00:00Welcome back. Toby and I were throwing the football during the breakout here in Ashburn, and I said to him,
00:07I mean, there were just 8,000 Nats, like, flying around my face where we're at by these tents.
00:12Why was CJ Abrams there?
00:13That's what was funny. I was like, dude, the Nats have been awful lately.
00:17And then we both looked at each other, and I was like, and the Bugs are bad here, too.
00:22And the Bugs are bad, as they've lost, you know, 15 to 21.
00:26Rough go of it for the lads. 6-15 in those games.
00:29But let's get into Paul Tabone with the Junkies today.
00:32He had his weekly Wednesday appointment on the morning show, and they asked him on Why Now, the move to
00:39second base from shortstop for CJ Abrams.
00:42You know, Blake and I, this has been a series of conversations over the course of the last few weeks.
00:46And what Blake and I talk a lot about is, like, hey, we always want to do what's best for
00:54the organization.
00:57But, you know, and I said it yesterday, like, we also don't want to be one of these organizations that
01:01does it without, you know, care and empathy for the player.
01:07And, listen, the bottom line is, like, CJ's been a shortstop his whole life.
01:12It's a huge part of, you know, his identity as a baseball player.
01:17And so, while, hey, like, we think it makes us a better team right now, that doesn't mean we just
01:23decide to roll with it and shove it down his throat.
01:26We obviously want to have conversations about it over time.
01:29And I'll say it, like, CJ has been freaking awesome.
01:34Like, when we had those meetings, he's been great.
01:36He's asked great questions.
01:37He's, you know, I think he's understood everything.
01:42But, yeah, like, man, there's a part of this that, hey, when this move is made, yeah, it upsets you
01:49a little bit because it's a huge part of who he is.
01:55But what I will say is, like, how he's handled, you know, being upset has been great.
02:01Like, he's, like, he's said it to us.
02:03He's like, yeah, man, I'm not thrilled about this.
02:05But at the same time, like, listen, I get it.
02:08It's about the team.
02:09It's about the Nationals.
02:10And so, let's go.
02:12That's Paul Toboni on the Junkies.
02:14It's weird to me, by the way.
02:16The lineup just came out.
02:17He's at shortstop again today.
02:19So, they make this announcement where, by the way, it was not like someone found out or a reporter.
02:24Right, it wasn't discovered, yeah.
02:25Yeah, went through an agent or something and asked.
02:27Like, Buteric came out and brought it up and said, we're moving C.J. Abrams to second base.
02:33And now, almost a week later, not quite, but several games later, he hasn't played second base yet.
02:38And the thought was, after he took more ground balls there into the weekend and then he DH'd yesterday,
02:44today was going to be the day where he got his first call at second.
02:46But he's still at short.
02:48I have to wonder if that's just a continuation of it not going well in the negotiation with him to
02:53move to second.
02:54I mean, there's not a whole lot he can do about it.
02:56They'll just write his name on the lineup card.
02:58But you heard Toboni there, Danny.
02:59They don't want to make it a, you're moving to second base.
03:03Sorry about your luck, that they're trying to do this in a way that works for him, that he can
03:07be okay with.
03:08So maybe there's still some talking him into it happening.
03:11I'm not sure.
03:11I don't know either.
03:12And again, you know, they always, it's a different lineup for everybody.
03:14A righty, a lefty, a guy that throws sinkers, a guy that throws sliders, a guy that throws splits and
03:19changes and screwballs.
03:20The guy that would be playing short's a switch hitter.
03:22I know.
03:23So it's not like it should matter who's right or lefty on the mound as to whether or not he
03:27moves over.
03:27Right, doesn't matter to me.
03:28But again, maybe that's because they want, I'm just making this up, but because they want 10 in the lineup,
03:32that means that, you know, a certain cascading effect happens and Abrams ends up at shortstop more.
03:37I don't know the answer.
03:38Because again, we're not finding out.
03:40It's like, if this had gone, like, you know, swimmingly, so to speak, would he already be at second base?
03:46Or is it still like, hey, he's probably needs a couple more days to take some ground balls over there,
03:51turn some double plays and work on positioning and getting off the ball and, you know, in terms of jumps,
03:55because it's a mirror image of what you've been used to your entire life.
03:59You can do it, but it's not natural for a little while.
04:02It takes a second to build some of those instincts.
04:05So if the point was, yeah, he probably needs a week of taking ground balls there and getting some situations
04:09in pregame work,
04:11very reasonable to me.
04:12But I'm with you.
04:12It's odd that, announcement made, still hasn't played second.
04:16I don't know.
04:17I feel like you make that announcement when, like, that night he's going to be playing second base.
04:22That's the weird disconnect.
04:24And again, that's just my own read on it.
04:26Maybe they don't care to have it that way and there's nothing to see here.
04:30But it feels to me like you have the conversation with him, and then at the last possible moment,
04:35you shine the light on it, let everyone know about it,
04:37because otherwise people would just show up to the ballpark and see him listed at second,
04:41and it's a major story.
04:42So you get out ahead of it a little bit, you know, at your 2.30, 3 o'clock press
04:46conference or whatever,
04:47and you say, hey, just so you guys know, CJ's going to be playing some second.
04:50We're playing him there today.
04:51Here's why.
04:52But to have that presser, I'm not blaming Buterra.
04:56It's just I'm intrigued by the fact that it hasn't happened yet.
04:59Yeah, I'm wondering.
04:59It's almost like you gave a one-week warning to everybody that it was going to happen.
