Wire Taps: Bryce Harper and Mike Trout in Philly?; How to help the Nationals’ rotation; Cues from Mike Rizzo’s past

Thanksgiving is over. Black Friday has come and gone. The heat directed towards oven, once filled with turkey and pie, has been redirected to the Hot Stove.

Welcome to the real offseason, folks.

Here’s the news from Nationals Park:

What does Mike Rizzo’s trade history tell us about this Nationals offseason? (WaPo)
Rizzo likes flipping mid-tier prospects for mid-tier starters with upside. That doesn't really fit the Corey Kluber, Zack Greinke, or Noah Syndergaard mold, so it may be a "buy-low" situation with the likes of Marcus Stroman or Sonny Gray — then again, they could have higher aims.

Prospects or cash to help the rotation? (NBC Sports Washington)
The Nationals don't have much going for their rotation beyond Strasburg and Scherzer, but Patrick Corbin and Dallas Keuchel will cost a pretty penny — bearing the question if the team should go all-in with a Madison Bumgarner trade or a low-level J.A. Happ-esque signing.

Introducing James Bourque (NatsGM)
Bourque, a U of M grad (Go Blue!), has a fastball, change, and slider and is projected for a bullpen role potentially as soon as next season.

HARPER Taps:

Bryce Harper and Mike Trout together in Philly someday? It’s not crazy (The Athletic)
Mike Trout loves Philly sports, and while it's A) a while away and B) going to be very, very, very expensive, it's possible the Phillies could create what the Nationals should have gotten for themselves in the 2009 and 2010 drafts: A Harper-Trout outfield featuring two of the game's generational talents that will no longer compete with each other, with Harper's personality and flair balanced with Trout's skillset.

Bryce Harper to be guest picker on ‘ESPN College GameDay’ in Columbus (Land-Grant Holy Land)
Bryce Harper, whose wife, Kayla, played soccer for OSU, probably will pick the superior Michigan Wolverines and certainly not the Ohio State Buckeyes who he feels *no* allegiance towards.

St Louis Cardinals need to offer [Marcell] Ozuna a contract extension (Belleville News-Democrat)
"If I am a big time free agent like Bryce Harper, the money is going to be important in the decision about where I sign to play for the next decade or so. But the second most important consideration is that I would want to go to a place where I was going to have a chance to be in the playoffs and win a World Series or two. Without Ozuna, the Cardinals don’t really have any protection in the batting order for Harper."