The Washington Nationals split up with two top performers on Tuesday. While Second Baseman Daniel Murphy joins the Chicago Cubs, Matt Adams returns to his former place of work. Bryce Harper, however, remains in the capital.
Tuesday was an eventful day for the Washington Nationals. First they sent Murphy to Chicago. In return, the Nats Infield prospect received Andruw Monasterio and an unknown sum of cash.
Afterwards, Nationals First Baseman let Matt Adams go via Waiver Claim for nothing in return. This means that Adams will return to St. Louis, where he was already active from 2012 to 2017, while the Cardinals will pay the full remaining salary of Adams this season – approximately $877,000.
It also leaked that the Los Angeles Dodgers had made a claim for superstar Bryce Harper. However, the waiver claim expired without reaching a trade, so the outfielder can no longer be traded this season.
As journalist Bill Plunkett of Orange County Register reported, the Dodgers had no intention of acquiring Harper anyway. Their only concern was to prevent Harper from falling into the hands of direct competition in the fight for the playoffs.
However, Nationals seem to be gradually giving up hope of playoff participation with these moves. In the National League East, they are 7 1/2 games behind the leaders and 6 games behind the second wildcard – with three teams in between.
This article was published without previous view by the Major League Baseball.