PATIENCE: Washington Nationals’ MacKenzie Gore Trade DRAMA—Why a Move Feels IMMINENT

PATIENCE: Washington Nationals’ MacKenzie Gore Trade DRAMA—Why a Move Feels IMMINENT

So, it’s day four of the MLB Winter meetings and McKenzie Gore and both CJ Abrams, they’re still Washington Nationals. Nats, what’s going on? 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 I am your host Ryan Clary. We are part of the locked on podcast network where it is your team every single day and we thank you guys for making us the number one sports podcasting network in America. And later on in today’s program we do have a discussion surrounding a McKenzie Gore trade but this time the latest rumors. Couple of NL East teams are in on McKenzie Gore. Would I be opposed to trading him in division? I’ll tell you why I am not opposed to it and I’ll explain later on in the program today. And in the second, the Nationals had the third pick in the MLB rule five draft yesterday and they actually drafted a very intriguing prospect with Griff McGary coming over from the Philadelphia Phillies who was actually once a really highly touted prospect in their system. I’ll tell you what went wrong and how he got here, but also the kind of role that he could play here because he’s going to be on your 26-man roster and he he absolutely I think will make the opening day roster and there will be no ifs, ands or buts about it. But we start off discussing the Nationals staying really quiet right now on McKenzie Gore and we haven’t really heard too much besides a couple of rumors, but and also on the C.J. Abrams front, Nats, what’s going on? and I’ll tell you what I believe is happening. But of course, today’s episode is brought to you by FanDuel. And if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit FanDuel.com and place your NFL live bets all season long. So, we are on day four of Panda Watch aka when is McKenzie Gore going to be traded? Because on Monday, Ken Rosenthal reported that the Nationals are taking calls on both both McKenzie Gore and CJ Abrams. And everybody expected the Nationals to trade McKenzie Gore. Buster only said if there is one guy that probably most likely will be moved these next few days, it’s McKenzie Gore. And we are now December 11th, Thursday, the fourth day of the MLB winner meetings and nothing has come up. You have not seen teams that are inching closer to a McKenzie Gore trade. You have not seen any reports of the Nationals kicking the tires on different teams. Like it’s just your protottypical like standard, hey, the Nationals are getting interest on Mackenzie Gore and that’s it. We of course they’re getting interest on McKenzie Gore and McKenzie Gore is an all-star pitcher. He is one of the best pitchers on the trade market. He is one of the better pitchers in free agency if you want to throw him in that as well. This is one of the better left-handed pitchers in all of baseball. Yes, I know the Nationals are getting interest in McKenzie Gore. It makes all the sense in the world. But what is going to happen? I still think McKenzie Gore will be traded. I still believe that the Nationals are fielding calls, taking all the best offers because the latest report that I think is sticking is that the Nationals have over half the league in on McKenzie Gore. And that is what it should be. You should be patient. you should be willing to sit there and say, “This is a great offer, but I also want to wait for maybe what the Giants offer or the Red Sox or whatever team out there that is willing to get McKenzie Gore.” But also, I have this theory that I think is kind of happening behind the scenes. It’s not with the Nationals. I do believe that right now just maybe a Taric Scoo trade is happening. And I think behind the scenes, no one was really reporting this. I’ve seen one reporter in LA, I don’t know if this guy is credible or not, but it’s been making the waves on Twitter and Instagram, whatever you want to say, that a Scooble trade feels imminent to the Dodgers. And maybe it’s not just the Dodgers, maybe other teams are in on it, but I do think teams are calling about Scooble. And I do think that teams out there are definitely going to call Scott Harris and the Detroit Tigers as they should. That is the best pitcher in baseball. So I feel as if there is something big happening that is holding back these McKenzie Gore trades because a few days ago we all thought like ah Scubble’s not going to get moved and now all of a sudden it’s like well he might get moved. And so I feel right now teams that are going after McKenzie Gore may be shifting the focus towards Tarco the backtoback Alai Young winner and as they should by the way I understand that but then also the Nationals have to balance this out for teams who may be going in on Scooble obviously the team that does not get him or if the Tigers decides to you know what we’re not going to take any more calls on Scooble he’s done. He’s not being traded. Then the Nationals might say, “Okay, well, we’re going to start taking our calls on Mackenzie Gore.” Because it feels as if right now, if we’re just being honest, it’s really hard to envision McKenzie Gore starting on opening day from the Nationals. It just is at this point. You’ve seen the rumors. Mckenzie Gore, Paul Tabone, has even said that he met with McKenzie Gore to address all the rumors. He has, I believe, he’s