Commanders Watch. Well, the Commanders won a squeaker against the New Orleans Saints 20-19 yesterday afternoon in New Orleans. Phew! What a game. Commanders are now 9-5 and still have the last Wild Card spot. Up next: Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, here at Northwest Stadium. Kick-off is at 1:00 pm EDT on FOX. Interesting note from Commanders PR: with the win yesterday and the nine wins, Head Coach Dan Quinn joins George Allan as the only head coach in franchise history to win nin-plus games in their first season as head coach with the team.

SPOTTED: Washington Nationals outfielder Dylan Crews was at yesterday's Commanders vs. Saints Game. We hope he was rooting on former fellow LSU Washington Commander QB Jayden Daniels. The two former LSU college mates? exchanged jerseys at the game.

Good Monday Morning, Washington Nationals fans. Here are your headlines, news analysis, and more for December 16, 2024.

A bit of a programming note: there will be no Morning Briefings between Hanukkah and New Year unless there is some breaking news to enjoy some time with my family during the holiday, so this will be the last week of Morning Briefings for 2024! Thank you to our amazing subscribers and supporters for your support during 2024! Here's to 2025 and another amazing year!

📌 DRIVING THE DAY HERE AT THE NATS REPORT.

📌 Over the weekend, Jacob Young, Mackenzie Gore, CJ Abrams, and Jake Irvin received pre-arbitration bonuses based on their 2024 WAR. Young received $333,239, Gore $300,017, Abrams $241,402, and Irvin $239,663 per TalkNats. (X Link)

📌 What's happening in the Nats Front office? The Nationals were considered one of the big teams that would be spending big this offseason; however, the Nationals have had a relatively quiet offseason thus far, as the Winter Meetings have come and gone. What's going on?

A source told the Nats Report at the beginning of the official start of the offseason that the team isn't planning on spending a lot this offseason, and if they do make any moves this offseason, it will come via a trade. This seems to track based on what Nationals Manager Dave Martinez said during this year's Winter Meetings. (X link here). On the other hand, there have been a lot of rumors of the Nationals being interested in first baseman Christan Walker; there has also been a rumor of the Nationals interested in Gleyber Torres if he is willing to move to third base. We are all just waiting for the team to make a move.

Talking about third base...

📌 Rochester Report. Bill has your latest Rochester Report, focusing on Brady House. "...House finished the season in Rochester and had 224 at-bats. He posted a 0.250 batting average and had an on-base percentage of 0.280 and a 0.655 OPS, along with ten doubles, six home runs, and 32 RBIs. He also had a walk rate of 3% and a strikeout rate of 29%..."

📌 Welcome to Harrisburg. Get ready for in-depth coverage of the Harrisburg Senators! Andy, our new Harrisburg Senators reporter, is kicking things off with a trip down memory lane in his inaugural article delves into the history of the Senators, highlighting some of the top players since 2005. It's a fun trip down memory lane. Enjoy!

📌 Prospects, Prospects, and more Prospects. Over the weekend, we published Part Six of Seven of an in-depth look at our top Washington Nationals prospects. Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 Part 5, and our top ten list! We will conclude the series later today when we publish Part 7! It's been a fun look into some of the best Washington Nationals prospects! We hope that you have been enjoying it!

⏳ SPEED READS: What we think the Washington Nationals front office is reading this morning.

📌 The best-projected players to change teams, so far (MLB)

📌 Luis Castillo suitors emerge, Yankees-Cubs hit snag over possible Cody Bellinger trade (CBS Sports)

📌MLB managers survey: Skippers on rules, playoffs, each other (ESPN)

📌The Billion-Dollar Player: MLB Nears Unprecedented Contract Milestone (Front Office Sports)

⏳ ON THIS DAY: DECEMBER 16

1773: The Boston Tea Party occurred when American colonists, many disguised as Mohawk Indians, boarded a British ship and dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor to protest the Tea Act and British taxation.