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Here are the latest headlines and analyses around the Washington Nationals and Major League Baseball for today, July 23.

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Welcome to the Morning Briefing!

Leading this Morning's Briefing: Padres Come to Town

You may remember that the last time the Nats and Padres played each other, last month in San Diego. At the same time, both were neck and neck in the wild card race, the Nats got swept and punked, first losing in extra innings, then watching Jurickson Profar hit a grand slam a few innings after being at the center of a benches-clearing incident, then getting carved up by Dylan Cease while Kyle Higashioka homered twice. Here's hoping round two goes better for the Nats.

Last Game Out

On Sunday afternoon Jake Irvin and James Wood starred in a Nats win that completed a sweep of the Reds. That sweep brought the Nats to within four games of the final wild-card spot.

Nationals Headline of the Day:

Down on the Farm

The Nationals have, as of late last night, now signed fifteen of their twenty-one draft picks from last week's amateur draft. First-round comp pick Caleb Lomavita (that pick was part of the return from the Royals for Hunter Harvey), second-round pick Luke Dickerson (who changed his Instagram profile from "UVA" to "Washington Nationals" - expect most of the bonus pool savings to go to him), fourth rounder Jackson Kent, fourteenth rounder Yoel Tejeda, fifteenth rounder Sir Jamison Jones (reported by the Chicago Tribune to be forgoing his Oklahoma State commitment to sign with the Nats), and twentieth rounder Colby Shelton (a "backup pick" in case negotiations go sideways with Dickerson, he is playing on the Cape and is unlikely to sign) are the remaining unsigned picks. In addition, the Nats have signed three undrafted free agents.

Featured Baseball Story of the Day

MLB dot com has a story on thirteen trade targets, one for each position that includes Lane Thomas as the right fielder (no other Nationals cut). This is a good place to start if you want to learn more about the rest of the trade market.

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