If you're looking for signs as to whether Bryce Harper stays in D.C. past his current contract, the Adam Eaton trade could be the writing on the right-field wall.

By now, you've probably heard that the Washington Nationals acquired Eaton from the Chicago White Sox during last week's winter meetings. And you're probably aware that within minutes of the trade being announced, Harper sent out a cryptic tweet that said simply:

Wow... — Bryce Harper (@Bharper3407) December 7, 2016

Not long after that, I wrote a story that examined Harper's subtext. Maybe the wow meant he was psyched to have Eaton slotted in to play center field next to him. Alternatively, maybe the wow meant Harper was bummed about GM Mike Rizzo coughing up three of Washington's top pitching prospects for a guy who's a zero-time All-Star. But there's a third potential meaning I didn't discuss. If you're a Nats fan and/or a Bryce Harper fan (or dare I say a Yankees fan?), this meaning could be the most significant: Perhaps the wow meant Harper thinks the writing is on the wall -- that by acquiring Eaton, the Nationals are sending a clear message that when Harper becomes a free agent following the 2018 season, the team has absolutely no intention of trying to re-sign him.

To be clear, Bryce Harper and Adam Eaton are very different players. Despite coming off a down year, Harper is a former first overall pick who's viewed as a generational talent and who in 2015 became the youngest player in MLB history to be named a unanimous MVP. Meanwhile, Eaton is a former 19th-rounder who has never scored 100 runs in a season, never hit 30 doubles or 15 homers, never stolen 20 bases, never had an .800 OPS and never finished higher than 19th in the MVP voting. Despite all that, Eaton is a really solid baseball player who posted a 6.2 WAR last season, good enough for top 10 in the American League. He also happens to be one of the best right fielders -- if not the best -- in the game.

If the term "right field" rings a bell, it should, because it's the same position that Harper plays. Although Harper has logged time in center field -- it was his primary position as a rookie in 2012 -- odds are that come Opening Day, it'll be Eaton in center and Harper in right. The thing is, Eaton isn't nearly as valuable in the middle of the outfield as he is in the corner.

In 363 career games as a center fielder (most of them prior to last season), Eaton has accounted for minus-8 runs saved. In other words, if you buy into defensive metrics, when Eaton is stationed in center, he hurts more than he helps. As for right field, that's a completely different story. Last season, in his first stint as a full-time right fielder, Eaton was a revelation, tallying 22 runs saved, second best in the majors behind Mookie Betts. For his career, in 117 games in right field, Eaton is credited with 24 runs saved. To recap, Adam Eaton The Right Fielder has saved 400 percent more runs in roughly a third as many games as Adam Eaton The Center Fielder, which basically means Right Fielder Eaton is approximately 12 times as good as Center Fielder Eaton. Or something like that. Another way to put it? When Eaton slides over from center to right, he goes from being Roberto Kelly to being Roberto Clemente. Or something like that.

If you're not familiar with Roberto Kelly, he's a former Yankees center fielder who spent 14 seasons in the bigs and was a two-time All-Star. Was he a reasonably productive player in his own right? Sure. But when a well-respected GM such as Rizzo ships out three top pitching prospects in the same deal, it's hard not to think he's envisioning getting Roberto Clemente (not Kelly) in return. All of which is a really roundabout (and exaggerated) way of saying that long term, the Nationals would probably be better served having Eaton play right field instead of center. Odds are, Harper is well aware of this.

Who knows, maybe Rizzo acquired Eaton with the intention of having him play right and shifting Harper over to center? Then again, maybe the plan was to have Eaton -- whose contract features five more years of team control -- play center for the next two seasons, then mosey on over to right once Harper becomes a free agent in a couple of years.

Speaking of Harper's free agency, on Monday of the winter meetings, USA Today reported the Nationals had been turned off by Harper's lofty demands in earlier contract extension talks (10-plus years, $400 million-plus) and were fully prepared to let their superstar right fielder hit the market in two years. On Wednesday, two days after the USA Today report, Rizzo went out and snagged a premier defensive right fielder, paying a surprisingly steep price in the process. Four minutes later, Harper went all, "Wow..."

Coincidence? Maybe. Perhaps it's all posturing. Maybe the Nationals are throwing up a smoke screen. Maybe they have every intention of trying to keep Harper in D.C., either by locking him up early to a long-term extension or by outbidding everyone else in the fall of '18. After all, if you're Mike Rizzo and you're trying to give your club the financial flexibility it needs to sign Harper, locking up a gamer such as Eaton for five years at a shockingly team-friendly cost of $7.7 million per (average annual value) isn't a bad start.

If, however, the Nats end up letting Harper walk, and if Eaton succeeds him in right field, it will be hard not to view last week's trade as the writing on the wall.