spoken to CJ Abrams about it. Actually, I don’t know if he’s spoken C.J. Abrams about it at this point, but he has spoken with McKenzie Gore and of course they’ve discussed it and I’m sure Paul Deon probably told him like, “Yeah, you know what? We are fielding calls and some of these reports are true. Here’s what’s true and here’s what’s not true that is out there for the ether right now.” It’s just frustrating. It’s a waiting game. It feels as if we’ve been waiting for days and days and days to have something happen. And quite frankly, this hot stove hasn’t been that hot outside of Pete Alonzo joining the Orioles and Kyle Shber going back to the Phillies and Edwin Diaz signing a massive deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. Shocker. This right now though is just a lot of pain. But I do think McKenzie Gore will eventually get traded. But I do want this on the record. Something is happening behind the scenes that we do not know about. Maybe it’s something with the Nationals. Maybe the Nationals are working on a different trade. Maybe the Nationals are working to get something else in return. We don’t know at this point. But I also think a bigger larger view of this on a Major League Baseball. Maybe there’s a scoo trade happening behind the scenes that we do not know about. That’s something that I think will be probably discussed over these next few days here. But my gut feel is that the Nationals will still make a trade and I do believe it will be McKenzie Gore. But I think the bigger question is going to be at this point is where and if Scoo is traded then that waters down the market a lot and that opens up an entirely different conversation in my mind for what the Nationals should be doing. And then also for CJ Abrams, I still feel like CJ Abrams at this point, he’s going to be your opening day shortstop question mark. Maybe they do something else there, but I still think CJ Abrams will be a national. I still do believe they’re going to hold on to him and kind of take this year one under Paul Timone and Blake Butra and really figure out what CJ Abrams is and what he isn’t. Maybe he takes a step up defensively and you can make a few defensive adjustments with this new coaching staff. Maybe he takes a step up offensively and he becomes a more consistent, polished hitter. Then you decide after this year, well, you’ve got two years left to control. We’re going to try to extend you. If you don’t want to agree to that, then maybe we move off of you. That’s for CJ Abrams here. Gore is a different thing. I think trading Mckenzie Gore now does make you a better team in the long run. Obviously, it’s going to hurt you in the short run. You’re going to have a not a great starting rotation staff on top of a pretty bad bullpen at this point, but that just makes sense for where this Nationals team is. And going into this, again, I would have thought that McKenzie would have been moved like two days ago, maybe even on Monday night. Like it is Thursday in the morning here in DC. It’s a cold one. I just saw some flurries outside like and we’re still talking about when is Mackenzie Gore going to get moved. But if you’re a Nats fan out there, I still think he does get traded and I still do believe that teams are interested. But I also think now with how the rumors and how things have gone these past few days, I do believe there are some new teams who may not have been all in on McKenzie Gore maybe going in and allin on McKenzie Gore and those teams might be in the NL East. We’ll have that discussion for you later on in the show today. So stay tuned for that. I’m going to tell you what teams who could be in or who are rumored to be interested in McKenzie Gore and why I would be okay trading him. But don’t worry, Nats fans, that is a good thing in division. I’ll tell you and I’ll explain why that is. But also, I do want to talk about Griff McCary because I think this guy is a very good, very good prospect for the Nationals and I think he will be a pretty impactful guy in 2026. I’ve got some numbers for you to really think about because I think this past season might have been his breakout year in the Nationals. They might be getting a young ascending pitcher to maybe be in the bullpen, maybe be in the rotation. and we’ll discuss the new national Griff McGary after this. The World Cup is coming back to North America and for the first time since 1994 and with 48 teams for the first time ever, it’s going to be massive. But let’s be honest, getting tickets, they’re a hassle. I’m assuming you probably tried the FIFA lottery. You probably didn’t get it because of millions and maybe even billions were trying to get tickets here in North America, but you can still fall back with our friends at Game Time. 