Not long ago, we learned that the Nationals had approached superstar outfielder Bryce Harper and his agent Scott Boras about a contract extension. Obviously, the Nats would love to lock up Harper, but he's a pending free agent, which makes that highly unlikely to happen ...
The Washington #Nats say they are realistic and firmly believe that Bryce Harper is set to test free agency next winter after casual conversations last month. They still hope to re-sign him, but only after he tests the free agent market
— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) December 15, 2017
Nothing surprising there. Harper's going into his walk year, and he's going to be a free agent a couple of weeks after his 26th birthday. Throw in that he's a former NL MVP with a career OPS+ of 157, and he's going to make a lot of money. How much? The starting point is probably $400 million or so. That's why the Nationals, reportedly and rightly, believe that Harper is going to test the market.
So what's ahead for the Harper market? Maybe the Yankees' acquisition of Giancarlo Stanton changes the landscape a bit, but it's still going to be a heated competition among some of MLB's most high-profile squads. On that front, our own Matt Snyder recently ranked the likely Harper destinations for 2019 and beyond. The good news for the Nats is that they're ranked quite highly, albeit not in the top spot.
The reality is that if the Nats want Harper back in 2019, then they're likely going to have to compete for him on the open market and top all other comers. That's going to cost an incredible amount of money, and it's highly unlikely they'll be able to ply him with an extension offer, even one that drops jaws and breaks records.
