Mark Zuckerman recaps the WBC & gives a Nationals breakdown with MLB Opening Day around the corner

Attention, fans of jury duty.

The groundbreaking comedy series is back for season two.

Featuring an all-new cast, this installment takes the comedy out of the courthouse

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The catch?

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Oh yeah, and the company is fake.

Get to know all the employees of Rock and Graham's Hot Sauce,

a family business with everything on the line.

Season two arrives with bigger laughs,

higher stakes, and the same heart that made the first season a cultural phenomenon.

And here's the fun part.

You'll be able to try all four flavors of Rock and Graham's Hot Sauce on Amazon.

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Venezuela last night.

Three two final win over the US

in the world baseball classic.

A lot of drama in Miami during this thing.

The intensity was incredible.

Bryce Harper's two run homer

in the bottom of the eighth last night.

Unbelievably clutch for.

I think one of the more clutch team sport athletes

at the last 15 years here to discuss that.

And then the Nats.

We are eight days away from opening day at Riggly Field.

Is our good friend Mark Zuckerman, of course.

Mark now has his own sub stack.

You can get access to it.

It's natsjournals.com,

but just follow Mark on X at Mark Zuckerman.

Nobody's done a better job of following our baseball team

over the last many years than Mark has.

And he's back with us.

So let's start with last night.

First of all, just with respect to the timing of this,

I know I've read a lot about this is bad timing

because the utilization of certain players on the verge of

you know the major league baseball season opening

was limiting for Mark Derosa.

Explain that that timing, the impact

and whether or not there's another you know time

on the calendar that would work better.

Yeah, this has always been the I think the biggest issue

with the WBC and it's been around for 20 years now,

which is crazy to think and still feels like.

Why did it only become a big deal recently?

The event, I think it's having more of the star players

have started to be in it the last few times.

I think the final last time around, 2023, Japan and US

and you had the Otani versus Trout head to head

for the final out of the game.

I think that kind of elevated it to another level.

And then what you saw this year,

it continues to grow and you do have more buy-in now

where the best players in the game want to be in it.

They didn't necessarily used to want to be in it

because of the timing, because it's in spring training

and especially for the pitchers,

you know they're so regimented in spring training.

Okay, every five days and they have a certain number of pitches

that you know they're set to throw this time

and you can't go beyond that.

And so in a competitive situation,

you can't really treat that or manage that the way

that you would in the regular season or later on in the year.

So I think that's always been the number one problem with this

and there may not be one perfect time to hold it.

I personally feel like the answer is

to have an extended all-star break and do it in the summer.

I think both in terms of having pitchers

who are at full strength, being able to do that,

I think that would be a big deal.

And I think you captured more of the nation's attention,

the world's attention at that time.

There's so much else going on right now,

March Madness, you know, and other stuff.

And so if you had a week in July,

there's maybe less it's going up against

and I think it could really take off.

So the fact that it's doing as well as it has,

in spite of those issues,

tells you just how big an event this has become

and how big it could be.

You know, as you're saying that,

part of me thinks, okay, but during that break,

if they're off playing in this in this world baseball classic

and they're not enjoying the time off

and every other player in baseball,

except for those that are participating in this,

or enjoying that time off,

would you get the buy-in that you get now?

I think you would because you've heard it more and more

from these star players.

And at the top of this, it's guys like Bryce Harper

and Paul Scheele.

Like they love, they come out of this thing saying,

I can't wait to do this again.

I loved it.

I think the rest of the league takes their cues from all of them.

And recognizing how big this could be,

what it means to represent your country,

I think you would get the buy-in for it.

I think the flip side of it is 95% of big leagueers

are not in this thing.

And so how do you keep them prepared and ready to go?

You can't just take two weeks off in the middle of the summer.

And so that's, I think, baseball's challenge

is to figure out how to do that.

You have to convince the tournament down.

Do you have to, I saw somebody throughout the possibility

of the other day of you have the big leagueers play exhibitions

against like their AAA teams during that week in July,

just to keep them going.

There's no perfect answer to this.

I don't think it works after the season

because you've already thrown 200 innings.

These guys teams don't want them doing more.

Spring training, as we said, you're limited in what you can do.

And it's not just the starters.

Like last night, Mason Miller was, you got to go.

That's what I'm going to ask you about.

Yeah.

So he probably should have pitched the night

in a tie game.

That's how you would normally treat a game like that a tie game.

And Mark Dorosa said the Padres didn't want him to pitch

unless it was truly a safe situation to win the title.

So you have all these considerations

that you just don't have at other times.

And so I know Dorosa's taken a lot of heat

and I'm not saying he did a great job with a lot of stuff.

But I think we have to remember that there's a lot

that goes into it that's out of his control.

And you have to, you know, adhere to what all

these different teams, what they want best for their players.

