Bryce Harper's Scary Knee Injury Diagnosed As A "Significant" Bone Bruise

Here’s a swerving, M. Night Shyamalan-esque update on Bryce Harper’s knee injury, sustained Saturday night in Washington’s win over the Giants:

Everything up to the word “optimistic” is good news! No tears! Nats optimistic! A bruise! Maybe Harper will be back out there in another week or two! And then the ending comes around—optimistic he’ll play this friggin’ season—and, man, that stinks. The Nationals play 48 more games in 2017. If you’re telling me you’re optimistic he’ll play in any of them, you’re not telling me much.

Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo said he felt the team “dodged a bullet” with this injury:

The Nationals plugged rookie Andrew Stevenson into Harper’s place in the lineup last night, and have reportedly recalled Michael A. Taylor from a rehab assignment at Double-A Harrisburg, where he’s working his way back from an oblique injury. Harper was placed on the 10-day disabled list, but Rizzo’s comments don’t inspire a lot of confidence that he’ll be back out there before the end of August. Washington’s outfield has been crushed by injuries this season—all of Harper, Jayson Werth, Adam Eaton, Chris Heisey, and Ryan Rayburn have spent time on the disabled list, and Taylor is just now coming off it—but the prolonged absence of Harper would be by far the biggest blow. The injury looked pretty ugly—the fact that there’s no structural damage has to be good news. I guess.