Harper’s destination hangs over Nats camp
WEST PALM BEACH, FLA. — On the eve of the Washington Nationals’ first official spring workout, with players passing through the facility and a gray cloud hanging above them, the questions coursing through baseball made their way into the team’s clubhouse.
The Nationals’ pitchers and catchers reported Wednesday, doing no more than tossing lightly under a spitting rain and getting physicals before they take the field together Thursday. But jerseys still hung in every locker — each a clean, unwrinkled white — and none of them belonged to Bryce Harper. The Nationals still can’t say Harper won’t rejoin them soon, at least with any certainty, making it possible that a revamped roster is not quite complete. Harper has not signed with a team as spring training begins in Florida and Arizona this week. Neither has former Orioles shortstop Manny Machado, the other 26-year-old star of this free-agent class, or pitcher Dallas Keuchel or reliever Craig Kimbrel and so on.
“Oh, boy. Figured that question was going to come,” right fielder Adam Eaton said when asked about Harper and Machado’s free agency. “It’s tough to say. I don’t want to outkick my coverage when I speak, but those guys should be playing and should be on a team, period. They need an offer that’s close to what they want, and I think both sides need to be realistic with the whole situation and realize that and get these guys signed as well. As well as others.”
This all makes it hard to know how this season will look, for the Nationals, their players and the sport. The Harper and Machado signings will shift the competitive landscape in divisions and leagues. So could whatever happens with Keuchel and Kimbrel and the handful of other talented players who are still team-less. The transactions may also alter the short-term futures for a number of players, those who could have their spots taken but have to otherwise proceed as if they are safe.
Just ask Eaton. If Harper returned to the Nationals — should ownership decide to spend well above the competitivebalance tax threshold — he would almost certainly play right field, with Juan Soto in left and some mix of Victor Robles and Michael A. Taylor in center. That squeezes Eaton out of the outfield equation, and would make him a logical trade piece. And he’s been around long enough to know it.
“It affects me, for sure. Definitely affects me,” said Eaton, 30, of whether Harper returns or not. “I train to pay 162 [games]. That’s all I can think about. That’s all I can really control. Going to leave it at that.”
Nationals closer Sean Doolittle has been critical of this offseason, believing that many have been hurt by the slow drip of the free-agent market and widespread unwillingness to spend. That’s not just Harper and Machado, Doolittle notes, but also what he referred to as the “middle class of baseball,” the serviceable players being passed up for younger, cheaper options. But when thinking of Harper, his teammate for the last two seasons, Doolittle found room for humor Wednesday.
The Nationals have a mannequin in their clubhouse that is modeling their new spring training uniforms. Doolittle joked that he looked up and thought the mannequin was Harper, lingering where his locker was the past two springs, ready to take the field for the only professional team for which he has ever played.