Close your eyes, Washington Nationals fans, and picture it: Bryce Harper and Jason Heyward, two of the game's most dynamic young players, roaming the outfield together.
It's far from a sure thing, but it's also not an impossible dream.
The rumor, which dropped as the winter meetings were wrapping up in Nashville, Tennessee, on Thursday, came courtesy of CBSSports.com's Jon Heyman:
Heyman added Heyward is "said to have a $200 million offer," more likely from St. Louis or Washington than from the Chicago Cubs—the outfielder's other possible suitor. Heyman mentioned a possible unnamed fourth interested party as well.
That figure is no surprise. The 26-year-old Heyward is one of the winter's most coveted free agents. If Zack Greinke and David Price can sail past the $200 million mark, why not him?
And remember, the Nats were the team that swooped in and signed right-hander Max Scherzer last offseason for $210 million to cap off their supposed super-rotation.
Scherzer pitched well, twirling a pair of no-hitters, but the Nationals' season crumbled into a heap of injury and infighting.
Now, they've got a shot at redemption. Why not aim for it with a super outfield, anchored by a pair of legit five-tool studs? Call them the 10-tool twosome.
There are a lot of ways to illustrate how good a Harper-Heyward tandem would be. While wins above replacement (WAR) is an imperfect stat, it works just fine here.
By FanGraphs' measure, Harper paced the field in WAR with a 9.5 mark. Heyward, meanwhile, checked in at No. 17 in the game with 6.0 WAR. That combined 15.5 mark would have been the highest of any two teammates in the game, eclipsing the Los Angeles Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw (8.6) and Greinke (5.9), who combined for 14.5 WAR.
Harper was the superior hitter last year in his breakout National League MVP season, as he cracked 42 home runs with an eye-popping 1.109 OPS. But Heyward turned in a well-rounded offensive performance of his own, posting a .293/.359/.439 slash line and stealing 23 bases.
Oh, and he was the best defensive right fielder in the game.
Speaking of which, right field in the nation's capital is currently occupied by Harper, who started 139 of his 151 games there. His other starts came in center field, but the more likely move would be to put Heyward there.
Heyward started only eight games in center in 2015, but the three-time Gold Glove winner's range and leather are more than adequate to man the position full time. Or, at least, until veteran Jayson Werth—who is owed $42 million over the next two seasons—vacates his outfield spot.
As long as we're looking down the road, it's worth asking if sinking big bucks into Heyward would preclude the Nationals from locking up Harper when he hits the market after the 2018 season. It's entirely possible the answer is "yes."
But here's another perspective: The Nats might not be able to sign Harper at that point—Heyward or not. Remember, Harper just turned 23 in October, meaning he'll be slightly younger than Heyward is now when he inevitably tests free agency, and he will have likely put up gaudier numbers.
With deep-pocketed suitors such as the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers and basically everyone else with two nickels to rub together lining up, Harper could land a deal that makes Giancarlo Stanton's $325 million pact with the Miami Marlins look like couch-cushion change.
A similar argument can be made about right-hander Stephen Strasburg, who will become a free agent next winter, as Fox Sports' Ken Rosenthal noted:
We're getting ahead of ourselves, though. For this season, and the next couple of seasons, a Harper-Heyward union has the potential to rock the MLB world. These are generational talents. And while nothing is guaranteed, putting them in the same dugout could be one of the more face-meltingly awesome experiments in recent baseball history.
Would it be enough to propel Washington past the defending NL champion New York Mets and their stellar young rotation? There's no telling, though the fact that Heyward has tagged Mets pitchers to the tune of a .917 career OPS has to make the Washington faithful smile a little.
They'll be smiling a lot if this rumor turns out to have legs. Sure, it may be another hot-stove mirage—one of many pulse-raising scenarios that remain forever in hypothetical limbo.
"Heyward to D.C." didn't sound probable in mid-November if you listened to Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo.
"I wouldn't think we’d be big players for one of the big free-agent outfielders," Rizzo said at the time, per James Wagner of the Washington Post. "We like the three guys that we have. We think Michael Taylor is going to be a terrific major league player."
A lot can change in a month, especially this time of year. And it has, if the chatter is to be believed.
So go ahead and close your eyes, Nats fans. You had a rough season. You deserve to dream big.
All statistics and contract information current as of Dec. 11 and courtesy of FanGraphs and Baseball-Reference.com unless otherwise noted.
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