Recovery from major injuries like the one Stone Garrett sustained this summer requires patience and the willingness to focus on each individual milestone reached without focusing too much on the big picture.

Garrett, who fractured his left fibula trying to make a leaping catch at the wall in right field Aug. 23, can’t think about playing Opening Day for the Nationals right now. All he can do is achieve whatever task is currently in front of him.

And that task right now includes hitting baseballs for the first time since suffering his injury.

“I started hitting last week,” the 28-year-old said Thursday in an interview for the Nats Hot Stove Show on MASN. “I’ve been running on the treadmill for about a month now, so I’ve been trying to incorporate some explosive movements. I’m feeling pretty good.”

Four months removed from the gruesome injury, Garrett looks and feels like a healthy person again. Now he’s getting himself back into baseball shape.

The Trea Turner Rule is finally getting amended. Not eliminated altogether, but amended in a way that should at least somewhat appease the star shortstop and Nationals manager Davey Martinez after both were burned by it multiple times in the past.

Major League Baseball announced a series of rule changes for the 2024 season Thursday afternoon, and the most notable one for anyone with current or recent ties to the Nats surely was the alteration to the first base running lane.

The runner’s lane will now be widened to include the dirt area between the foul line and the infield grass, MLB announced. In other words, a batter-runner will now be permitted to run in fair territory as long as he stays on the dirt and doesn’t venture onto the infield grass.

Because dirt cutouts aren’t universal across baseball, there will be some leeway for dimensions. The distance between the foul line and the infield grass will be between 18 and 24 inches in every MLB park, with some limited grace periods granted due to difficulty in modifying fields (such as ballparks that use artificial turf).

“Widening the lane allows batters to take a more direct path to first base while retaining protection from interference,” the league said in announcing the change.

The 2023 Nationals clearly were a better team than the 2022 Nationals were, and you don’t have to dig real deep for the confirmation of that. Any team that improved by 16 wins, from 55 to 71, did something right.

Ask those in charge of the organization about the improvement, though, and they’re quick to point out the lack of total satisfaction with the end result, no matter how much better it was than the previous year.

“We’re not proud of 71 wins, believe me,” general manager Mike Rizzo said earlier this month. “It was a step forward, and more importantly, our young players made progress. … (But) our goal is never to win 71 games. Our goal is to win a division, to win a world championship. And I feel that we took a step in the right direction last year toward doing that.”

How then does a team take the next step? How does a 71-win team become a winning team?

“We’re going to try and facilitate another roster that allows us to take another step forward and get into the action with a terrific division that we have to deal with,” Rizzo said. “We understand the challenges in front of us, and I think we’re a capable group. You’ve seen in the past what we’ve done, and I think that we’re going to be able to do it in the future.”

Josiah Gray and CJ Abrams turned their breakthrough seasons into some extra cash.

Gray and Abrams were among the 101 major leaguers who qualified for the league’s pre-arbitration bonus pool this year, which was designed to reward the sport’s best young players for their performances.

Gray was awarded a $311,171 bonus, with Abrams getting $297,023, according to figures published by the Associated Press. Gray’s official 2023 salary was $730,000, bringing his total earnings for the year to $1,041,171. Abrams’ official salary was $724,200, bringing his total earnings to $1,021,223.

As part of its new collective bargaining agreement with the MLB Players’ Association, MLB agreed to set aside $50 million toward a new bonus pool that would be dispersed among players who don’t yet have the three years of service time required to qualify for salary arbitration. The highest bonuses went to any such players who finished in the top five in voting for the MVP, Cy Young or Rookie of the Year awards or were named to the All-MLB first or second teams.

Whatever money remained after that was divided up among the other players according to a WAR formula.

What was the most astounding stat about the 2023 Nationals? How about the fact they only used eight starting pitchers the entire season?

That represented the second-lowest total in the majors (only the Blue Jays were better) and matched the club record for fewest starters used in a single season (previously set in 2012 and 2014).

Fewer starters, unfortunately, didn’t mean better starting pitching. The Nats rotation still ranked 25th in the majors in ERA (5.02), WHIP (1.501) and strikeouts (702). Improvement remains paramount.