And that's the right to want that.

And still try to put out a tournament

that you're trying to win.

It does complicate matters.

Yeah. I mean, I heard a couple of criticisms

of last night's game in particular.

And Mason Miller not using him was at the top.

That, you know, like you said, in that situation,

tie game, and you're coming up to bat

in the bottom of the ninth,

that he should have been used there.

And he wasn't, I mean, I don't know what the different,

I mean, the difference is a pure safe situation he wasn't in.

But it was still a super high leverage position.

I mean, I would have gotten away with it.

How do you use them?

Probably, I mean, that guy's unhittable.

I mean, he's incredibly good.

And pretty much the standard convention in a major league game,

if you're the home team and you're tied in the top of the ninth,

you use your closure because there won't be a safe situation.

Even if you go to extra enemies,

because you're the last team batting.

So yes, and I think the Rosewood would have absolutely used him.

But the Padres are like, hey, he's pitched a lot.

We really prefer if he doesn't, unless it's truly a save.

And that's why this tournament isn't quite everything

that it could be.

Or even, you know, look, Paul Schienes was great the other night.

Derek Schuvel in the one game that he pitched was great.

But they're limited to 50, 60 pitches at this time of year.

And so if you did this in July,

and now you can say, hey, Schienes, you can give us 100 pitches

and go to the seventh inning.

I just feel like that's better representation

of what a true baseball game is.

The other, I mean, I've read a couple of criticisms,

but the other one I was curious about,

especially with Aaron in his situation,

why didn't they use Cal Raleigh?

Yeah, I, you know, you look at that lineup they were putting out there.

There is so much talent there.

And that's not just the starter backups too.

And you say, how did they not score more runs than it did?

And it wasn't just last night, like they struggled

throughout the elimination rounds.

They were getting by based on their pitching

and just a couple of timely hits at the right moment.

Raleigh, of course, you know, MVP candidate

last year, 60 plus home runs.

But the catching position goes two ways.

And Will Smith, who was his backup,

is an all-star catcher himself for the Dodgers calls a great game.

I'm sure DeRose is thinking about that,

but could you have found a spot to bring up

Raleigh off the bench?

Sure, it's not necessarily a role that he's used to.

You know, the other part of this is the pitchers,

yes, they're still building up.

But these hitters, this is not the kind of competition

they're used to in March either.

They're trying to work themselves up

to be ready for the season.

And you all we hear the stories about pitching is ahead of hitting.

And most, even the best hitters in baseball

often get off the bat starts in April

because they're not quite in that rhythm yet.

So, you know, maybe chalk that up as another reason

why March isn't the perfect time for this.

And yes, we can go through all the things

that DeRose did or didn't do.

And a lot of them may be dialed

and why didn't he use this guy or why didn't he bench that guy.

That's fine, but I think we also have to acknowledge

that this isn't baseball the way that we always see it.

And so, the conventions and the wisdom

that we normally have for it

don't necessarily apply quite to the same extent in March.

How about Bryce Harper's two run home?

I know he struggled throughout the World Baseball Classic,

but there's something about him.

I've always enjoyed him even.

I don't necessarily blame him for leaving here.

I just never have.

And some of the clutch performances he had here,

but certainly in Philadelphia in the postseason.

I think he's just been one of the best clutch team sport players

of the last 15 years.

You say what?

Yeah, I think I agree with you on that.

And I mean, he did it here.

Remember the 2014 series against the Giants when nobody...

He was the only one that hit.

Exactly.

The Home Raw Funner Strickland into the Bay in San Francisco.

We've seen him do it for the Phillies,

the home run that helped them clinch the pennant,

the one time that he finally made it to the World Series.

And I get it.

There have been times that he hasn't come through,

but even the best hitters in baseball

aren't going to succeed more than three times out of 10.

Overall, I think he has come up in big moments as well

as just about anyone.

I know he has yet to win the big one.

And that's both the World Series and the World Baseball Classic.

Now, I guess you can say,

I don't think it's because of him.

I think it's because of what's been around him.

One of these days, it's going to happen for him.

And you can tell.

I mean, he's a competitor he always has been.

You can tell he keeps getting this close

and falling short, it hurts him.

It hurts him a lot.

He wants to win.

I don't know if you saw it after the game.

You know, this bizarre circumstance

where Rob Menford is handing out silver medals

to every one of the USA players,

just an awkward situation

because it's not what we're used to in baseball.

Of course, you lose the game and you leave

and go back to your clubhouse.

Harper, as soon as he got his medal,

walked over to the Venezuelan players

who were waiting to get their gold medals

and went up to congratulate them all.

I thought that was such an impressive move,

but not surprising.

It's who he is.

He understands the magnitude, the significance of this.

He was crushed to lose that game.

