Nationals Interim GM Mike DeBartolo Hopes to Keep Team's Young Nucleus Together

The Washington Nationals have been stuck in a difficult place for quite some time now, somewhere between fully rebuilding and developing their young talent.

This has caused a pretty unstable platform for the franchise to build from long-term, especially with both their general manager and manager being fired mid-season.

The positive news regarding the team is that there is some definitive next-level talent on the roster that could facilitate a turnaround in the coming years.

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James Wood, CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, Dylan Crews and more comprise a young core of players that can really continue to showcase their talent in the second half of the season.

Although, it was unclear what the direction of the franchise was heading into the July 31 MLB trade deadline.

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With a new general manager in charge for the time being, could they look to move on from some of their best pieces and try to sell high? Or will they focus on retaining their younger assets and mostly move on from any veterans that will not benefit from being there right now?

Well, interim general manager Mike DeBartolo had an answer to that question in a recent interview.

In an article by Andrew Golden of The Washington Post (subscription required), DeBartolo was quoted regarding trade deadline hopes. In this, he would respond with the following regarding what the team is looking to do heading forward.

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"I’m looking to keep the young, core group of our best players together. Certainly [with] my job, if someone calls, you always listen to what they have to say. But trading away our really high-quality young players is not something I’m looking to do right now."

Then, when asked specifically about MacKenzie Gore, he stated this in response:

"I’d put him in that group in terms of our young, really talented players. That’s not a focus of mine to move him."

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While he made it clear that he would consider offers brought to the table, his focus is on retaining the young assets and moving ahead with them on the team.

This is a positive, no doubt, as it is clear the franchise wants to build around their pillar talents rather than shipping them off for something else.

The hope now is that they can retain these pieces even through strong offers, and work on developing the team further over the course of the next few months.

For more Nationals news, head over to Nationals On SI.