But the Nationals still could take pride in their ability to keep just about everyone in their rotation healthy. Josiah Gray, Patrick Corbin and Trevor Williams each made 30-plus starts. MacKenzie Gore made 27 starts before a blister on his finger ended his season a couple weeks early. Jake Irvin joined the group in early May and never lost his spot. All of that allowed the team to overcome a lost year for Cade Cavalli, who tore his elbow ligament during spring training.

With Cavalli on target to return in June, the Nats should enter 2024 feeling good about the health of their rotation. They also should enter the new year fully aware the odds of duplicating their good luck are minimal.

As the final shopping week before Christmas arrives, we’re left wondering if the Nationals intend to make any more purchases in the coming days, or if they’re content to wait until after the holidays.

To date, they’ve addressed their short-term need at third base (Nick Senzel) and their need for bullpen depth (Dylan Floro). That still leaves first base, left field and the back of the rotation to be addressed.

Like third base, the Nats figure to treat left field and the back of the rotation as short-term fixes as well, knowing they’ve got top prospects knocking on the door at all three of those positions (Brady House, James Wood, a healthy Cade Cavalli). But the situation at first base isn’t as clear-cut.

The Nationals don’t have an obvious long-term first baseman in their farm system. Of course, first basemen often come from some other position, so it’s not necessarily a problem they don’t already have somebody in the minors targeted for that spot.

But where does that leave them right now? If they wanted to make a multi-year commitment, they certainly could. The problem: The notable free agents who fit that bill (Cody Bellinger, Rhys Hoskins) aren’t cheap. The Nats have been in touch with Hoskins, according to a source familiar with the discussions, but aren’t likely to get into a bidding war for the 30-year-old former Phillie, who missed all of this season with a torn ACL.

Sleep is precious for Lane Thomas these days, with a newborn son at home. So when he woke up one morning last week, checked his phone and saw he had missed a 12:30 a.m. call from Nick Senzel, he was incredulous at first.

“I called him back and was like: ‘Dude, I go to sleep at 9 with a child. What were you calling me at 12:30 for?’” Thomas recalled. “And he said: ‘I’m a Nat!’”

Thus did Thomas and Senzel become teammates, and not for the first time.

Flash back two decades to a youth field in Knoxville, Tenn., and there you find a travel ball team of 7- and 8-year-olds starring a couple of kids named Nick Senzel and Lane Thomas. Being 7-year-olds who didn’t know any better, they absolutely would’ve believed they’d someday not only both be major leaguers, but teammates for the Nationals (a team that didn’t even exist at the time, by the way).

As they got older, that dream scenario faded. Who really thinks like that once they have just a little bit of life perspective?

A very pleasant good morning to you, wherever you may be!

After a slow start to the offseason, the Nationals have started to make some news in recent days, signing Nick Senzel to play third base and Dylan Floro to deepen their bullpen. There remain several more positions of need, of course, with first base, left field and rotation depth very much on Mike Rizzo's shopping list as we arrive at mid-December.

What topics are on your mind this morning? If you have a question, you can submit it in the comments section below and then check back for my responses. (Public Service Announcement: If you've been unable to see comments on this site, try clicking on the "Accept Cookies" button at the bottom left of the screen. That should solve the problem.) ...

Dylan Floro has heard the explanations, seen the analytics, understands why there’s ample evidence his performance in 2023 was better than the final stats suggest.

He also knows the stats tell the truth about how he pitched this season.

“It wasn’t a good year for me, I know that,” the veteran reliever said Wednesday during an introductory Zoom call with Nationals reporters. “I mean, I had some bad luck, people said, but at the end of the day I’m the one pitching. I’ve just got to figure out a way to get it done, and I know coming back this year, I’m feeling good.”

From 2018-22, Floro enjoyed fairly consistent success for the Reds, Dodgers and Marlins, sporting a 2.96 ERA and 1.219 WHIP over 253 appearances. Then came the 2023 season, which he split between the Marlins and Twins and finished with an uncharacteristic 4.76 ERA and 1.535 WHIP across 62 games.