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I believe the Nationals should be absolutely entertaining that at this point. But I do want to talk about the Nationals rule five selection yesterday as Griff McGary comes over from the Philadelphia Phillies and he’s going to be a pretty big part of this Nationals team moving forward. So first and foremost, this is a little background on Griff McGary. This is a 2021 fifth round pick out of the University of Virginia. And at one point, Griff McGary was actually a top 100 prospect, I believe, right before 2023, if I had to bet there, if I had my dates right at that point. And he was a relatively big pitching prospect. And if you see Philadelphia’s Twitter and the Phillies fan base, like this is someone that I think a lot of people were expecting them to protect and they ultimately did not protect him in the Nationals, they jumped on it. And I think that that’s a big move by this team. And I think that this guy will be someone that will play a pretty decentsized role for the Nationals moving forward. But let’s talk about what he does best and maybe something that he needs to improve on. So just looking at his overall numbers from 2025, he had 21 starts this season and in 83 and 2/3 innings pitch, 124 strikeouts, 49 walks, a 1219 whip, 13 point t 13.2 strikeouts per nine innings throughout his career in the minor leagues. and he is coming off probably his best season overall with the Philadelphia Phillies organization here and this is someone who I still believe in at a very high rate has produced at a very high level. So going back into it though, like you have to ask yourself this. This is someone that the Phillies I think would have had a future for moving forward, but obviously things went different. They didn’t protect them. They left him off the 40man roster and so the Nationals did snag him third overall. And in 2024, I think this is probably why things got a little weird with him. If you look back at his 2024 season, you’re going to see like a six erra. He was not a starter then and they tried to use him as a reliever and things got weird. His walk rate was absurd. Absurd back in 2024. And I think that overall his command is really what has gotten to him because if you look at MLB.com, his control is at a 30. I mean, that is a pretty bad grade for anybody out there. And if you look at some of the pitches that he has, he’s got some really elite stuff at times. But again, it is come down to this for him. He has very limited command and control, whatever you want to say for that. But he does have strikeout stuff, citing the 13.2 strikeouts per nine innings throughout his minor league career. But if you look at his walk rate from years past, like his walk rate was in the seventh percentile according to Prospect Savant in 2024. But this season in 2025 when he went back to being a starter, it jumped to a 54th percentile, meaning that he was above average, at least for his walk rate goes. Still was not great. He has 6.3 walks per nine in his career, but it dropped by a walk per nine innings this past season of according to his career numbers here back down to a 5.3 in 2025. I still think that this is someone that the Nationals will absolutely utilize. And the Nationals did take someone. I’m blanking on his name, but we talked about him yesterday. I believe it was Evan Rifford from the Tampa Bay Rays. They did take him. He did not make the opening day 26-man roster. So, they sent him back to the Tampa Bay Rays and we don’t really know what’s going on with him at this point, but I still I feel very confidently in Griff McGary being a guy that the Nationals will build with and I do think that he has an opportunity to not only use himself as a reliever or back end of the bullpen guy, I think that this is someone who may even be in the mix to be a starting pitcher. I think at first he is going to be in that Brad Lord role like you’re going to be a long-term reliever. That’s going to be your role and you’re going to have to work your way and earn your way into this rotation. That’s probably what it will be. But Paul Tabone and Blake for that matter, they have both just preached competition. Like they have cited Harry Ford and Ke Ruiz. They’re going to have a very open competition heading into spring training. Who will be your opening day catcher? I’ll bet on Ford at this point, but I think that the Nationals will be in this scenario as well for their starting pitchers. Like if you do trade McKenzie Gore, which I think is the expectation at this point, then you’re going to have yourself like a pretty open starting rotation. I do think with Josiah Gray coming back, Kate Kavali coming back, DJ Hers will be healthy at some point this season and should make a return up to the Nationals rotation. Like, you’ve got some guys and Brad Lord looked really good last year. He’s going to be in the mix. But also throw in Griff McGary at this point. Like if this guy looks good in spring training and they believe that this is someone who could be a starter in the major leagues, then he is going to get his opportunity in 2026. And that’s how it should be because he does have some really good numbers and he is coming off his best season by far in the minor leagues. Like he had some elite numbers down with the Phillies organization this year. His whiff percentage was in the 98th percentile in minor league baseball. His zone swing percentage was in the 99th percentile. And looking even deeper at it, his expected slug was in the 98th percentile. Those are elite elite stats. And then on top of it, his strikeout percentage, the 98th percentile. Like these aren’t like, “Oh, this guy’s a 66 percentile uh zone swing percentage or his zone contact percentage is in the 50th percentile.” Like, no. These he has elite numbers in these categories. But it comes down to this. He has to command his pitches. And over the years, that has really been the big killer and the reason why this guy has not taken a step