Indians have discussed a Bryce Harper trade

The trade deadline is officially less than a 24 hours away, so that means it’s time for insiders to start dumping any and all trade rumors they have before focus shifts to the playoffs.

In this case, it’s Jon Paul Morosi of MLB.com with a rumor that the Cleveland Indians have “communicated recently” about a potential trade involving Bryce Harper. Similar to the Joey Gallo trade rumors (as much as I now want them to be true), this sounds a lot like the Indians doing their due diligence and not much else.

Morosi’s piece mentions several times that a deal isn’t likely and this was not much more than two teams talking about a team on a potential trading block. If anything, I think this is more interesting from the Washington Nationals side as it means they’re listening on Bryce Harper trades and selling at the deadline.

To get a few months of Bryce Harper, you can bet the Indians would need to send over their top overall prospect, Triston McKenzie, and a whole lot more. Potentially Shane Bieber — as Morosi notes — and maybe even something else to sweeten the pot. The Indians were also in on the Manny Machado rumors until the very last day, but they apparently bowed out when the Orioles were asking for McKenzie and/or Francisco Mejia in return for a rental of the shortstop/third baseman.

Harper fills a much bigger need as an outfielder — and he’s Bryce freakin’ Harper — but I would still be very surprised to see a deal come anywhere close to happening.

Thank you for participating in this heavily SEO’d post that contains the words “Indians”, “Bryce Harper”, and “trade rumor” in the title. Don’t forget to check out Let’s Talk Tribe live tonight on fb.com/letsgotribe and subscribe on iTunes.