The Nationals, who signed the 32-year-old right-hander for $2.25 million plus incentives, are hoping for a bounceback performance, citing some peripheral numbers that suggest he was the victim of bad luck. His FIP was a solid 2.96 (same as his actual ERA over the previous five seasons), his home run and walk rates were virtually unchanged and his strikeout rate actually increased. Hitters actually barreled up far fewer balls than in the past.

If you missed the news late Tuesday afternoon, the Nationals announced three transactions. One of them (the signing of third baseman Nick Senzel for $2 million plus incentives) was no surprise, having previously been reported. One of them (the signing of reliever Dylan Floro for $2.25 million plus incentives) was unexpected, because nobody had previously reported anything about him and the Nats. And one of them (the designating of infielder Jeter Downs) wasn’t previously known but wasn’t particularly surprising, given his performance and standing within the organization.

We are scheduled to hear from both Senzel and Floro this afternoon, so be sure to check back for their reaction to signing with the Nationals. In the meantime, some more thoughts on the news …

* I wrote Tuesday morning the Nats were interested in adding some relief help, specifically seeking to close the obvious gap between their so-called “A bullpen” and “B bullpen.” I wish I could claim I knew what was coming only hours later, but I can’t make that claim in good conscience. I had no idea anything was actually in the works and that close to happening.

The Floro signing, though, really does achieve exactly what Mike Rizzo and Davey Martinez were talking about last week at the Winter Meetings in Nashville. They didn’t need another option to close games (though Floro does have 32 big-league saves on his resume). But they did need another reliever with successful experience pitching late innings in close ballgames. And Floro absolutely fits that description.

Of the 334 innings he’s pitched in the majors, 100 2/3 of them have come in the eighth inning. Another 72 1/3 have come in the ninth inning. And another 59 2/3 of them have come in the seventh inning. His ERA across those innings is 3.60.

The Nationals officially announced last week’s signing of third baseman Nick Senzel this afternoon, then added another signing for good measure: veteran reliever Dylan Floro.

Both Senzel and Floro have officially signed one-year deals, Senzel’s worth $2 million plus incentives and Floro’s worth $2.25 million plus incentives, sources familiar with the terms confirmed. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal was first to report Floro’s salary.

Needing to clear one spot on their 40-man roster in order to announce these moves, the Nats designated infielder Jeter Downs for assignment.

Senzel, who came to terms on his contract last week as the Winter Meetings wrapped up, is expected to start at third base for the Nationals, hoping to finally realize the potential that made him the No. 2 overall pick in the 2016 Draft by the Reds. Even if he does, he’s still viewed as a stop-gap at third until top prospect Brady House (who finished this season at Double-A Harrisburg) is ready to debut.

The Floro signing, which just came together in recent days, gives the Nats something they suggested last week they were seeking: Bullpen depth to help take some workload off top late-inning arms Kyle Finnegan and Hunter Harvey.

The high point of the 2023 season for the Nationals undoubtedly came in August. Specifically, a 22-game stretch from Aug. 2-26 that saw the team go 16-6 and start catching the attention of the rest of the league, which had all but ignored this organization the entire season to that point.

The remarkable thing about that stretch? The Nats didn’t dominate the opposition. The combined score of those games was 106-104. They just found a way to win the late innings, whether rallying to score the go-ahead run or preventing the other team from doing so. The result: They went 8-1 in one-run games during that period.

It requires outstanding bullpen work to do that, and the Nationals got outstanding work from four relievers in particular who were trusted by manager Davey Martinez to pitch the final innings of close games: Kyle Finnegan, Hunter Harvey, Jordan Weems and Andres Machado.

Collectively, those four guys made 43 appearances in those 22 games, totaling 40 2/3 innings. They delivered a 1.55 ERA, 1.057 WHIP and 10 saves (nine from Finnegan, one from Harvey).

The Nationals won all 13 games Finnegan pitched. They won 11-of-12 games Weems pitched and 6-of-7 games Harvey pitched after returning from the injured list mid-month.

Danny Haas believes it happened in Battle Creek, Mich., in the late 1990s, when he was an 18th-round draft pick of the Red Sox playing outfield in low Single-A and Mike Rizzo (a Midwest scout for the Red Sox at the time) was in town looking at some of the organization’s higher-rated prospects.

“He was there with his son,” Haas recalls, “and I gave him some bats and balls.”

And what did Rizzo think of him as a ballplayer?

“I hope he thinks I’m a better scout than I was a player,” Haas said with a laugh.

Yes, he does. Rizzo doesn’t really remember much about Haas’ playing abilities. He does have an incredibly strong opinion of his evaluation skills, which is why he recently hired him to be the Nationals’ new vice president of amateur scouting.

Spend a few minutes listening to Nasim Nuñez talk over the phone, and you quickly realize the Nationals’ Rule 5 Draft pick doesn’t fit nicely into a traditional ballplayer persona.

He’s 23 years old, born in the Bronx but raised outside Atlanta, touted as an elite defensive shortstop and baserunner who hasn’t shown a consistent ability to hit as a professional but has shown the plate discipline of a far more experienced and accomplished hitter. Oh, and he was MVP of this summer’s All-Star Futures Game.

He’s clearly confident in himself, but he’s trying not to get too worked up about the opportunity the Nationals have suddenly presented him: To spend the entire 2024 season in the majors after producing an admittedly weak .627 OPS this year for the Marlins’ Double-A affiliate.

“It was bittersweet,” Nuñez said of learning the Nats had taken him in Wednesday’s Rule 5 Draft. “Coming up through the Marlins organization, I created so many bonds with my teammates, the coaches and even the medical staff and everybody else that was there. So it was kind of a wave of emotions, of not wanting to leave but knowing there’s an opportunity out there for me to pursue my dreams.”

This is not a player who should be big-league-ready, at least not as a hitter. But the Nationals were willing to take a shot at Nuñez, rated by one entity as Miami’s No. 6 prospect, believing they can use him enough off the bench as a pinch-runner and defensive replacement to justify keeping him on the roster all season.

The Nationals’ first major league free agent signing feels a lot like one of their major league free agent signings from a year ago.

Nick Senzel might as well be Dominic Smith. Not necessarily in his playing profile, but certainly in his career situation.

Smith was a 27-year-old first baseman who was once a Mets first-round pick but was non-tendered after failing to live up to his full potential, ultimately signing with the Nats for $2 million plus another year of club control.

Senzel is a 28-year-old third baseman who was once a Reds first-round pick but was non-tendered after failing to live up to his full potential, ultimately signing with the Nats for $2 million plus another year of club control.

We all know how the Smith acquisition worked out. Though he played a smooth first base and was well-liked in the clubhouse, he didn’t hit nearly enough for his position and thus was cut loose after one season.

From almost the moment he first set foot in the Nationals clubhouse in May 2018, Juan Soto was asked from time to time whether he liked playing in Washington, whether he could see himself staying in Washington for many years, whether he ever thought about playing somewhere else like … oh, New York.

And Soto’s answer was always consistent.

“For me, this is the team I’ve been with since, what, 2015?” he said one morning standing in front of his locker, referencing the year he first signed with the organization as a teenager from Santo Domingo. “I’ve been with this team, and I feel good with it. When I get to know the city more, it feels great. Why should I need to change?”

Soto provided that particular answer on July 16, 2022. Two weeks later, he was traded to the Padres.

And now, remarkably, he has been traded again, this time to the Yankees.

The Winter Meetings officially ended Wednesday. The Nationals stuck around Nashville a bit longer and went home with their first major-league free agent signing of the offseason.

The Nats signed former Reds utilityman Nick Senzel for $2 million (plus $1 million in incentives) overnight, a source familiar with the deal confirmed. This came shortly after Cincinnati signed former Nats third baseman Jeimer Candelario for a reported three years and $45 million.

Senzel, 28, was non-tendered by the Reds last month after a second straight disappointing season, during which he batted .236/.297/.399 with 13 homers and 42 RBIs in 104 games. His defensive versatility, though, remains a strength.

Senzel has played center field, third base, second base, left field and right field during his five-year career. The Nationals could use help at several of those positions in the short-term, so it’s possible they’ll have him move around the field depending on their needs on any given day, though a club source said the initial intention is to play him primarily at third base as the organization waits for top prospect Brady House to reach the majors.

The second-overall pick in the 2016 Draft out of Tennessee, Senzel came to the Reds with high hopes of becoming a star. It didn’t happen. After a solid rookie season in 2019, he missed significant time in 2020 and 2021 with injuries, then struggled in both 2022 and 2023 after returning healthy.

NASHVILLE – After making it through the entire 2023 season with a Rule 5-drafted pitcher on their major league roster, the Nationals will attempt to do the same with a position player in 2024.

The Nats selected Marlins shortstop Nasim Nuñez with the fifth-overall pick in this afternoon’s Rule 5 Draft, hoping the speedy, defensively gifted, 23-year-old can contribute enough next season to stick and perhaps someday develop into a permanent big leaguer.

Nuñez, who was set to be rated Miami’s No. 6 prospect by Baseball America, is an “elite” defensive shortstop and baserunner who draws walks at a high rate but has yet to hit consistently in the minors. The Nationals understand he’s not ready to play regularly in the majors, but they believe he provides enough skills in specific areas to give him a shot to stay on the roster the entire 2024 season.

“It’s going to be a challenge, because obviously he’s not going to get a lot of at-bats at the big-league level,” general manager Mike Rizzo said. “But I think with the coaching staff we have right now, and with the reps he will get other than gametime reps, I think we can really iron out some mechanical issues. … And I think he gives (manager Davey Martinez) an option off the bench: a defensive replacement, elite defensive skills and a baserunner. A guy that can help us win games at the big-league level.”

A second-round pick of the Marlins in 2019 out of Collins Hill High School in Suwanee, Ga., Nuñez progressed his way up the minor-league ladder and the organizational prospects list thanks to his legs, his glove and his eyes. He has stolen 183 bases in 351 professional games, including 52 this season at Double-A Pensacola. He is a strong-armed shortstop who was rated Miami’s best defensive infielder by Baseball America. He also has shown an unusual patience at the plate for a player of his age, ranking fourth among all Double-A players this year with 87 walks.

NASHVILLE – For more than a decade, the Nationals essentially sat out the Rule 5 Draft.

From 2011-21, they didn’t select a single player in the major league portion of the event that annually closes the Winter Meetings. The thinking: A team that expected to contend each season probably couldn’t afford to use a big league roster spot on a player who wasn’t actually big-league-ready.

That all changed last winter, when a Nats club that lost 107 games now owned the No. 1 pick in the Rule 5 Draft and felt it could afford to take a flier on somebody. The team selected right-hander Thaddeus Ward away from the Red Sox and then hoped for the best from a guy who had pitched some at Double-A the previous season after returning from Tommy John surgery.

It’s hard at this point to call Ward a success story. He pitched in 26 games for the Nationals, all in relief, sported an inflated 6.37 ERA and 1.613 WHIP, all while issuing more than seven walks per nine innings.

But Ward did stick on the major league roster the entire season, even if that included 2 1/2 months on the injured list with shoulder inflammation. And so, the Nats having fulfilled Rule 5 requirements, retain his rights and now have the ability to option him to the minors in 2024 to get him more seasoning.

NASHVILLE – One year ago, Mike Rizzo sat on a makeshift TV set in San Diego and legitimately sweated out the final moments of the brand-new MLB Draft Lottery, in the end accepting the No. 2 pick after the Pirates won the No. 1 choice.

The tension wasn’t nearly as thick tonight for this year’s lottery. Rizzo wasn’t even in the room when the Nationals, who went into the event knowing they couldn’t pick any better than 10th, found out that’s exactly where they’ll pick next summer.

Despite finishing with the league’s fifth-worst record at 71-91, the Nats were ineligible for the lottery thanks to its convoluted rules.

The lottery fine print states that any team that pays (as opposed to receives) revenue sharing dollars cannot be selected in consecutive draft lotteries. So that knocked the Nationals out of the mix for a top-nine pick this year, and all but guaranteed they’d land the No. 10 pick. Their only other potential outcome would’ve been a drop to No. 11, something that only could’ve happened if all four teams that had a worse record in 2023 (the Athletics, Royals, Rockies and White Sox) lost the lottery.

That didn’t happen. Even though the Guardians and Reds surprisingly snagged the top two picks despite low odds, the Rockies, A’s, White Sox and Royals checked in with the third through sixth picks, locking the Nats in at No. 10.