Bryce Harper is supposed to play today after sitting out a week with a calf strain. Bryce believes the injury will keep him from making the big club:

“Probably not,” he said in answer to a question about whether he still has a chance to be picked to go north with the team. Then, he added, “It’s all good though.”

Of course, if he spends the last two weeks hitting like he did before the injury, Davey Johnson will make a big push to bring Harper to Washington. My guess is the Nationals will want to get the seventh year of control, so they’ll keep Bryce down long enough that he won’t be a free agent until after the 2018 season.

On the other hand, they could do what the Rays did with Evan Longoria, and just sign Harper to a long term deal right away. A ten-year contract keeps Bryce in the fold through his prime. I wonder how much they’d need to offer to get Harper to sign. I’m sure Scott Boras would love to have Harper hit the free agent market at 26, but a $100 million, 10-year contract might be tough to reject.