen to begin with. You don’t really have that many pieces coming up to help you right now. Are the Nationals going to go out there and sign seven different guys this off seasonason to help them immediately? No. You’re probably going to be shopping in that Lucas Sims category again, which we all know how that went this past year. Not that great. And that’s okay. That’s what the Nationals should be doing. This, in my opinion, is for the long run for the Nationals and that’s how it should be. And so seeing this move today, it’s shocking because I think a lot of people did not expect to see Jose Fra traded. I think for Mariners fans, they expected to see Jose Fra tra or Harry for traded, but maybe not for a left-handed closer or eighth inning setup guy like a Jose Frera. But for the Nationals, this move is a great one. And if you are Paul Tabone out there and this Nationals front office, you have to be thrilled with what you get in return. So, it’s just a short little podcast today. Did want to get a quick reaction to this. I love this trade for the Nationals. If you’re a Mariners fan out there, I understand the frustration, but you’re getting someone who is also a very good reliever who I think will be a closer down the road for you. But the Nationals may have just gotten their future catcher. And if you’re a Nats fan out there, maybe a little confused with this decision, this is going to be a good move. And if it works out, you got yourselves an all-star silver slugger winning catcher behind the plate. That’s how good Harry Ford could be down the road. So, thank you all for making Locked on Nationals your first listen. We’ll talk much more about this on Monday. And also, may not be the only trade that we talk about. McKenzie Gore, he might get traded as well. I mean, things are happening for the Washington Nationals in the first off season for a long time that you’ll be seeing a lot of moves being made. I’ll have you covered right here on Locked on Nationals. So, stay tuned. I’ll catch you guys on the flip side. Have a good one. Go Nats.

MASSIVE news with the Washington Nationals as they have traded for a consensus top prospect in baseball, catcher Harry Ford from the Seattle Mariners. Ryan Clary reacts to this news as the Nats sent Jose A. Ferrer to the Mariners in exchange for a top 50 prospect in baseball.

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