Nationals Rumors: Momentum building towards Bryce Harper return

There’s been a lot of Washington Nationals rumors about the possible return of Bryce Harper. Now, that scenario appears to be picking up steam.

The Washington Nationals aggressive offseason is still far from done, with many more Nationals rumors still to come. Bryce Harper has been the center of most of them and it seems as though a reunion is picking up a lot more steam lately.

Mark Feinsand of MLB.com recently wrote that “according to a source, there is momentum building toward Harper’s return to Washington, while the Phillies — who are set to meet with Harper this week in Las Vegas — appear to be turning up their pursuit of [Manny] Machado.”

While this still appears to be far from a done deal, it backs up the notion that the Nationals are indeed favorites for Bryce Harper. With several teams declaring themselves out, and their major competition seemingly setting their sights on Machado, the Nats are in pole position.

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With the Phillies meeting set for Saturday, according to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, there certainly won’t be any movement towards a deal until after the weekend. But with Bruce Levine of 670TheScore reporting that Machado could sign as soon as this week, the big free agent market appears to be heating up.

Michael Duarte of NBCSports LA also reported that his source believes the Nationals appear to be favorites as the Los Angeles Dodgers have fallen back in the sweepstakes. Other teams like the New York Yankees and Chicago Cubs have also backed away because of financial constraints combined with less of a glaring need for the outfielder.

It’s still unclear exactly how much a deal for Harper will end up costing the Nats, but according to recent reports, it’s likely to be a record-breaker in some form. Jim Bowden of The Athletic reported that the Nationals’ most recent offer was “much more than the $300m being reported by the media,” which could indicate the front office are willing to either break Giancarlo Stanton‘s $325 million total contract record or Zack Greinke‘s $34.4 million annual average contract value record.

A return of Harper would likely cause a knock-on effect that may actually help them address other needs. For example, Adam Eaton would then likely be relegated to a bench role and could be traded away to acquire either a second baseman or another starting pitcher while he still holds a lot of value.

Harper and Juan Soto also had a bit of fun on Instagram last night as the young Dominican posted a photo of the two with Victor Robles and include the hashtag “rico” which loosely translates to “rich”. This post and report are likely unconnected, but both appear to be getting the majority of Nationals fans excited at the possibility.

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After so many years of speculation about Bryce Harper and what many thought was an inevitable departure from the nation’s capital, a return very much appears to be on the cards. Expect the Nationals rumors to continue to flow in around the subject.

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