05:03This was Taboni with the Junkies talking about what hasn't worked at shortstop with CJ Abrams,
05:09who's been one of the worst defensive players in the position over the last several seasons.
05:13First of all, I'll say he has made strides, but I think he hit the nail on the head.
05:19A lot of it is throwing, and CJ's so darn athletic, he gets to balls out the outer edges of
05:27his range.
05:29It's just about thinking up his top and bottom half and delivering throws on target.
05:33And so, you know, we think that, you know, playing second base will ease that burden for him.
05:40But at the same time, a piece of this is like, you know, you guys have seen us play the
05:45infield.
05:46Being able to, and you saw it last night, like being able to play him at shortstop.
05:51And, you know, with CJ at time, let's say in the next, whenever it ends up being the next week,
06:00the combination of those two guys, those two positions, I think will lead us to a better position than how
06:06we're currently constructed.
06:07Yeah, they're a better team with Nassim Nunez playing short, gobbling everything up, making a bunch more plays,
06:12and Abrams playing second, there's no doubt.
06:14I just come back to the timing of doing this.
06:18The games were more important a month ago.
06:20Like, way more important.
06:22So it would have helped you to do that a month ago, but it wasn't on the table.
06:27And I guess the last thing I want is someone to listen to this who's a Nats fan and think
06:33that I'm anti-moving CJ Abrams.
06:35I've been wanting to move CJ Abrams off shortstop since the offseason.
06:38Like, I was here for it at any point.
06:40I am just really curious about the timing.
06:44It is not really, it's just strange to me.
06:46I haven't heard a good reason as to why not two months ago, why not this offseason,
06:50why now, but every day was the right way to do it as far as I'm concerned because it's a
06:56position that he's just now,
06:57we now know, we have enough data.
06:58Like, it's not going to work there.
07:00Yeah.
07:01And I think you said it very well.
07:03To me, the baseball decision was correct to do this every day, this entire process, if we did out of
07:10spring training.
07:11Right?
07:11So, like, we didn't have a definitive as to why it wasn't happening.
07:16In this case, like, why is he staying at short?
07:18And it was up to conjecture.
07:20Right now, they're not going to come out and say, yep, we're trying to build his trade value to ship
07:22him out of here.
07:23That's certainly not what the plan was.
07:25You know, maybe the plan was, hey, we need to see if he can play short.
07:28I think these guys are too smart, quite frankly, to have been under the illusion, or delusion, rather,
07:33that this was an everyday shortstop at the highest levels of Major League Baseball.
07:37I think they knew already, but for whatever reason, they said, okay, let's give him a chance.
07:41Maybe let's not rock the apple cart to let him hit.
07:45And he certainly has.
07:46I mean, he's been among the best offensive players in the sport.
07:48That's not just among shortstops.
07:50It's among anybody, and you don't want to disrupt it while that's happening.
07:53Now that the games are less meaningful, maybe we can flip this switch.
07:57But, yeah, from a baseball perspective, this has been the right call for a long, long time.
08:02Just that, as you said, the timing of it is curious, and we're kind of left to wonder.
08:05And to point it, I think he's done a really good job of, you know, sort of answering the question
08:09without answering it,
08:10you know, like, and pumping up CJ and making it seem like, no, he's not pouting, he's not pissed off
08:15any more than you should be
08:17when you're, you know, what do you want to call it?
08:19Or demoted or changed or told that, you know, the thing that you do and have always identified as,
08:24is it good enough for this baseball team right now?
08:27That's hard to hear, I think, for anybody, any competitor, any alpha that has gotten to this point,
08:32thinking your bleep don't stink, because that's what you have to do to get to the major leagues.
08:35You have to believe that you are, even though you're 0 for 15, you're going to be 1 for 16
08:39the next time you come to the plate.
08:40It's the only way you could survive in this cutthroat, miserable failure sport.
08:44And he's done that.
08:45And now that's kind of, part of that's been taken away.
08:47That's an adjustment.
08:48Why now is the question I would, I don't know how much money I'd pay, but I'd pay some.
08:53A lot of these shows become football heavy during training camp.
08:56Understandably, I'm sitting out here at Ashburn's facility, and the team's getting ready for preseason game, too.
09:01But I want to give a little runway here for Nats fans.
09:03We can open up the phones.
09:05800-636-1067.
09:07800-636-1067.
09:09I guess, first, do you like the idea to move C.J. Abrams off shortstop, move him to second, play
09:14Nassim Nunez at short, who's the better defender, for the foreseeable future?
09:20And hopefully, get Seaver King to the show, who's been killing the ball here over the last couple weeks, sooner
09:25rather than later.
09:26And then the other question would be, are you surprised that it hasn't happened yet?
09:31Like, to me, when you make this kind of move, this is not just a, hey, we're putting you at
09:35second today.
09:36He's got to sign off on it a little bit.
09:38I don't mean moving over.
09:39That already happens in this meeting.
09:40But he's got to tell you I'm ready.
09:42He's got to say, put me at second base.
09:44Write me down.
09:44I got the work I need.
09:45I feel good about it.
09:47And maybe that hasn't happened yet.
09:48But does that not happen because he wants more ground balls to feel comfortable?
09:53Or does that not happen because he doesn't want to play the position, and maybe that just lingers for two
09:57more weeks?
09:58And you make this announcement, and then he's not at second base yet.
10:02I mean, it just seems odd that each day we're waiting for the lineup to come out to see 2B
10:06next to him, and he continues to play short.
10:08But we'll get some thoughts from listeners on that.
10:10800-636-1067.
10:13G&D on the fan.
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