Washington Nationals rumors: Bryce Harper on the trade block?
With less than 24 hours to go until the MLB Trade Deadline, the Washington Nationals rumors have added another name to the trade block in Bryce Harper.
The Washington Nationals are in no man’s land. Six out in the National League East behind two teams. Six out in the NL Wild Card race and have to climb up over six teams to get to one of the spots. Not exactly a spot that they envisioned themselves being in when the season began.
The Nationals have a ton of pending free agents. Daniel Murphy, Matt Adams, Mark Reynolds, Gio Gonzalez, Shawn Kelley, Kelvin Herrera and oh yeah, that Bryce Harper fellow. Well, with a few hours left until the trade deadline, this latest Washington Nationals rumor just came down.
According to a source, the Nationals are making it known to other teams that Bryce Harper is indeed available.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) July 31, 2018
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Harper isn’t having his usual season. He’s hitting just .220, however, he’s got an OPS of .842 with 25 homers and 62 RBI.
The Washington Nationals do have outfield depth. If they were to deal Harper for pitching help, they could go with an outfield of Juan Soto, Adam Eaton and Michael A. Taylor, with Victor Robles waiting in the wings in AAA.
Trading Harper doesn’t mean the Nationals would raise the white flag. In fact, it wouldn’t even take them out of the running of re-signing him in the off-season. The New York Yankees traded Aroldis Chapman two years ago and then re-signed him. The New York Mets traded Jay Bruce last season and brought him back in free agency.
Harper would make sense for a few teams. The Cleveland Indians have already checked in on him. The New York Yankees could use an outfielder while Aaron Judge is on the shelf, though having Harper, Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Brett Gardner and Aaron Hicks seems like overkill. The Oakland Athletics could use some thump in the middle of their order. Imagine him with Matt Olson, Matt Chapman and Khris Davis. That’ll play. I wouldn’t even rule out the Los Angeles Dodgers in a pursuit of him.
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This is a significant development on the trade market and with under 24 hours to go, what the Washington Nationals decide to do, not only with Harper, but with others, could be the story of the deadline.