Arbitration filing deadline comes and goes: The Morning Briefing

Our thoughts and prayers remain with the residents of Los Angeles County who are enduring a devastating series of Santa Ana wind-driven wildfires. As an alumnus of Pepperdine University, I am intimately familiar with the area and have seen a number of videos of homes and businesses burning on either side of PCH between Santa Monica and Malibu - it is very sad stuff (we never had a fire of this magnitude when I was a student 2002-2006, let alone five). Tragically, several people have lost their lives, and many others have sustained serious injuries. You can donate to the Red Cross here.

Hopefully, everyone's first full day back in the office didn't involve getting caught up in extra traffic yesterday owing to Jimmy Carter's state funeral. Just remember on your cold commute that pitchers and catchers will report in 33 days to West Palm Beach, FL!

There are only 76 days until Opening Day in Washington, D.C.!

Hi, this is Owen! I am giving Richard a break from the Morning Briefings for a bit. Happy New Year!

Good Friday morning from a still snow-covered Washington, D.C. Here are the latest headlines, news, analysis, and more around the Washington Nationals for Friday, January 10, 2025.

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The Washington Nationals turn 20! Monday, we embarked on a journey through the most thrilling moments in Washington Nationals history over the past 20 years. Kicking off our list at #20 is the momentous day in 2009 when Mike Rizzo was named the team's General Manager. (Do you have a favorite moment from the Washington Nationals from the past 20 years that you think we should spotlight? Tag us with your favorite memory on social media, or leave a comment below!)

ICYMI: Nats Agree to Terms with All but Lowe. Yesterday was the deadline for players and teams to exchange numbers as part of the arbitration process, and the Nats settled with Riley Adams at $850,000, avoiding an arbitration hearing. As that figure is fully guaranteed for the 2025 season (as opposed to being conditional depending on roster status in spring training), Adams - who is out of options - is basically locked in as the backup catcher for the entire season, barring a trade or a DFA.

The Nationals also settled with all of their other arbitration-eligible players (Derek Law, MacKenzie Gore, Luis García Jr., Josiah Gray) with whom they had not yet agreed upon a 2025 salary...except for newly acquired Nathaniel Lowe. Lowe filed at $11.1 million while the Nats filed at $10.3 million, and barring an intervening settlement, the two parties will go to arbitration, a rarity in Nats-land.

The big picture: I would be interested to see how he might perform without Davey Martinez's habitual overuse of primary catcher Keibert Ruiz in the first half (a three-year tradition now, even when Ruiz got sick and supposedly lost 20 pounds in a little over a week last year), which inevitably leads to slow starts for Ruiz and lost timing for Adams (or Drew Millas, when the Nats had the ability to option Adams). A somewhat more equal timeshare might be better for both players.

Step into the FUTURE with the Nats Report. Don't forget to subscribe to our dedicated e-newsletter, theFUTURE, about the Washington Nationals minor leagues. We are the ONLY website with a dedicated newsletter on the Washington Nationals minor leagues. Get game recaps from all the Washington Nationals minor league teams, closer looks at upcoming Washington Nationals Prospects, and more. Subscribe right here and step into theFUTURE with us.."

🤓 Must Read. Get to know the latest Washington Nationals pitching prospect Ivan Armstrong. In yesterday's Rochester Report, Bill looks at the newest pitcher the Nationals signed to a minor league deal, right-hander Ivan Armstrong. "Armstrong is 24 years old and stands six feet five inches tall. When the Angels received Armstrong, they saw him as a possible closer or back-end reliever. Until last season, though, he had struggled with his command and the development of an effective secondary pitch. His main ‘go to’ pitch is a two-seam fastball that he throws in the upper 90s and can reach 100 mph."

🗓 ON THIS DAY: JANUARY 10, 1984. The BBWAA elected Luis Aparicio, Don Drysdale, and Harmon Killebrew to the Hall of Fame. Aparicio was one of the game's earliest stars from Venezuela, a slick-fielding, contact-hitting shortstop for the White Sox, Orioles, and Red Sox (1956-73) who stole over 500 bases, hit safely over 2600 times, and inspired generations of Venezuelans to wear #11 in his honor.

Drysdale (1956-69, all with the Dodgers) was an imposing pitcher who spent much of his career overshadowed by Sandy Koufax, but won the 1962 Cy Young, made nine All-Star teams, and won three championships, just missing the Dodgers' lone Brooklyn title as well by debuting a year too late.

Killebrew (1956-74 with the Senators/Twins, 1975 with the Royals) was a bonus baby who debuted at 18 but didn't get more than sporadic playing time until breaking out at age 23, then promptly ripped off five seasons of 42-49 home runs over the next six years. He wound up clubbing 573 bombs, good for fifth place when he retired (he's now twelfth), although he never hit for high averages (.256 career, but with a very good .376 OBP) and was generally a bad defender wherever managers tried to hide him (third base, first base, or left field). Despite the elite power and status as the first great Minnesota Twin (he played the franchise's first fourteen seasons there after the move from Washington), it took him four ballots to get elected, while Aparicio was on his sixth ballot and Drysdale his tenth.

Eight other players who appeared on the 1984 ballot (Hoyt Wilhelm, Nellie Fox, Billy Williams, Jim Bunning, Tony Oliva, Bill Mazeroski, Orlando Cepeda, and Joe Torre) eventually earned enshrinement via either the writers or the Veterans' Committee, although Torre made it as a manager rather than player and Mazeroski's 2001 VC nod caused such an uproar that the Hall of Fame completely upended the entire Veterans' Committee process multiple times in the ensuing years (whether or not they have successfully ended the cronyism of those committees is still up for debate, as the more recent election of Harold Baines showed).

📌 Execs Polled on MLB Farm Systems - Nats Do Pretty Well! (MLB.com)

📌 Oswaldo Cabrera Drawing Trade Interest (MLB Trade Rumors)