[ad_1]
Eric Espada / Getty Images
On a deadline where there was much more quantity (15 trades) than quality, the guy who could have the biggest impact on the rest of the season was the type that was not traded.
The teams that made the moves focused on incremental upgrades that may or may not help them win a championship. The team that has done almost no movement has shown the belief in a team and a star that have so far been unsuccessful.
The most important move of the month was the Los Angeles Dodgers for Manny Machado, but that happened two weeks ago. The biggest blow on Tuesday was a non-move, the Washington Nationals not trading with Bryce Harper.
The Nationals could look bad – if their 52-53 team does not rally for the playoffs and Harper leaves as a free agent
The performance of Harper's Home Run Derby was magical and the Nationals will need this magic in August and September (and possibly in October). Rob Carr / Getty Images
But look at it the other way. They might look good – if the team reacts to win an even more win-win division, and especially if Harper is the one leading them in October and maybe even after the first round for what would be the first time since departure from the franchise. Montreal
With any other team 52-53, you would say that they were dreaming.
But when I contacted a scout group of major leagues after Tuesday's deadline to inquire about the Nationals' decision to keep Harper, each of them acknowledged to have done what was necessary. And me too.
"They [think they] did not come out," said a scout from the American League. "And I agree with them."
On Tuesday afternoon, the Nationals were 5.5 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies and five games behind the Atlanta Braves. The Phillies (with receiver Wilson Ramos) and the Braves (with starting pitcher Kevin Gausman) both made moves on Tuesday, but neither of these two moves was obvious: "What won them for them?" "
Harper had been the biggest movement of any team in the National League East this month – even with the .220 batting average that Harper won Tuesday night against the Mets from New York.
The Nationals could have justified exchanging it instead. Ken Rosenthal made an interesting proposal Monday on The Athletic, suggesting that the Nats exchange Harper as part of a remake that would also include the addition of receiver J.T. Realmuto of the Miami Marlins.
We do not know if these movements were realistic. According to sources, the Marlins attribute a high price to Realmuto and have not sold it to anyone.
In addition, shortly after the publication of the Rosenthal Chronicle on the Internet, Nationals Executive Director Mike Rizzo told Harper that he was going nowhere.
"I only contacted him when we learned that we were trying to trade with Bryce Harper," said Rizzo, according to Chelsea Janes of Washington Post ]. "And I thought that at that time, it was probably the right time to say that it was false information and that it was not going to be exchanged."
On Tuesday morning, Rizzo was saying the same to everyone else, with several tweets quoting him as saying that Harper would not be treated. The first was that of Janes:
Chelsea Janes @ chelsea_janes
Mike Rizzo has just reached out with this message:
"Bryce is not going anywhere, I believe in this team."
We may never know exactly what Canadians could have achieved in a Harper exchange or what they heard from other teams before decide to keep it. But the scouts interviewed by Bleacher Report suggested that the return would have been disappointing.
"It's not like they could shoot him off," said the AL's scout.
"They probably would not have enough to justify moving him," acknowledged a scout in the National League.
Not when they still have a realistic chance of winning. Remember, they do not sue the Boston Red Sox the New York Yankees or the Houston Astros, they just have to catch up on the Braves (28-30 in the last two months, coming into play on Tuesday) and the Phillies (29-28 over a similar period.)
They can do it, if Stephen Strasburg (pinched nerve in his neck) does not spend too much time on the disabled list, they can do it, if Harper can be the Most valuable player of the last two months of the season.
In Harper's first post-match, he propelled a 1-2 towards center right for a run on Tuesday night against the Mets.This was his ninth RBI (and his fourth extra-base success) in 10 games since he's lit up Nationals Park and won the Home Run Derby.
We would not call him Harper, like in the OPS 1.109 that he had when he was the NL MVP 2015, but maybe it's just the beginning of something big . Maybe this could be the start of something big for the Nationals, who spent 16 days in first place in the first half of the season but never really got the upper hand. when they led the division by 14 games at the end of July 2017, this year may be the season when they won it with a furious two-month charge.
"I honestly think it could be good for us [to do it the tough way]" First baseman Ryan Zimmerman said just before the break from the All-Star game. "The last time we won the division, we got off early, you think of days off, it's not that you stop playing, but it's not the same intensity in the time." 19659004 "Do not get me wrong I would do that, but I think it might be good, maybe if we participate, maybe we can play in the playoffs."
What they did before n & # 39, did not work in October. The Canadiens have been four times in the playoffs since Harper's rookie season in 2012. They have lost each time in the division series, each time unsustainably, three times in a fifth decisive game.
This year should not be the last chance for a team that has Max Scherzer signed up in 2021 and who has one of the brightest young stars in baseball Juan Soto, aged 19, but who could be the last chance with Harper, whose future in Washington remains uncertain
Because of this and because of their record of less than .500, the Nationals could have justified Harper and start reworking their lineup for 2019. Instead, the only exchange they made Tuesday was to send the reliever Brandon Kintzler to the Chicago Cubs. "I believe in this team," said Rizzo, by Janes
I'm not sure I'm doing it, but I think Rizzo believes. He believes in the Nationals. He absolutely believes in Harper.
And now Harper and his team have two (or maybe three) months to justify this belief.
Danny Knobler covers Major League Baseball as National Columnist for Bleacher Report
Follow Danny on Twitter and speak Baseball.
[ad_2]
Source link
