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Report: Teams believe Nationals won't trade star players

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The Washington Nationals might be slipping out of the postseason race, but competing clubs aren't under the impression they'll be able to acquire Nationals stars.

"Other teams are now suggesting that they believe (the Nationals) will hold on to (their star) players," Jon Heyman of MLB Network said on Tuesday's edition of the "Big Time Baseball" podcast. "Right now, I would say I don't expect them to do that fire sale that we've been kind of suggesting that might happen, and I'm pretty sure that Max Scherzer will not be traded at this point."

Scherzer, 34, is in the midst of yet another career season, authoring a 2.62 ERA and 2.19 FIP. General manager Mike Rizzo recently dispelled the notion the Nationals would shop their ace.

"We're certainly not thinking about that right now," Rizzo told Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic last week. "We control the best pitcher in baseball for two-and-a-half more years - three playoff runs. He's extremely well-priced. If you look at his contract, he's extremely, extremely well-priced. We would have to command something that would be franchise-altering to consider moving him."

Scherzer has won two Cy Young awards since signing a record-breaking seven-year, $210-million contract with the Nationals, and finished as the runner-up once. The right-hander is owed $84.2 million beyond the 2019 campaign.

Heyman also speculated that Anthony Rendon, a pending free agent, would not be traded either. Rendon is hitting .310/.403/.639 this season with 16 home runs and leads all qualified third basemen in wRC+.

Despite a three-game win streak, the Nationals sit in third place in the division, three games under .500 and a mere 1/2-game up on the fourth-place New York Mets.

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