It was the talk of the summer, at least until the Home Run Derby lit up the District of Columbia.
Could the Washington Nationals, struggling in the middle of the pack in the National League, actually trade Bryce Harper?
As has been reported before, the Houston Astros were in talks to acquire Harper’s expiring contract from the Nationals in a trade last summer. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that Nationals ownership vetoed the move.
At spring training Thursday, Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow confirmed to reporters that an agreement “in principle” to trade for Harper wound up falling through.
Jeff Luhnow acknowledged the #Astros had an agreement in place to land Bryce Harper in a trade last season that fell through: “It didn’t happen. So we moved on.” pic.twitter.com/r9ZXjasOVH
— Mark Berman (@MarkBermanFox26) February 14, 2019
“There was an agreement in principle in place and it didn’t get over the finish line for whatever reason, out of our control. But, yeah, we had interest,” Luhnow said. “We had worked out an agreement with players both ways.”
It’s worth noting that the Astros share a spring training facility with the Nationals in West Palm Beach, Florida. Awkward. In the end, it doesn’t appear that Harper will play for either team this season, as he’s reportedly mainly considering the Phillies and Giants.
• Adam Zielonka can be reached at azielonka@washingtontimes.com.
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