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.) ...

More than two months have passed since the Orioles lost to the Rangers in the Division Series. The first sweep by an opponent since May 2022. The finality knocking the sounds out of the visiting clubhouse at Globe Life Field, leaving players sitting in silence at their lockers.

The hurt lessens for some but the mind can’t forget.

“It hasn't eased for me,” manager Brandon Hyde said at the Winter Meetings.

“I think that there's a lot of disappointment. And I'm really proud of our season, I don't want to take that for granted. To win our division, to win over a hundred games, to have the individual performances and team performances that we had, it says a lot about our roster and our guys and how we have some really good players. But you do that and then you fall short like we did, that takes a while to go away. So, it hasn't gone away for me yet.”

Executive vice president/general manager Mike Elias called the sweep “a gut punch” during one his media sessions in Nashville.

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.

Now that he has moved from the American League to the National League, if Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Dodgers wins an MVP award while wearing Dodger blue, he will join the one and only one player in baseball history to have won MVP awards in both leagues.

That player is former Oriole Frank Robinson, who won the NL MVP with Cincinnati in 1961 and the AL award in his first year with the Orioles in 1966 when he both hit for the Triple Crown and led the Orioles to their first World Series championship.

But oddsmakers say Ohtani is not the favorite for the 2024 NL MVP. Atlanta outfielder Ronald Acuna Jr., the 2023 winner, is. SportsBetting.ag released early MVP odds on Wednesday and listed Acuna at 3-1 and Ohtani at 6-1 to win in the NL. Ohtani and his two new teammates are the second, third and fourth betting favorites. Mookie Betts is at 7-1 with the Dodgers Freddie Freeman at 9-1.

In 2023, Acuna produced the first 40-70 season in MLB history. He hit .337/.416/.596/1.012 with 41 homers, 73 steals, 149 runs and 106 RBIs.

Ohtani won the AL MVP honor this year while with the Angels and it was the first time both winners were unanimously selected. Each got all 30 first-place votes. Acuna is the first player born in Venezuela to win the NL award. Two other Venezuelan-born players were winners in the AL, Miguel Cabrera (2012-13) and Jose Altuve (2017).

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 Washington Nationals are providing some extra cheer this holiday season with 12 DAYS OF NATITUDE, the largest single-game ticket launch in club history. More than $40,000 worth of prizes, including memorabilia and exclusive access, are up for grabs now through December 23 for fans who purchase tickets to any 2024 Nationals home game. Tickets for all games, including Opening Day, are on sale now for Nationals Fan Club members and go on sale to the general public tomorrow.

With 10 prizes given out each day throughout the sweepstakes, fans who purchase tickets to any 2024 games during 12 DAYS OF NATITUDE will have plenty of chances to win autographed baseballs, bats and jerseys, and other specialty items. Each day features a special grand prize, including exclusive experiences with Nationals manager Davey Martinez and players like Lane Thomas and Stone Garrett, an all-inclusive luxury suite experience for 16, and more. Prizes will be unveiled throughout the sweepstakes at nats.com/12Days.

Single-game tickets go on sale to the general public Wednesday, Dec. 13, while Nationals Fan Club members can purchase single-game tickets beginning today. Fans who purchase tickets to any 2024 games during 12 DAYS OF NATITUDE are automatically entered into the sweepstakes and are eligible to win that day’s prize or any of the following day’s prizes. A complete list of rules is available at nats.com/12DaysRules, and tickets can be purchased at nats.com/12Days.

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.

Hey, O’s fans look at it this way – the O’s Opening Day opponent just became a weaker team. The O’s host the Los Angeles Angels on March 28 to start a new season. And look at it this way – Shohei Ohtani is not coming to the American League East.

Juan Soto is headed our way, but Ohtani is not after agreeing to a staggering deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers for 10 years and $700 million.

When free agency began it was thought Ohtani’s deal might start with a five in front of it. But not a six, right? Well right, it was not a six.

While we wait to find out if this deal does indeed include a massive amount of deferred money, the $70 million dollar average annual value tops the Oakland Athletics entire season payroll for 2023 of $62.2 million per Sportrac. The Orioles, per that outlet, were at $71.1 million for last season.

Ohtani’s deal is such a whopper it doubles the combined totals of the previous two biggest MLB free agent contracts which were the Aaron Judge deal last year of nine years for $360 million and Bryce Harper’s Phillies deal of 13 years for $330 million.

The Nationals almost left the Winter Meetings at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center in Nashville without a major league signing.

On Wednesday, the last official day of the meetings, they added infielder Nasim Nuñez through the Rule 5 Draft and signed first baseman/outfielder Juan Yepez to a minor league deal.

But in the wee hours of Thursday morning, before the Nationals braintrust left for the Nashville airport, they finally made one major addition by signing former Reds utilityman Nick Senzel to a $2 million contract that includes an extra $1 million in incentives.

Parallels have already been drawn from this signing to the addition of Dominic Smith last offseason.

They both were former first-round picks: Smith out of high school by the Mets in 2013 and Senzel out of the University of Tennessee by the Reds in 2016. Both were non-tendered by their respective clubs after not realizing their full potential and then signed with the Nats for $2 million with another year of club control.

The first post-Winter Meetings mailbag is here. It got lost at the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center.

We sent out a search party and found it. Employees had wrapped it in lights and covered it with poinsettias. Families were posing with it for their holiday cards.

One intoxicated baseball fan tried to buy it a drink. Another took it for a boat ride below the Delta ballroom and tried to dump it like a mafia body.

You’re about to read the latest sequel to the beloved 2008 original. In all its glory.

I’ll admit to a little editing in this mailbag. I deleted a space between the last letter in a sentence and the punctuation mark.

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.

Four days in Nashville for baseball’s Winter Meetings allowed media to gather and sometimes break news, like the app downloaded on phones to provide assistance in getting around the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center without taking a wrong turn every 30 seconds, slipping into panic mode and remembering that airport security confiscated my flare gun.

It was the most important discovery of the week. Bigger than the Juan Soto trade talks.

That place is the North Pole at Christmas if José Canseco bought it.

I boarded my flight on Sunday morning filled with questions, which I shared with readers, and wanted to check back for any resolutions. Don't stop me if you've heard these before.

Is there interest in Japanese right-hander Naoyuki Uwasawa?

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.