Washington Nationals: Hanging on Bryce Harper’s Every Word

I guess when you are Bryce Harper, the world of baseball hangs on every word you say. Even when it’s just one word. Because when Harper sent out this tweet, he managed to light up social media again, this time with simply the word, “Wow.”

The tweet was in reference to the Washington Nationals having  just acquired Adam Eaton from the Chicago White Sox.

The buzz, though, was about what Bryce Harper meant by the tweet. Did he mean “Wow” as in, “Are you kidding me? You mean we just gave away the same prospects that we offered the White Sox for Chris Sale… for Adam Eaton?”

Or did he mean, “Wow!” as in “Hey, welcome aboard, teammate. Looking forward to playing alongside you in the outfield next season. Let’s get this thing done and win a championship!”

Or did he simply mean, “Wow…” as in “Whoopie. I don’t really give a damn ’cause I’m out of here in two godforsaken years anyway, so I’m going back to bed if you don’t mind.”

It’s a crazy world we live in these days, and the world of Bryce Harper has to be even crazier. But at the same time, it just goes to show (once again) that like it or not, for better or worse, Bryce Harper remains the face of the Washington Nationals.

Will the Real Bryce Harper Please Stand Up

He’s the pulse of the team and he sets the tone and the creates the fabric of the team, whether he wants to or not. The jury is still out on Bryce Harper because the sample size is too small to rate his place in baseball just yet. Is he the Bryce Harper who swept the MVP award in 2015? Or is he the Bryce Harper that we saw last season when he looked and sounded like a far less remarkable player?

Any player who insists on constantly calling attention to himself has lived with the consequences of doing so. He will be talked about and he will be judged in the court of public opinion.

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So, is Bryce Harper the 24-year-old kid who’s going to make a few mistakes here and there because he’s still trying to find his way in the world? Or do we say that even for his age he should be showing more maturity than he does at times, because he’s had a wealth of experience so far that he should be drawing from and learning from? Experiences that you or I could never have in a lifetime.

So which is it? We do know this one thing, though. Bryce Harper, unless the Nationals sign him to a contract extension that would appear unwise on both sides, will be a free agent in two years. That’s a fact. And he has to know that teams will be taking a close look at him, and they won’t only be looking at the numbers he’s putting up.

Don’t Bet the Farm on Bryce Harper Just Yet

It’s also a fact that Bryce Harper has done little except to fan the flames stemming from his open admiration of the Yankees. As far back as February 2015, Harper was being quoted saying things like, “The pinstripes, everything about them … It’s the New York Yankees. … I loved Paul O’Neill, I loved Bernie Williams. I loved Mick of course, watching 61. Babe Ruth was always a guy who hit the ball far.”

But you have to wonder if the NEW  York Yankees would really be interested in taking on Harper if he’s the same person then that he is now. The was a time for the “Straw That Stirs the Drink”, Reggie Jackson, and for a short while it worked out well for the Yankees with back-to-back championships in 1977-78. But would the Yankees have signed Jackson if the decision was being made today?

Next: Next Big Names to Be Dealt

In so many ways, Bryce Harper can write his own ticket concerning his future. He can, and most likely will be the richest player in the game when he signs a new contract. He can go to whatever team he wants for however long he wants. But it’s not an automatic. He has two full years to set the stage for 2018. But in the meantime, maybe it’d be a good idea to use all of the 140 characters to explain and control himself, not only on Twitter, but everywhere else as well.