Good Morning Washington Nationals Fans,

Here are the latest headlines and analyses around the Washington Nationals and Major League Baseball for today, December 22, 2023.

Welcome to the Morning Briefing. It’s me again, and thank you to Richard for covering for me on Wednesday.

Leading today’s Morning Briefing: Yamamoto signs with the Los Angeles Dodgers

Looks like all of you had an inside scoop because on Wednesday’s poll, we asked where Yoshinobu Yamamoto would sign and you all were correct in selecting the Los Angeles Dodgers. Yamamoto ended up breaking the largest guarantee for a starting pitcher ever with his 12-year, $325M contract. There were two opt-outs, according to Jeff Passan, who was also first on the terms, but I have not seen what years those are in.

And now, like Richard hinted at yesterday, the offseason truly begins today. Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani are generational talents, with pretty much every contender on one or both of the players. Now that they are gone, the players remaining will gain more leverage by having every contender not named the Dodgers more interested in their services. Teams like the White Sox and the Guardians are in a similar situation, where a more desperate team is now willing to part with a larger package in order to obtain front-line starters Dylan Cease and Shane Bieber.

X-Golf

The Nationals and X-Golf partnered up to bring in eight new golf simulators to Nationals Park. While this isn’t necessarily my cup of tea, this should bring a new way for people to entertain themselves, and improve the quality of the fan experience at Nats Park. Hopefully, this partnership works out better than it did with Terra.

Click here for the latest off-season headlines, rumors, trades, and more.

Rule Changes!

After a massive overhaul to the rules in 2023, MLB announced they are continuing to make changes for the 2024 season. It is worth noting that the players unanimously voted down these rules, but did not have the voting power to deny any.

The rule changes include a shortened pitch clock with runners on, going from 18 seconds after having 20 seconds last season. They also increased the running lane to first base after controversy after controversy involving Davey Martinez. There will now be just four mounds visits per team in a game, down from five. The final change is if a pitcher starts to warm up before an inning, he must face at least one hitter. While that seems significant, the rules committee is speaking about a player warming up on the mound as if he were continuing an appearance. They cited 24 such instances taking place last season. Here’s our cheat sheet to get you through these rule changes.

Let us know what you think of these updated rules!

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ICYMI: Latest articles on the Nats Report

Even though it is the offseason, we have been extremely busy producing a lot of great content here on the Nats Report. Here are just a couple of the articles that we have published recently that you might have missed:

• Podcast: In the Clubhouse (2024 Outlook)
• How does Dylan Floro’s signing with the Nationals impact the team’s 2024 outlook?
• Perspective: Juan Soto to Nats isn’t as Crazy as you Think.
• Perspective: When is Enough, Enough?
• Exploring the Impact of the Nationals Outfield on the Future

We are working on a lot of great Nationals-themed content all off-season so make sure that you are following us on all the major social media channels for the latest.

Featured Story of the Day

99 days to Opening Day! Do you know where your roster is? via Talk Nats

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