The Morning Briefing: The Nationals' 1-year deal with Jon Lester is now official

It took nearly nine full days to announce that Jon Lester was officially added to the Washington Nationals roster due to delays in getting the physical completed. Here are today's Washington Nationals and Major League Baseball Headlines.

by Richard Wachtel

Updated January 28, 2021

Good Thursday Morning, Washington Nationals Fans.

Thank you for starting the day with us!
Nats fans should fasten their seat belts as we are less than a month away from when pitchers and catchers normally report to Spring Training, and you don’t want to miss a thing! With the Hot Stove (finally) heating up, make sure to follow us on Twitter for updates throughout the day with the latest rumors and so much more!

Today’s Morning Briefing was written by Richard and edited by Jonathan.

Today's Top Story: The Nationals' 1-year deal with Jon Lester is now official.

Yesterday, the Washington Nationals made the signing of Jon Lester official. Afterwards, the left-handed pitcher held a Zoom press conference with reporters and here are some interesting notes that came out of the conference:

Ties to former Chicago Cubs such as Davey Martinez, Jim Hickey and Kyle Schwarber helped make it an easier decision to come to Washington.
Despite receiving an offer to return to the Cubs, Lester opted instead to sign with the Nationals, who will likely contend for a spot in the postseason.
Lester discussed how the free-agency process took longer than he hoped it would, but is excited to join Washington's rotation, which already has Scherzer, Strasburg and Corbin. He says it'll be "nice to sit back and watch these guys work."

Mark Zuckerman from MASN Sports shared an interesting stat about Lester's struggles to hold runners at first base. According to Zuckerman, "Opponents' success rate stealing bases off him since 2016 is 64 percent. (MLB average is 73 percent.) Only gave up 3 steals on 5 attempts last season."

Stay tuned to the Nats Report in the coming days as we will take a closer look at Lester and what his signing will do for the starting rotation in 2021.

The Carter Kieboom Dilemma: Is Kieboom the Long Term Answer at Third Base?

Yesterday on the Nats Report, Jonthan wrote an interesting article about what the Washington Nationals should do with current third baseman Carter Kieboom. From the article: "Despite consistently being one of the younger players at each level, the now 23-year-old Kieboom advanced through five minor league levels in just two full seasons and was consistently considered one of the top position prospects in the Nationals’ system." Click here to read the full article.

Washington Nationals & Blake Swihart Agree To Minor League Deal.

TalkNats.com has reported that Washington agreed to a minor league deal with catcher/outfielder Blake Swihart. Swihart was once ranked as one of the game’s elite prospects. Baseball America, MLB.com, Baseball Prospectus and other outlets all ranked him inside the game’s 20 best prospects back in 2015, but Swihart never really got a full-time audition with the Red Sox and has yet to find his footing in the big leagues. His lack of regular playing time so far is partially due to a string of foot and ankle injuries, but also due to some questions about his ability to handle the catcher position from a defensive standpoint. Maybe this will be the backup catcher that the Nationals are looking for?

It should be noted that Swihart has appeared in 234 big league games and tallied 696 plate appearances, but the result is a lackluster .243/.301/.355 batting line that falls well shy of expectations for a top prospect, whose offensive potential was once so heralded. While catcher has been his most frequent position in the Majors (964 innings), Swihart has seen more time in left field and at first base over the past few seasons than he has behind the plate.

New York Yankees Make their Signings of Corey Kluber and DJ LeMahieu Official

On Wednesday, the New York Yankeees officially announced Corey Kluber's one year, $11 million deal and DJ LeMahieu's six year $90 million contract. From the looks of it, LeMahieu has full no-trade rights for the first two seasons and then limited no-trade protection for the final four years of the contract. Additionally, New York announced a trade with the AL East rival Boston Red Sox. Just in case you missed it, earlier this week, reports surfaced that Boston acquired veteran RHP Adam Ottavino and RHP prospect Frank German for a player to be named later or cash considerations. The move will save the Yankees $9 million in payroll during the 2021 season.

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Across town....New York Met fans are bracing for fall out from GameStop Financial Scandal???

According to a New York Post article, New York Met fans are worried over owner Steve Cohen's GameStop involvement. From the article:"Mets owner Steve Cohen’s attempt to bail out a former business protege’s investment firm has some fans worried. Cohen joined forces this week with fellow finance tycoon Ken Griffin to save hedge fund Melvin Capital from some troubled investments, including bets against GameStop. Melvin was reportedly down 30 percent as rookie investors who frequent stock message boards like Reddit helped push up shares of the video game retailer — putting pressure on Melvin’s bet that the stock would fall, known as a 'short.' Cohen’s Point72 Asset Management and Griffin’s firm Citadel gave Melvin a combined $2.75 billion investment on Monday to help it through the market turmoil."

Additionally, it was announced that the New York Mets have a "temporary GM." According to reports, the Mets hired the runner up in their initial GM search, Zack Scott. Scott, 43, became the Mets’ assistant GM in December, following years working alongside Porter in Boston.“Zack has plenty of championship experience to draw upon,” Alderson said in a statement. “He has been an integral part of our decision-making processes since his arrival. The entire baseball operations staff, including myself, will continue to work collaboratively.” Scott spent 17 years in the Red Sox's organization before joining the Mets. The last two of those were as an assistant general manager overseeing the club’s analytics, baseball systems and professional scouting departments. If he succeeds in his new role, Scott could eventually become the permanent GM. Click here to read the article