Washington Nationals Mock Offseason: Harper leaves, Rendon extended

In FanSided’s mock MLB offseason, acting as the Washington Nationals, we pushed hard for Bryce Harper, before agreeing to an extension for Anthony Rendon.

We continue on with the FanSided MLB Mock Offseason with arguably the biggest decision of the winter for the Fake Washington Nationals. Site Expert Blake Finney, playing the role of Mike Rizzo, finally has to make the key decision of what to do with Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon.

Again, it’s important for us to emphasize that this is part of our Offseason Simulation with FanSided and not actual events. That being said, this is an entirely realistic, and potentially very likely scenario to come to fruition over the coming months.

Whether we like it or not, the entire offseason is centered around one man, Bryce Harper. When you have such a high-priced situation, that simply has to come first before the other major dominos can slide into place.

For example, in this offseason simulation, while we were in the bidding for Harper, we also had discussions with the Seattle Mariners over James Paxton. If we had to allocate funds to the homegrown outfielder, we couldn’t then go after a top-end free agent starter and would have to settle that need via a trade.

And obviously, one of the other ripple effects from the Harper decision is going to be Anthony Rendon. Entering his contract year, he becomes a priority later on in the offseason, and the Nats would be wise to try to extend him once Harper has decided where to sign.

We’ll get into the Rendon details a little later on in the piece, but first, let’s see how the Harper drama unfolded.