But he also understood what that meant

to those Venezuelan players.

Yeah, interesting.

I did not watch that.

Good, good addition to that story last night.

All right, attention, fans of jury duty.

The groundbreaking comedy series is back for season two.

Featuring an all-new cast,

this installment takes the comedy

out of the courthouse and into the mountains

above Malibu for an annual company retreat.

The catch?

Everyone but the new guy is an actor.

Oh yeah, and the company is fake.

Get to know all the employees

of Rock and Graham's Hot Sauce,

a family business with everything on the line.

Season two arrives with bigger laughs,

higher stakes, and the same heart

that made the first season a cultural phenomenon.

And here's the fun part.

You'll be able to try all four flavors

of Rock and Graham's Hot Sauce on Amazon.

Jury Duty Presents,

Company Retreat is streaming on Prime Video March 20th.

Don't miss the feel-good comedy

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We're eight days away from opening day in Rigglyfield.

So let's just start with starting pitching.

Is Kate Cavalli going to start the opener?

Yes, he has been named opening day starter.

He's the one they've named for.

Give me the rest of the rotation and what you make of it.

So it is well not big on names

that are going to get people excited.

I do think it's a deeper group than they've had in the past.

So much so that some guys who have pitched here

and had some success are not in the opening day rotation.

Josiah Gray probably not in the rotation.

May start the year at AAA.

Mitchell Parker.

Is he healthy off the Tommy John or not?

Yeah, he is, but I think they are kind of

purposely slow playing it to bring them along,

knowing that they have to limit his work

load this year because it's missed two years,

essentially.

So we'll be seeing him eventually,

but I think they figure they can control that a little better

at AAA at least to start the year.

So after Cavalli,

the order is still to be determined,

but they just signed a free agent,

Zach Latel, a couple weeks ago,

who's been one of the biggest innings eaters in baseball

the last couple years.

He was with Tampa and then traded the Cincinnati last year.

He pitches tonight.

If it all goes well, he's kind of lined up

for the number two game.

You have the other veteran.

They signed Miles Michaelis,

who the numbers haven't been great the last couple years

with the Cardinals,

but also a guy who you know is going to give you a bunch of innings.

I think they felt like they needed that

given how inexperienced and in a lot of cases

coming back from injuries.

A lot of their other starters are.

The third free agent they signed this winner

and it goes back to December January.

Foster Griffin is a left-hander

with minimal big league experience,

but he went over to Japan

and wound up as one of the best pitchers

in that country the last three years.

And it's fascinating.

It's going to be fascinating to see

how that translates here.

They're optimistic.

He's hopeful,

but you just don't really know

until you see him against big league hitters.

So he's in there.

And the fifth one I think is going to be Jake Irvin

who had a bad year last year,

but it's looked really good to spring.

It's very well yesterday.

It's probably him beating out.

Josiah Gray for that last one.

On the level of, you know,

most concerned versus least concerned,

where would you compare the starting rotation

and the bullpen?

I think they're both concerns.

Of course, I think the bullpen is a huge question

mark because they may have guys they know

they're going to send out there.

Hardly any of them have been there

done that before.

I mean, they're closer.

I don't even know if they have a closer right now.

Cole Henry and Clayton Beater are the right handers.

C&L Perez who had been with the Orioles

is probably their top lefty.

I think they're going to mix and match and find,

you know, if we're facing lefties in the ninth,

it's going to be Perez.

If we're facing righties,

it might be Beater or it might be Henry.

Just that fact, you don't have that one guy

that you know what you're going to get.

Like they had Kyle Finning in the last few years.

You knew he was solid, maybe not the best in the game,

but you knew what you were going to get.

They just don't have that anymore.

And so I do worry that you have a team,

a young team, you hope this score runs,

you hope to get a decent starting kitchen performance.

If that bullpen can't hold whatever leads

they do end up having in the late innings,

it's such a demoralizing thing for a team,

especially a young rebuilding team.

I hope that's not proven to be true.

I hope some of these guys step up and are reliable.

But going into it, there's not a lot there

that you can look at and say,

yes, I know what I'm going to get from this guy.

Refresh my memory.

If the Nats had had the first pick in the 2023 draft,

would they have selected schemes or crews?

So they never came all the way out and said it,

but my belief is that they would have taken schemes.

I think the consensus opinion on Brown Baseball at that point

is that the elite number one arm

and the kind of season that schemes had at the LSU

that put him over the top.

Now that said, the Nats are not the only ones

who like Dylan Cruz.

Pretty much everybody else in Baseball

would have taken crews number two.

To this point, it's no context between the two

who's been better and Dylan has a long way to go

still to prove himself just to be a competent major league hit

or let alone a star player.

