Free agent dominoes may finally start to fall

One of the two biggest dominoes of the hot stove league dropped Friday. The other is still standing, with the potential to topple at any moment, though not where originally expected. At which point, the rest of the baseball world should be able to proceed with the rest of the offseason.

Shohei Ohtani's decision to sign with the Angels caught many by surprise, perhaps most of all the supposed frontrunners to acquire the Japanese two-way star: the Mariners, Padres, Cubs and Rangers. Those clubs may be disappointed they didn't land the biggest prize of the winter, but they can't afford to wallow in their misery for too long before jumping back into the mix on other key targets.

And Giancarlo Stanton still remains a member of the Marlins at the end of a wild week in which the slugger refused to waive his no-trade clause in order to be dealt to either the Giants or Cardinals but now could wind up agreeing to go to the Yankees if the two teams can agree to the rest of the trade's parameters.

The Nationals don't figure in directly with either of those two players, but they are affected by them. For obvious reasons, they're very interested to see where Stanton ends up (ideally out of the National League East). And with Ohtani off the board, they may find themselves contending with several more teams for the services of other free agents, especially on the pitching side of things.

Maybe those teams viewed Ohtani as a unique case and don't intend to go after other top-flight pitchers this winter. But some of them probably will do just that, with the Cubs and Rangers atop that list.

It remains to be seen whether the Nationals are willing to make a run at Yu Darvish or Jake Arrieta. But if they do, they'll have plenty of competition.

The Nats front office heads down to Lake Buena Vista, Fla., on Sunday in advance of the Winter Meetings. They've been awfully quiet since hiring new manager Dave Martinez and his coaching staff more than a month ago. They probably won't be staying quiet much longer.