Dylan Crews Possible 2025 ROY: The Morning Briefing

Yesterday, Oxford University Press announced that the 2024 word is… ‘brain rot.’ Last year's word of the year was: "Rizz."

For those who don't know, Brain rot is when you’ve scrolled for so long that it feels like your brain is decaying. The publisher says the use of the word jumped 230% from 2023 – partly due to its popularity on platforms like TikTok.

Oxford defines brain rot as “the supposed deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material (now particularly online content) considered to be trivial or unchallenging.”

Other words on the shortlist include dynamic pricing, lore, romantasy and slop.

Dictionary.com chose 'demure’ as its word of the year earlier this year.

Good Morning, Happy Wednesday. Here are your Morning headlines, analysis, and more for December 4, 2024.  Take our annual survey to help shape the future of the Nats Report. Happy Hump day!

As always, please send us feedback at themorning@thenatsreport.com

📌 Yesterday, Major League Baseball announced that the Washington Nationals won the 2024 Allan H. Selig Award for Philanthropic Excellence in recognition of their Youth Baseball Academy. From the press release "Since its opening in 2014, the Academy has positively impacted the lives of over 6,000 children aged 5 to 18. Through a variety of free programs, including introductory clinics, after-school activities, and summer camps, the Academy combines academics, character development, health initiatives, and baseball and softball training." Read the full announcement here.

📌 IYCMI: RHP Brad Lord Takes Giant Steps Toward the Show. In our latest report from Rochester, Bill closely examined right-handed pitcher Brad Lord's progress in his quest to the big leagues. "On Sunday, June 23rd, Lord arrived in Syracuse to pitch for AAA-Rochester. The Red Wings were having a tough week, losing four of the five games in the weekly series. Manager Matt LeCroy for the Red Wings said during the pregame show that if they could get three innings from Lord, he would be really happy because their pitching has been really taxed in this tough series..."

📌 MVP! MVP! MVP! It's never too early to start to talk about who will win Rookie of the Year for 2025 right? According to many (especially MLB.com), Washington Nationals OF Dylan Crews is among the many rookies in serious consideration for the 2025 NL Rookie of the Year award. From MLB.com, "He’s [Crews] shown steady improvement in approach and output at LSU and every Minor League stop he’s made, giving much confidence he’ll build on the modest success he showed in 31 games with the Nats in '24. His speed and defense are already Major League assets, and he’ll have many avenues to provide big league value in his age-23 season. The open question is whether he starts in center or right on Opening Day. Either way, expect him to be in the ROY mix."

Many believe that Japanese baseball pitcher Rōki Sasaki is the current front-runner for this year's Rookie of the Year Award, so having Crews ranked number two (if a National League team signs Sasaki) is a big deal. If Sasaki signs with an American League Team, many consider Crews the front-runner for this year's award. What does this mean for the Nationals? Well, it's been a while since a Washington Nationals player won Rookie of the Year, so it would be nice to see one of our players again win the award.

(TRIVIA: Who was the last Washington Nationals player to win ROY, and what year was it? We will have the answer in our next Morning Briefing.)

📌 Don't change that station. Yesterday, it was announced that the Kansas City Royals have agreed with Diamond Sports Group to continue broadcasting their games next season. The Royals are one of four Major League Baseball teams that are part owners of their regional sports network. According to reports, the Kansas City Royals and Sports Group offered a streaming package that saw over 40,000 subscribers sign up last season.

📌: Must watch video. As we reported in November, there might be an open competition for the starting catcher job for the Nationals during this year's Spring Training. Well, it looks like catcher Keibert Ruiz is working on framing low pitches in a very different knee down look. (Watch the video here)

📌 An Arenado trade is more likely than not. Katie Woo of The Atheltic reported that veteran third baseman and potential future Hall of Famer Nolan Arendo has an uncertain future with the St. Louis Cardians. Woo writes:

"There remains a scenario in which the Cardinals keep Arenado, though multiple league sources believe the odds of St. Louis trading him to be higher than the odds of retaining him."

Arenado is owed $74 million over the next three seasons, although his former team, the Colorado Rockies, will pay $10 million of that tab. Additionally, per The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, the Yankees and Red Sox could pivot to adding a high-profile infielder if they miss out on Soto. Though Arenado has not outright said which teams he’d waive his no-trade clause for, New York and Boston look to be contenders within the American League East next season.

📌 The "Athletics" now estimate that their new Las Vegas Major League Baseball stadium will cost $1.75B, an increase of $250 M, according to Evan Drellich of The Athletic. According to Sandy Dean, who owns a small stake in the A's, Drellich mentions that the increased construction costs and the addition of 700,000 square feet of more stadium amenities are driving up the stadium costs. "The increases in the cost of the stadium are the team's responsibility, and the team would most likely finance that with additional contributions from the Fisher family," Dean said." For the next three seasons, while the stadium in Las Vegas is being built, the A's will play at Sacramento's Sutter Health Park.

Major League Baseball's commissioner Rob Manfred said last week that the A’s were “100 percent full steam ahead” with the move to Las Vegas.