Bryce Harper gained steam on the eve of Tuesday's 4 p.m. ET non-waiver trade deadline Curtis Granderson Jersey , but theWashington Nationalsmade it clear his immediate future was in the nation's capital.Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo made it clear Tuesday morning that the team did not plan on trading its star outfielder, perChelsea Janes of the Washington Post:"Bryce is not going anywhere. I believe in this team."Those comments shouldn't come as much of a surprise, given that Rizzo recently told106.7 The Fan (h/t The Athletic'sKen Rosenthal) that Harper is "near and dear to my heart personally."A Nationals official also recently toldRosenthalthat the team would not improve by trading the face of the franchise."I'm glad to still be in this clubhouse," Harper told reporters after the deadline, adding that Rizzo personally assured him he wasn't being moved.Rumors have popped up as the team is in the midst of a disappointing season. After winning 95-plus games and making the playoffs in each of the past two campaigns, the team sits at 52-53 and in third place in the National League East. It is 5.5 games back both in the division and in the wild-card race.There wasspeculationthat the Nationals' series against the Miami Marlins this past weekend was going to determine whether they would be buyers or sellers at the deadline. After splitting the four-game series, their status remained unclear.Until Tuesday, that is.Harper has long been expected to command one of the largest contracts in baseball history when he hits free agency this winter. However Jaime Garcia Jersey , like his team, he has struggled in 2018. He is hitting just .220, although he still has 25 home runs and 62 RBI.Of course, his top moment of the season came when he put on a show for the hometown crowd at the 2018 Home Run Derby:That may have given him a boost heading into the second half, as he has hit .286 with two home runs, one double and eight RBI in nine games since the All-Star break.Trading Harper wouldn't necessarily preclude Washington from re-signing the 2015 NL MVP this offseason. It's hard to see, though, how it would help its cause http://www.bluejaysfanproshop.com/authentic-curtis-granderson-jersey , other than the fact that it could bring back players who could help it win in the future.Teams may have been intrigued by the possibility of acquiring Harper at the deadline, but it appears as though the league will have to wait until the winter to make a run at the six-time All-Star. WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — If three-time Cy Young Award winner Max Scherzer has his way, Major League Baseball’s pitch clock will die in the South Florida humidity.“I know as players that’s something that MLB is trying to negotiate,” the Washington Nationals ace said Saturday night. “I don’t think there’s negotiation here. As players, it just shouldn’t be in the game. Having a pitch clock, if you have ball-strike implications, that’s messing with the fabric of the game. There’s no clock in baseball and there’s no clock in baseball for a reason.”After pushing for an agreement with players last season Freddy Galvis Jersey , management decided on its own to experiment with a 20-second pitch clock during spring training this year, part of the sport’s effort to speed the pace of play. Owners have the right to implement the clock for the regular season but would prefer to reach an agreement with the union.Under the phase-in designed to allow teams to get used to the concept without fear of penalty, pitchers and batters who were taking too long in Saturday’s games were merely warned to hurry up.When the policy, which has been used in some minor leagues since 2015, is phased in, a ball could be charged in certain situations to pitchers who do not begin their motion in time. Batters delaying the game might draw a strike.Washington played its Grapefruit League opener Saturday night against Houston. Scherzer came close to using the full 20 seconds on a couple of occasions with runners on base, but the clock didn’t expire.The Ballpark of the Palm Beaches features a pitch clock beneath the main outfield scoreboard and two at ground level behind home plate near each dugout.“Now having to actually throw to it, I think it’s more of a distraction than anything Randal Grichuk Jersey ,” Scherzer said. “I get that there are parts of the game that we can clean up and I think that there can be meaningful changes. I’m fundamentally against this.”A newly elected member of the Major League Baseball Players Association’s executive board, Scherzer felt his first outing dragging a bit, attributing the slow play to a high amount of foul balls. He referenced an article published a few days ago by FiveThirtyEight citing an increase in foul balls as being a major reason for longer games.“I’m not going to put my name next to this clock,” he said.Scherzer allowed one run on Jake Marisnick’s homer, one of three hits he gave up in two innings. He struck out three and walked one while throwing 25 of 44 pitches for strikes.The home run by Marisnick to straightaway center field led off the game and came on a 2-2 fastball.“It’s a fastball right down the middle, that’s what it goes back to,” Scherzer said. “I’ve got to get that fastball to the edge.”