up. But I do want to share this note because I was talking with my guy Connor Thomas from Locked on Phillies and I was like, “Hey, like get me something that you think uh with Griff McCary and he was like actually I even seen you guys got Griff McCary, but he’s a prep righty. Hasn’t really developed well with command, but has really solid stuff. He was the Phillies minor league pitcher of the year this past season. He’s 26 and hasn’t even sniffed the bigs.” That’s what he had to say at that point. And again, he’s 26 years old. that’s what you should expect. But he had an awesome 2025. Went on to say that and they’ve kind of he thinks that they saw enough of this command issues to say, you know what, we’re going to leave this guy in protected. If a team goes for him and they turn him into something, then great. But they thought that again, he mentioned this as well and he does the locked on Phillies podcast. He thought that uh Mc McGriff here or Griff McCary at this point, Nick Ael, and of course their big-time pitching prospect Andrew Painter, they all thought that that was going to be like their big trio of prospects coming up at one point. Unfortunately, didn’t work out for a couple of those guys in there. But that kind of goes to show you that the Phillies in the organization were once very high on this guy. And oh by the way, coming out of UVA, one thing I do want to mention here with Tabone here is that Connelly Early with the Boston Red Sox, a mid-round pick out of UVA as well was kind of a raw prospect coming out of college and Paul Tabone talked about scouting him and obviously Connelly Early in their system in their player development kind of ring there. He’s developed himself into being a very good pitcher for the Red Sox. And Connelly Early was a guy that Tabone mentioned a lot in his opening presser here in DC as someone who was a pretty big win for their organization. Coming from UVA, not a lot of people were high on him. They thought his stuff wasn’t great, but they added a few pitches in his arsenal. They really honed in on in his command. And now he was starting in game three in a wildcard scenario in a winner take all game at Yankee Stadium and he looked great and he looked really good down the stretch for the Red Sox as well. And we even talked with Gabby from locked on Red Sox and even she was like we’re not going to trade Connelly. At least we’re not interested in it. He’s going to be someone for this rotation moving forward. So my antenna is up with this move. Obviously, I think Tibone and some people in this organization have had this guy on their radar for a while. And if they had the opportunity to select him, they obviously did. And I do think that he will be someone that this team and this organization will definitely hold on to. Like this is someone who has elite stuff. And I think that this is something that again we will be talking about in a year from now and we could be talking about Griff McGary having a very good season kind of like a Brad Lord season that we just saw from this past year. A good bullpen guy but also someone who comes in in a spot start scenario and looks really good. So of course we’ll have more on Griff McGary later on. I’m excited about him. I think he could be the real deal coming out of the rule five draft. And what does a real deal look like? Again, we just laid it out. I’m not saying he’s going to be Stephen Strawber. Don’t put him in the Hall of Fame just yet, but I think he’s a good rule five pick. And he’s certainly an interesting prospect as we get into spring training these next few months. But I do want to talk about some of the NL East moves here. And speaking of the NL East, the Nationals, they might be trading Mackenzie Gore in division. I’ll tell you about the new reports after this. And yes, the NFL Sundays move fast and there is one big play and suddenly everything feels different, but you can even make it different with our friends at FanDuel. 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So if you want to be right in the middle of the action this season, visit fanuel.com and place your live NFL bets all season long. FanDuel, the game moves fast and so can you. So, there are recent reports that a couple of NL East teams may be interested in McKenzie Gore, the Mets and the Phillies. I am one to say this, I would not be interested, I don’t think, in trading someone like a CJ Abrams in division. But when it comes to McKenzie Gore, when it comes to a pitcher, I am okay with that. And I think that the Nationals, by the way, you will have to get an in division tax. Now, listen, if the if let’s say the Orioles, let’s say that they make an offer and the Mets make an offer and they’re both very similar and it’s like, h well, you’re debating which one is better and maybe it’s the difference is very slight, then I think you take the Orioles offer. But let’s say the Mets blow you away. Let’s say they do and they’re like, “You know what? We’ll give you Jet Williams, who is a top prospect in baseball, who has been one of the better shortstop prospects in baseball, who is, I believe, their number three prospect, number two prospect. And we’ll also throw in Jonah Tong, who I think will have a very bright future as a starting pitcher. And we’ll also throw in the number 22 prospect, Ryan Lambert, who is MLB ready. And all three of those guys are