Bryce Harper Reportedly Won't Be Traded by Nationals After Dodgers Waiver Claim

The Washington Nationals have decided to wave the white flag, but impending free agent Bryce Harper reportedly will not be among the Nationals traded. 

Grant Paulsen of 106.7 The Fan reported on Tuesday that the Los Angeles Dodgers had placed a revocable waiver claim on the outfielder. However, Jon Heyman of Fancred followed that up minutes later by tweeting Harper's waivers had expired, meaning he could no longer be traded.

At 62-63, Washington is 7.5 games back in the National League East and 6.5 back in the Wild Card race. With just 37 games left to play, the organization decided it was time to start breaking up the team. The Nationals traded three-time All-Star Daniel Murphy to the Chicago Cubs and Matt Adams to the St. Louis Cardinals.

Those moves had some wondering if Harper would be the next to leave town. As it turns out, that won't be the case.

All of this comes just three weeks after Washington decided not to give up on the season at the non-waiver trade deadline. MLB.com's Mark Feinsand reported at the time that the Nationals had let teams around the league know that Harper was available. However, general manager Mike Rizzo made it clear that the face of the franchise wasn't going anywhere, via Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post:

That belief quickly vanished as the team dug itself an even bigger hole by going 9-10 in August.

Harper is having a relative down year, hitting just .246, which would be the second-lowest average of his career. He does, however, rank tied for second in the NL with 30 home runs and tied for first with 91 walks. He has caught fire, though, in the second half after winning the Home Run Derby at Nationals Park, hitting .350 with seven home runs, nine doubles and 25 RBI.

And yet, it hasn't been enough to keep Washington in the thick of postseason contention.

Harper is set to become a free agent after the season, so the Nationals are risking losing him for nothing more than a compensation pick. On the other hand, trading him would likely decrease their odds of signing the 25-year-old star in free agency.