SI's Jon Heyman has word on Bryce Harper's expected demand after the 17-year-old catcher is drafted next month. Heyman says the Scott Boras advisee "will seek to break last year's record $15.67 million bonus set by Stephen Strasburg." It should be noted that in most places Strasburg's big league deal is reported as $15.1MM. That deal included a $7.5MM bonus. Back on April 20th, Baseball America's Jim Callis predicted Harper would sign for eight figures but less than Strasburg. For more on the largest contracts in draft history, check out Mike Axisa's recent post. On to Heyman's other rumors…
- Heyman writes of pessimism that the Phillies can re-sign Jayson Werth.
- Heyman adds that "People around baseball do expect the Phillies to make a huge effort to extend Jimmy Rollins beyond 2011, though there's no evidence there's any progress on that front." Perhaps as a sign of goodwill, the Phillies exercised Rollins' $8.5MM club option for 2011 in December of '09. Will the Phils give Rollins the Ryan Howard treatment, and extend him well before they need to?
Where has Heyman been? Hasn’t Harper said he wanted the largest contract for any drafted player for a while?
Where do you guys think Werth will end up?
whoever loses out on Crawford. Not the Phillies though
i’d have to say the giants. just a guess. maybe the mariners
I hope the Red Sox can attempt to get him, put him in right…move youk to 3rd(if beltre declines his option of course)and not sure if drew ever played first but maybe put drew and martinez as dh/1b, sign a good defensive catcher who can throw runners out! then elsbury back in center! and hermida/cameron in left? unless they wanna go all out and get crawford but yea thats not happenin…lol they should have signed cameron for one year not two
YEAH! and we can move Pedroia to right! Scutaro to 2nd, and bring Iglesias up to play SS!!!!!!!! /end sarcasm. Teams don’t just move players around like that. Drew will be in right next year. Youk will be first (unless they get a 1B through trade).
If the Nationals get scared off Harper because of price concerns, at least they’ll have their principles to be proud of when they turn into the Pirates. