It's been three weeks since our last Q&A, and I'd like to say a lot has happened since then. That, of course, would be a lie. The Nationals have made no consequential news since mid-December, and though one of these days they're going to do something, that day hasn't come yet. (Watch them announce a big move this morning while we're in the middle of the Q&A!)

But press on we must, and that means another chance for you to pose whatever questions you have on the Nats. Be creative. Come up with something different. The way this offseason has gone so far, there's nothing to lose!

Submit your questions in the comments section below, then check back throughout the morning for my responses ...

The Orioles have made the following roster move:

• Signed undrafted free agent RHP Dominic Freeberger to a minor league contract.

Pick any lineup the Nationals fielded in September out of a hat, and you’re guaranteed to find the names of several players who have received scant attention around here all winter.

Jake Alu. Alex Call. Carter Kieboom. Ildemaro Vargas. Jacob Young.

Every single lineup card Davey Martinez filled out in September included at least two of those players. Many of them included three, or even four of them.

They received some of the most regular playing time on the roster late last season, and they’re all still part of the 40-man roster. But who – if anyone – is actually in the Nats’ 2024 plan?

If the rest of the winter plays out as expected, none should be in line to start Opening Day. And only a couple or three of them should even wind up on the Opening Day bench.

As they sought reasons for optimism one year ago, the Nationals knew they could point to the development of their young players, the potential bounce-back performances of some veterans and improved defense (especially around the infield).

They also hoped Major League Baseball’s new schedule format would make a positive difference.

The 2022 Nats were bad at everything, but they were especially bad at beating their division rivals. They finished an atrocious 17-59 against the NL East, a .224 winning percentage that was the worst by any big-league club since division play began in 1969.

Ah, but in 2023 the schedule underwent its most dramatic makeover since interleague play debuted in 1997. For the first time in baseball history, every NL team would play every AL team in at least one three-game series.

The domino effect of that increase in interleague play: A dramatic drop in intra division games, from 76 (19 vs. each opponent) to 52 (13 vs. each opponent). And boy did the Nationals benefit from that.

On his way to recording 417 saves – the eighth-most in MLB history – with a chance this year to move to fourth on the list, new O’s closer Craig Kimbrel has featured a most unusual set-up out of the stretch position.

Bent over at the waist, his right arm dangles out to the right and there is a bit of a stare-down before each pitch. When Kimbrel talked to O’s reporters early last month, he discussed how he got to that pre-pitch routine, also hinting it could change at times next season.

“It’s pretty simple,” Kimbrel said on an O’s video call with media. “There was never really much behind it. I’ve always leaned over, but my arm for a long time was behind my back. In growing up and going from being a young kid playing the game to an older man playing the game, my arm just wasn’t going behind my back anymore. So, I started to let it hang and it kind of transformed into something that I would use to lock in. To say, ‘OK, It’s time to go.’ The fun, the happy, the joking, the loving Craig we get for most of the day, it’s time for him to get serious and to focus. It was a tool I was able to use over the years to really lock in pitch-to-pitch.

“You know I have a couple of ideas this year to try to work with that with the new rules of the game – the pitch clock and windup and things. The game is changing, so I need to change a little bit. Kind of excited this spring to try and make that work. The game is forever changing and if we don’t keep up with that, we’ll be left behind. It’s something I’ve done for a long, long time and something I will continue to do, but I think this year we might see something a little quicker and a little better.”

It will be interesting to see how that plays out. The biggest concern for the team will be, of course, not how he looks in throwing the ball but what happens after he lets it go.

When the calendar shifted from 2022 to 2023 one year ago, the Nationals had already addressed two of their stated needs, signing a third baseman (Jeimer Candelario) and a No. 5 starter (Trevor Williams). They still needed a left fielder and a first baseman (or designated hitter), and they proceeded to address both of those needs within the first 10 days of January, first signing Dominic Smith to play first base and then signing Corey Dickerson to play left field.

As the calendar now shifts from 2023 to 2024, the Nationals have already addressed two of their stated needs, signing a third baseman (Nick Senzel) and a veteran late-inning reliever (Dylan Floro). They still need a left fielder and a first baseman (or designated hitter). And maybe a No. 5 starter.

Anybody ever experienced déjà vu?

Yeah, there’s a very familiar pattern playing out here this winter. Only Mike Rizzo knows whether that’s legitimately by design or pure coincidence. But the similarities are impossible to ignore.

The Nats do have more promising pieces already in place than they did a year ago, feeling more secure about their catcher, their shortstop, their right fielder, two (or maybe three) of their starting pitchers and multiple relievers. And they know the most promising pieces are close to joining the party sometime before the year is up.

The Orioles haven’t announced their non-roster invites to major league spring training, but it must be on this month’s agenda. A list that can be updated later depending on future transactions.

They didn’t need to protect Jackson Holliday, Connor Norby and Coby Mayo in the Rule 5 draft, with the latter two eligible next winter. All three could be added to the 40-man roster this year to eliminate that task.

They were camp invites last year, with no chance of heading north for Opening Day. Holliday seems to have the best shot this spring despite his age and limited experience at Triple-A Norfolk. Norby and Mayo are waiting for their opportunities and hopeful that the Orioles can make room.

Norby is a second baseman with some corner outfield starts. Mayo is a corner infielder who appears blocked by Gunnar Henderson, Jordan Westburg and others at third base and Ryan Mountcastle and Ryan O’Hearn at first.

Mayo also will be working out in right field, a new position for him. Can’t hurt to try it and maybe provide another way to get him on the roster.

There was a time, and Orioles fans don’t have to go far back to remember it, when the Boston Red Sox response to 78 wins and a last-place finish, would have been to spend money. And then spend more.

Throw dollars at their problems. And sometimes that worked.

But recent moves by that team make this look like very different times in Beantown. Rather than sign a top free-agent pitcher like Blake Snell or Jordan Montgomery (and they still could of course), the Sox recently agreed to a two-year deal with right-hander Lucas Giolito for $38.5 million. A nearly $20 million dollar salary for a pitcher who had a terrible ending to his 2023 season and allowed 41 homers over the season.

That was followed a day or two later by a trade of lefty Chris Sale for young infielder Vaughn Grissom. A deal where Boston sends $17 million to Atlanta to complete the trade.

Now Sale is no longer anywhere near the pitcher he once was. He’s dealt with numerous injuries for a while now. But while Giolito ended the ’23 season pitching terribly, Sale posted an ERA of 3.92 his last nine starts of the season with 54 strikeouts over 43 2/3. In addition, he gave up just a .203 batting average against and .667 OPS against in that time. It had to give Atlanta hope he still has something left in the tank for next season.

Happy New Year to everybody out there. With 2023 officially behind us, it’s time to look ahead to 2024. (My references to “last season” and “this season” will officially change as well.)

It was an encouraging year in many ways for the Nationals, though not nearly enough ways to leave everyone satisfied. The good news: There’s plenty to hope for in the new year, with a lot of potentially positive developments on the horizon.

With that in mind, let’s run through some reasonably optimistic outlooks for 2024 for the following notable parties …

KEIBERT RUIZ: A continuation of what he did in the second half at the plate, and some major improvement behind the plate.

JOEY MENESES: A chance to play first base on a regular basis and – with a healthy knee – a return of the power stroke he showed off during his out-of-nowhere rookie season.

The memory still makes Tom Flynn laugh. The sound rings in his ears like the ones created each time that Coby Mayo smacked another baseball.

Mayo was an 8-year-old hitter on his Little League team in South Florida. The Spanish-speaking players in the Latino community would affectionately bark out his nickname after another home run.

“Coby always had a lot of pop in his bat and they used to call him ‘The Hammer.’ ‘El Martillo,’” Flynn said last week.

“They called him that all through Little League. And he had a different stance, too. He used to lean back with his front leg real straight and long, and just turn on balls and explode on them. ‘El Martillo!’”

Flynn goes back much further with Mayo, the Orioles’ fourth-round draft pick in 2020. Mayo was 4 and a preschool classmate of Flynn’s son, Colin. They played travel ball together and were high school teammates.

As the calendar year 2023 comes to an end today, we can reflect on what a special year it was for the Baltimore Orioles and their fans. It was a year they returned to the playoffs, they returned to the top of the AL East and they returned to a club that won 100-plus games.

The Orioles finished 101-61 to hold off the Tampa Bay Rays by two games to win their 10^th AL East championship. Their 101 wins were the most in the American League and second in the majors, behind Atlanta, which won 104.

The season ended with a three-game sweep by the Texas Rangers in the AL Division Series. But what a ride it was until the season came crashing down with a 7-1 loss Oct. 10 in Arlington, Tex.

It was a year where:

* The Orioles recorded their sixth all-time season with 100 or more wins and came up with their most since 1980.

We’ve reached the final week of the year, so it’s time to look back at the Nationals’ most significant stories of 2023. We conclude the series today with the development of several key young players at both the major- and minor-league levels …

The Nationals won 71 games this year, and they happily accepted the praise that came with the 16-game improvement that represented from the previous year. But at no point during the season did anyone in a position of power within the organization believe the team’s final record would be the best indicator of their success or failure. The best indicator: How many of their young cornerstone players took a step forward and further established themselves as part of the long-term plan.

In that regard, the most important development of 2023 wasn’t the 71-91 record. It was the development of CJ Abrams into a dynamic leadoff man and capable shortstop. It was the development of Keibert Ruiz into a more selective – and often clutch – hitter. It was the development of Josiah Gray into an All-Star. It was the development of MacKenzie Gore into a potential future ace. And it was the development of several top prospects in the minors who are now poised to make their major-league debuts sometime in 2024: Dylan Crews, James Wood, Brady House and more.

“I think we’re in a good place,” general manager Mike Rizzo said at season’s end. “I like where our young core major leaguers are, and I like the developmental year that the minor leagues had. I think that we’re on track to turn this thing around in the near future.”

None of these players, to be sure, has reached his full potential yet. Each of them still has something significant to improve upon before he truly can be deemed part of the plan. But it’s hard to dispute that each of them did take a step forward in 2023, and that’s why the Nationals are encouraged.

Coby Mayo isn’t bothered or distracted by the passing traffic. By the Orioles prospects in the fast lane and the attention that's tailgating them.

Prior to the farm system’s rise to a No. 1 ranking, Mayo would have been the center of attention and recipient of the organization’s top player award. Rarely is a hitter ignored who slashes .290/.410/.564 at the two highest levels with 45 doubles, three triples, 29 home runs and 99 RBIs in 140 games.

No one had more doubles, homers or RBIs or a higher slugging percentage and OPS, and his 93 walks ranked second behind Jackson Holliday, who won the award and is the top prospect in baseball.

Holliday could make the team out of spring training despite turning 20 this month and appearing in only 18 regular season games with Triple-A Norfolk. Mayo is 22 and he played in 62, but he’s likely to return until a spot opens for him.

Patience and understanding are two other tools that rate highly on any scale.

We’ve reached the final week of the year, so it’s time to look back at the Nationals’ most significant stories of 2023. We continue the series today with the organization’s decision to re-sign Mike Rizzo and Davey Martinez but make changes to each man’s staff …

The question loomed over both Mike Rizzo and Davey Martinez’s heads all season. Such is life in the final year of a contract. And such has been the norm for both the Nationals general manager and manager since arriving in town.

“It’s not the first time, won’t be the last time, I’m on a lame-duck contract,” Rizzo said in February.

No, Rizzo and Martinez had been in this several times before, and each time emerged with a new deal. Though not without first having to sweat it out until it became a more-pressing matter for Nats ownership.

In this instance, though, the resolution came earlier than expected. Martinez signed his new two-year extension (plus a third-year club option) on Aug. 21, six weeks before season’s end. Rizzo’s took a bit longer to finalize but still got done Sept. 13, with time to spare.

We’ve reached the final week of the year, so it’s time to look back at the Nationals’ most significant stories of 2023. We continue the series today with sad news that came just before the start of spring training: Ted Lerner’s death …

Ted Lerner was born Oct. 15, 1925, the same day the Washington Senators lost Game 7 of the World Series to the Pittsburgh Pirates. He would spend the next 94 years waiting to see a major-league ballclub from D.C. win the ultimate game.

Lerner was a smart and successful businessman, to be sure. He founded Lerner Enterprises in 1952 off a $250 loan from his wife, Annette, and built it into the largest private real estate company in the region. But his passion was baseball, and when the opportunity finally came for him to purchase the Nationals at 80, he didn’t hesitate to write the check for $450 million to Major League Baseball.

Lerner spent the next 13 years trying to build a championship franchise. It wasn’t always smooth, and mistakes were made along the way. But on Oct. 30, 2019, he stood on a makeshift stage near second base at Minute Maid Park in Houston and accepted the Commissioner’s Trophy from Rob Manfred, his lifelong dream realized at last.

“They say good things come to those who wait,” he said at the Nats’ victory parade that weekend. “Ninety-five years is a pretty long wait. But I’ll tell you, this is worth the wait.”

We’ve reached the final week of the year, so it’s time to look back at the Nationals’ most significant stories of 2023. We continue the series today with perhaps the most significant player acquisition of 2023: Dylan Crews …

Five times in club history, the Nationals have owned one of the top five picks in the MLB Draft. The first three times they held such a pick, they emerged with some of the most important players in D.C. baseball history: Ryan Zimmerman, Stephen Strasburg, Bryce Harper. The fourth time, they took a shot at a raw-but-gifted athlete whose ultimate fate won’t be known for years: Elijah Green.

And the fifth time? Well, it’ll also be a while until we know the true answer. But based on the early returns, it’s hard not to get immensely excited about Dylan Crews.

“He’s won every award that you can possibly win,” general manager Mike Rizzo said on draft night in July. “He’s been the best player on the best team in the country. And I think when you talk to him and watch him, this is only the beginning.”

The Nationals certainly are banking on that. Crews arrived with as impressive a resume as there was coming out of college: the Golden Spikes Award winner, a national championship at LSU and a jaw-dropping stat line in 71 amateur games this season (.426 batting average, 18 homers, 70 RBIs, .567 on-base percentage, 1.280 OPS).

To find the last position player acquired by the Orioles, you’d have to go back to Dec. 1 with the signing of Cuban outfielder Jordan Sánchez to a reported bonus in the range of $400,000-$450,000.

MLB reporter Francys Romero had the Orioles finalizing the deal back on Oct. 26, pending the completion of a physical. Sánchez, 18, left Cuba in July 2023 and is headed to the Dominican Summer League.

To find the last major league position player, you’d have to go back to Nov. 1 with the waiver claim of outfielder Sam Hilliard from the Braves. He remains on the 40-man roster.

Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias left open the possibility at the Winter Meetings of bringing in another outfielder, but he also noted the internal options who could replace free agent Aaron Hicks.

“I think there’s some interesting guys there,” Elias said, “and we’re probably going to get somebody who pops out of that group and is able to step into those shoes.”

We’ve reached the final week of the year, so it’s time to look back at the Nationals’ most significant stories of 2023. We continue the series today with the inevitable (though still not official) end of Stephen Strasburg’s career …

As a new crop of Nationals players embarked on a new year in West Palm Beach some 10 months ago, it was impossible to ignore the elephant in the room. More specifically, the prominently located locker that still bore the same nameplate, number and uniform it did when the franchise first opened the facility in 2017.

The only thing missing: The player who has always used that locker.

Stephen Strasburg never reported for spring training. He never reported to the clubhouse at Nationals Park, either, at least not during the times when the entire team (and media members) were there. He was – and still is – technically a part of the team. But he has zero tangible presence anymore after an agonizing year that confirmed what everyone hoped wouldn’t be true: His pitching career is over.

Strasburg made one final attempt to build his body and his arm up for the rigors of major-league pitching last winter. But once he attempted to pitch off a bullpen mound, the nerve pain in his shoulder and arm returned, and that was the sign he and the Nats regrettably knew meant the end of a storied-yet-unsatisfying career.

We’ve reached the final week of the year, so it’s time to look back at the Nationals’ most significant stories of 2023. We continue the series today with the on-field highlight of the season: the team’s extended run of success in July and August …

For 3 1/2 seasons, the Nationals hadn’t enjoyed any kind of sustained run like this.

Yes, there were a couple of fun weeks in June 2021, when Kyle Schwarber seemed to launch a leadoff homer every night and a still-star-laden roster tried to get itself back into the NL East race. But that was fleeting, done in by a spate of injuries (including Schwarber’s torn hamstring) and every other manner of disaster that could befall one team at once.

No, what happened to the Nats late this summer was in many ways more enjoyable, certainly more encouraging because of what it suggested this franchise might be getting close to doing again on a regular basis.

When they took the field July 21 to face the Giants in the opener of a weekend series, the Nationals were 20 games under .500, an afterthought around a sport that had little reason to think about them in quite some time. When they wrapped up a dramatic victory Aug. 26 at Yankee Stadium, they were only eight games under .500, now gained attention throughout the baseball world for their surprise resurgence.

The Orioles had 36 players on their 40-man roster when the Winter Meetings began in Nashville and they made two moves with the free-agent signing of closer Craig Kimbrel and trade with Kansas City for pitcher Jonathan Heasley.

Kimbrel is a veteran of 14 major league seasons and the Orioles are his eighth team. He’s a former Rookie of the Year and a nine-time All-Star. He’s an open book.

Heasley appeared in 36 games with the Royals over the past three seasons, used in relief 12 times in 2023 after his 24 starts in 2021-22. The Orioles announced the trade on Dec. 18, surrendering Dominican Summer League right-hander Cesar Espinal.

How Heasley would be used, how he was viewed, wasn’t included in the press release and must be ascertained later.

Having one minor league option had to increase his appeal with the organization. The bullpen needs the flexibility. And we’re assuming that he’s more likely to work in relief, though he could make the occasional start.