So it's one of those you look back and like,

man, if they had just had it or somehow the pirates

had taken crews instead of schemes,

then that's absolutely what have taken schemes

have been thrilled with it.

But that said, they were excited about crews.

Everybody in Baseball was excited about crews at the time.

It just hasn't happened for us.

So my question to you about crews is,

when do you start to be concerned?

There is concern already because he's had a bad spring

and it's not just the numbers.

It's the way he looks.

The pitches that he's swinging at the lack of solid contact

that he's making and this is a guy who has yet

to really show it at the big league level.

Now, he missed like two and a half months

last year with an oblique injury and that really threw him off.

So, you know, I'm hearing from Tansley saying like,

he shouldn't be on the opening day.

Roster sent him to AAA.

I'm not going there yet.

I don't think that's where they're headed.

I don't know that doesn't mean he good.

I think you have to let him try to figure this out

with a new coaching staff at the big league level.

But the least can't be super long.

You can't just say, hey, we're going to ride him out all year

if he doesn't do it.

If there's a point along the way that it's clear

that he's just not figuring this out and it's not working for him,

then you have to consider something like that.

So, it's a huge year of everybody on the team.

And there's a lot of guys yourself that have things to prove.

But I'd put him as number one because the player he's supposed to be

is a star player and he hasn't come anywhere close to being that guy yet.

Well, James Wood has certainly flashed star potential.

That's for sure.

So, what are you expecting from him?

Because Cruz is going to be in this starting outfield, right?

He's their starting right fielder.

Yeah, the actual positions are kind of interesting

because they're moving guys around.

We may see you guys play multiple spots and then they're often

used the DH to rotate everyone around.

But yeah, he's in there, one of them.

And would whether it's in left or even in right thumb

because he hasn't taken some action there in right field this spring.

The key with James is just going to be consistency.

You know, his first three months last year was like MVP caliber.

That's how good he was.

And his second half, he was one of the least productive hitters in baseball.

So, it's about maintaining that day in and day out,

trying to cut down on the strikeouts to some extent.

He's always going to be a high strikeout guy,

but you can cut down down on that sum.

We know he has a great eye.

We know he hits the ball with a 40 to the opposite field,

as well as anybody in the game.

He had a game the other night here against the Metz.

Three for five, double homer, all five balls that he put into play

were hit at least 103 miles an hour.

Quality of contact is remarkable.

So, we know he can do that.

It's just can't he sustain that over six months.

That's the last step for him.

By the way, I'm just looking at their first nine games.

That's a brutal storm pass season.

Am I right?

Chicago filling them beyond the first nine.

Yeah.

Okay, well, right.

I mean, yeah, I see, yes, down the road.

But I mean, to open it wriggly with three against the Cubs,

they're over under totals 90.

The fillies is in the 90s.

And then the Dodgers are somewhere around 100 I'm assuming.

That's a brutal way to open up the season.

It is the schedule makers were not kind to them this year.

And what you just hope, because again, so many young guys,

and that includes the coaching staff in the front office as well now.

They're going to come into this with some optimism.

Hey, it's a fresh start for everybody.

Let's finally take that step.

Everybody wants us to take.

And maybe we know we're not going to be a contender this year.

But we want to give people a reason to get excited.

If they come out of the gates two and seven,

which is entirely possible against those opponents,

it's going to be really demoralizing.

As uplifting and as encouraging as everything has been around here so far,

the real test, I've been saying all along.

When things start to go bad, and they will, at some point,

how does Blake Puterra handle it?

How does Paul Tadoni handle it?

How does the players handle it?

That's what we need to find out.

That's, I think, the biggest challenge for this young group

is how they deal with adversity.

Well, the good news for them, the expectations are very low.

They've got the second lowest over under win total.

It's 65 and a half.

Only the Rockies are worse.

I got to run.

I really appreciate you doing this.

Please subscribe to Mark's sub stack.

Nobody covers the team like he does.

You can get a link to it at Mark Zuckerman on X.

I'll talk to you soon.

Thank you, Kevin.

All right, we're done for the day.

Chris is next.

Attention, fans of jury duty.

The groundbreaking comedy series is back for season two.

Featuring an all-new cast, this installment takes the comedy out of the

courthouse and into the mountains above Malibu

for an annual company retreat.

The catch?

Everyone but the new guy is an actor.

Oh yeah, and the company is fake.

Get to know all the employees of Rock and Gram is Hot Sauce,

a family business with everything on the line.

Season two arrives with bigger laughs, higher stakes,

and the same heart that made the first season a cultural phenomenon.

And here's the fun part.

You'll be able to try all four flavors of Rock and Gram is Hot Sauce on Amazon.

Jury Duty Presents, Company Retreat is streaming on Prime Video March 20th.

Don't miss the feel-good comedy everyone's going to be talking about.

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