Bryce Harper on the possibility of becoming a National for life: "We'll see"

Bryce Harper became the fourth-youngest player in baseball history to win a Most Valuable Player award when he received the National League's highest honor earlier tonight. The slugger is the first member of the Nationals/Expos to win the award, and Harper joins Hall of Famer Walter Johnson (1913 and 1924) and Roger Peckinpaugh (1925) of the American League's Washington Senators as D.C. MVP honorees.

Harper's rookie contract keeps him under the Nationals' control through the 2018 season. But is now the time for the team to negotiate an extension to keep the phenom in the nation's capital long into the next decade? It's a deal that guarantees to fetch more than $300 million, maybe $400 million - who knows? - for Harper. It's also a negotiation that Harper's agent, Scott Boras, isn't likely to jump into this offseason, especially with the 23-year-old just experiencing an historic breakout season resulting in his first MVP.

After winning the MVP, Harper was asked whether he would welcome the talk of a contract extension this winter.

"I'm definitely very excited to be part of the Nationals organization," Harper responded. "I think being able to play in that stadium, play for this city, this town ... Being around the fans and just being around the city. I mean, it's such a great place to play. It's a monumental town. Everything happens there. I think baseball is up and coming. I think the things that we've done in the last couple years has been a lot of fun for us. As a team, as an organization, we've grown into an elite team and I think we're just gonna keep getting better and better. Mike Rizzo's done a great job in the draft. He's done a great job with this team. And the hiring of Dusty Baker ... I mean, this is just gonna help put us over the top."

Harper won the NL Rookie of the Year in 2012 as the Nationals coasted to an NL East title in the first of four consecutive winning seasons. The Lerner family hsa proven its willingness to spend money to bring the best players to Washington to contend for championships. So why wouldn't Harper want to stay in D.C. instead of chasing pinstripes in the Big Apple?

"I'm definitely excited about the upcoming years and very excited to further my career as a National," Harper continued. "But I have a couple more years in D.C. and then hopefully, at the end of that, we can do what we can and maybe be a National for life. We'll see."

Rizzo was asked at the general managers meetings last week if locking up Harper is in his plans for this offseason.

"We want Bryce to be here for a long, long time," Rizzo told reporters. "He's a guy I've seen play forever, it seems - since he was 14. He's a guy we drafted, signed, developed and he's turned into an MVP-type player for us.

"We love the guy. We've got him locked in for the near future. We certainly would love for him to be a National for life."

We'll see.