Michael Morse signs two-year extension with Washington Nationals (updated)

(Jonathan Newton - WASHINGTON POST)

The Nationals rewarded Michael Morse for his breakout 2011 season today, signing the right-handed slugger to a multiyear agreement, the team announced. The sides agreed on a two-year extension, a person with knowledge of the deal said, avoiding arbitration through the 2013 season, at which point Morse will be eligible for free agency. Update, 7:26 p.m.: Another person with knowledge of the agreement said the deal is worth $10.5 million.

Since the Nationals only bought out Morse’s remaining arbitration-eligible seasons, the contract does not significantly change the relationship between the team and Morse. Morse’s deal should also have little-to-no effect on the status of the Nationals’ pursuit of Prince Fielder.

That does not minimize the accomplishment for Morse, whose late-20s rise earned him considerable financial security. When the Nationals traded light-hitting outfielder Ryan Langerhans to the Seattle Mariners for Morse in the middle of the 2009 season, they couldn’t have envisioned what Morse would become.

After struggling with injuries and lack of opportunity for most of his career, Morse blossomed in Washington. Morse, who will turn 30 in March, received only 55 big-league plate appearances in 2009. He closed the 2010 season on a tear and then forced his way into playing every day last year. He hit 31 homers with a .360 on-base percentage and a .550 slugging percentage in 2011, emerging as one of the top sluggers in the National League.

The quirky slugger also emerged as a fan favorite, for both his towering home runs and his trademarks — his “Beast Mode” T-shirt, his high-knee flex at the plate, his “Take On Me” warmup music. He usually selects the music in the Nationals’ clubhouse.

Morse started last year as the Nationals’ left fielder but played the majority of 2011 at first base, taking over for Adam LaRoche after LaRoche underwent shoulder surgery. With LaRoche returning this season, the Nationals plan to move Morse back to left field to start the year.

The Nationals have made it a point to find a spot for Morse, but even with his new contract that doesn’t mean the spot will be permanent.

The Nationals have had slow-moving discussions with Fielder, one of the best hitters in the game. They could also find themselves flush with outfielders after 2012, when they will have Bryce Harper, Jayson Werth and, they hope, a long-term solution in center field.

General Manager Mike Rizzo has called Morse a piece of the team’s foundation, and now they have him under a cost-controlled deal for two years. He could play first base in 2013, once LaRoche’s contract lapses. But, if their roster construction unfolds in a certain direction, he could also become a valuable trade chip.

The Nationals and Morse filed salary arbitration figures Tuesday, with Morse requesting a $5 million salary for 2012 and the Nationals countering with $3.5 million. It turned out the sides had agreed to the multiyear deal, and they filed figures as a formality while Morse underwent a physical.

General Manager Mike Rizzo did not return a request for comment.

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D.C. street signs start going mixed-case

The old and the new, as seen this morning just east of Lincoln Park. (Mike DeBonis - The Washington Post) You’ll notice a new look for D.C.’s street signs in the coming weeks, months and years: The city has changed its design for the first time in several decades, and it’s slowly showing itself across the city.

Signs previously rendered in all capital letters will now be rendered in mixed case, following a new federal design standard. The pictures above, of two signs on the east side of Lincoln Park, show the difference.

The change was mandated in the latest, 2009 edition of the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices, the bible of traffic engineers (Section 2D.43). Mixed-case legends, studies have confirmed, makes signs legible from a greater distance, giving drivers more time to make decisions on the road.

When the new standards were mandated by federal regulations in 2010, the federal government required localities to replace noncompliant signs by 2018, leading many to push back at the significant cost of replacing otherwise functional signs during a time of significant budget stress. In New York, the backlash was particularly pronounced after cost estimates for the change reached $27.6 million.

Last August, the Obama administration eased some of the sign replacement requirements, and local transportation agencies can now replace noncompliant signs at their otherwise normal pace.

John Lisle, a spokesman for the D.C. Department of Transportation, said the city has been making street signs with the mixed-case design for about four months now. Lisle was unable to pinpoint a date when the all-caps design was introduced but said they date back at least to the early 1980s.

The new signs feature a standard Federal Highway Administration font on a green background. I’ve also noticed that new signs for numbered streets now include ordinals — e.g., 14th Street NW is indicated with “14th” not “14.”

Lisle said the signs will continue to be replaced on an “as-needed basis,” at no cost above and beyond the city’s typical sign replacement cost. It could be a decade or move before all the signs change over; Lisle said the materials used in the city’s signs can last 10 years or more, “but many signs get replaced sooner than that due to wear and tear.”

My personal opinion? The new signs are indeed easier to read, but they’re also less interesting than the old signs. Such is progress.

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