There was a rising sense yesterday evening that the Nationals may increasingly be willing to consider trade scenarios involving long-time franchise superstar Bryce Harper. The team is said to be weighing multiple paths even as the non-waiver trade deadline sits just hours away. We’ll track any developments on Harper’s situation in this post.
The latest:
- As Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post notes on Twitter, the Nationals could conceivably move Harper (and other rental assets) while not fully giving up on the present season. That’d be particularly true, she notes, if a Harper swap not only cleared the way for top prospect Victor Robles but also helped the club line up with the Marlins on star catcher J.T. Realmuto. Perhaps there’s potential for the Nats to do something generally similar to what the Red Sox did in 2014, when they shipped core veteran Jon Lester to the A’s for Yoenis Cespedes.
- The WaPo’s Jorge Castillo provides rather an interesting nugget of information, tweeting that a rival organization has been left with the impression that Nationals “ownership pulled the plug late last night” on potential trades — including one of Harper. While the phrasing suggests this ought to be taken with a grain of salt, it’s fascinating to contemplate. If true, it would indicate that the Nationals have moved rather far down the line on striking a swap. Of course, it also suggests that a deal may not come together — or, at least, that one potential avenue was shut down for the time being.
A trade for Harper makes sense for the Yankees, not only because they have the assets and need, but because they know they’d have a good chance at resigning him
Could say the same for the Phillies
I really doubt that Harper would end up in New York. He wants to be the superstar in the clubhouse and with the Yankees he’s just another guy.
also Wahoo, he wiould start fights in the dug out and in the clubhouse, they have too much chemistry the Yanks for that.
They don’t have the need.
They do right now with Judge
Why would the Marlins be interested in Harper?
They wouldnt… Thats not what its saying at all
Marlins would ship Harper to the Yankees anyway
The Marlins wouldn’t be getting Harper.. It would be to setup a trade for Realmuto. For example trade Harper to the Yankees and a package with Florial coming back. Florial them headlines the trade to the Marlins for Realmuto.
That’s a great hypothetical 3 way trade concerning Harper, Realmutto and say Florial or another Yankee high prospect instead of Florial. Jeter knows that Yankee farm system probably as well as Cashman. Be a nice payback too for Stanton to the Yankees.
This reminds me alot of all the backdoor deals MLB did back when they took over the Expos from that clown Jeffrey Loria. Loria bought the Marlins. John Henry bought the Sox. Bud Selig putting the seal of approval on it too. The Twins owner was involved in it too along with Wendy Selig involved in the Brew Crew
Seems like a lot of shady deals were done then involving what seemed like cherry picking the big star players of the Expos. Because of all this, I expect to see Harper moved to the Yankees. Is he a clubhouse cancer? Maybe. I think he wants to play on the biggest stage in baseball and that’s Yankee Stadium. Will he be a leader? Doubt it.
The whole Nats situation is just par for the course for the organization. This is just further reverberations of the ’94 strike shortened season that saw us fans of MLB robbed of the chance of watching Tony Gwynn hit .400 and watch the Expos go into the post season with an excellent team. l blame all this on Bud Selig.
Selig = shady
Don’t think they are insinuating that Harper goes to the marlins… moreso the fact that trading Harper will bring back the requisite assets to send to the marlins for realmuto
Doubt it,why would anyone waste players for a rental and yes it’s Bryce but he’s not doing that well. In my opinion
The Nats would be wise to sell off their assets while they can. Even if by some miracle they catch fire they still wouldn’t be able to beat the Dodgers or Cubs in the postseason.
Time to go all in – keep Harper and have these high paid “pros” step up and play ball as they should. The alternative is the Mgmt jettisons most of the non producers in Oct to make room for young guys and new blood. Man up you chumps – losing 2 of 4 to Miami and at .500 is STUPID crazy.
Trade Harper, Acquire Realmuto, that should be the plan.
You get to keep the rest of your team/prospects and Harper’s walking at season’s end anyway.
That would have been the best plan of action for the Nats. Trade Bryce and use the prospects they get to either make the Realmuto trade work, or at least soften the blow to the farm system. You don’t take any real step backwards on offense and gain on defense. Plus they still have a decent core in place for next season and getting one of the top catchers in the league would have made it even that much better. Too late to figure out the logistics of trying to fit those two moves together though.
Half a season of Harper’s 0.4 WAR can’t be worth all that much.
Janes tweeted again a few minutes ago that Rizzo told her Harper is 100% not getting moved. On to the next thing.
I feel like Harper is so over hyped he’s a good player but people treat him like he’s the best player in the game.
Looks like what I wrote, now after Rizzo’s statement of not moving Harper, reaffirms my position. Play hard & win or you are a gonner in Oct
One of the most overrated players in professional sports. Bryce “The Cheating Whiff Machine Douchenozzle Dude Bruh” Harper