MLB ready. and you give us Mckenzie Gore. And you know what we’re gonna do? Steve Cohen, we’re gonna extend Mackenzie Gore. We’re gonna give him like $300 million right now and say, “You want it? Take it. Sign it.” I don’t know if that’ll happen, but let’s just say it does. Sign me up today. I do think that the Nationals will get an indivision tax with this move. Like, if you were to get someone and trade him in division, then that is a win. I do think that the Nationals will get more. And I think a lot of people are like, “Don’t trade with the Phillies. Like, we can’t do that. Don’t make a trade with the Mets.” Like, why not? I I just don’t understand this. Oh, well, we can’t trade to that team because we face them more. Like, they’re in division rival. I get it. It’s going to suck. But guess what? Like, let’s just be honest here. Juan Sodto is a New York freaking Met. Bryce Harper is a Philly. Trey Turner is a Philly. Kyle Schwarber a Philly. Do I have to say anymore? Mike Scherzer was a Met. Like, come on. Let’s be honest here. Once McKenzie Gore reaches free agency, guess who the teams that are probably most likely to sign him? The Mets and the Phillies. If you can get good talent in return for that in division tax, why not do it at this point? Like I do believe in the Nationals saying like, “Hey, if it is a coin flip and you’re like, I don’t know who we’re going to get and I don’t know which package is better between the Mets and the Orioles and the Cubs,” then obviously you’re not going to make that trade in the division. You’ll probably send them off to the Cubs or the Orioles. But if the Mets are like, “Hey, we know you probably don’t want to trade him in division, but we’ll throw in this extra guy because look at our off season at this point. We’re getting crushed. We’ve had Edwin Diaz walk. Pete Alonzo, we got out bid by the Orioles for Pete Alonzo who is now an oral. Like, we need to make something happen.” Well, if you go out there, solidify your rotation with McKenzie Gore, which by the way, looking at the playbook that David Cerns has established at this point, it’s not the craziest thing in the world. David Cerns has really gone this defensive run saving philosophy. And McKenzie Gourd, the big hit on him the last few seasons is that he has not had a good defense behind him. Well, they’re trying to solidify their defense. They want to go in on defense and pitching. They’ve got a couple of really good pitching prospects as it is and I do believe they will be on a couple of different guys. Maybe a Michael King, who knows? We’ll see what happens. Maybe a Tar Scooble trade. We don’t know at this point, but I think the Mets looking at a move for McKenzie Gore makes sense. And I do think you will be able to generate a little more profit for McKenzie Gore. And I think that would be a big deal for the Nationals at this point because you want to get the most talent possible. And if you’re a team out there like the Mets who may be getting a little desperate, you’re missing out on Schwarber, you did not make an offer to Alonzo and you let Edwin Diaz walk for an extra year to the Dodgers, then you’re opening up the door for a pretty lousy off season, but the Mets do have some talent in their system. They may look to move off that talent, get McKenzie Gore in the building. You’ve got him under contract for 2027. You’ll wait to see what happens in the lockout. There’s no financial commitment for them at this point. So, I think it makes sense for both parties and that’s why I would be okay with the Nationals trading Mackenzie Gore in the division because overall I think you could get more for him and I think that that is the priority here. You have to get talent in this building and if it comes with trading him to the Mets or the Phillies, then so be it. I’m okay with just that. So, thank you all for making Lockdown Nationals your first listen. We will catch you guys on the flip side. Hopefully, tomorrow’s not going to be day five of the Panda Watch. Hopefully, we have some clarity on the situation. But until then, have a good one. Go Nats.

Washington Nationals hesitate as MacKenzie Gore trade rumors intensify—will an NL East rival land the star southpaw? Ryan Clary examines the high-stakes negotiations, weighing why trading Gore to the Mets or Phillies could boost the Nationals’ rebuild—if the in-division “tax” is right. Clary also assesses C.J. Abrams’ future, exploring what could keep the promising shortstop in D.C. as the franchise plots its next steps. Key storylines include the Nationals’ selection of Griff McGarry in the Rule 5 Draft and how his elite strikeout ability could shape Washington’s rotation or bullpen. With half the league showing interest in Gore and unexpected moves reshuffling the NL East, Clary questions whether patience will deliver the best deal or if another blockbuster trade is looming. Don’t miss this strategic breakdown of the Nationals’ path forward as hot stove season sparks new possibilities.

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00:00 “Nats Trading Gore still?

04:49 Teams Eyeing Tarik Skubal Trade?

09:29 Mackenzie Gore Trade Rumors

12:14 Nationals Land Griff McGarry

14:44 Struggles with Command, Control

20:11 Phillies’ Prospect Hopes and Development

21:23 Why McGarry makes sense

27:12 In-Division Trade Considerations w/ Gore

28:48 Mets’ In On Gore?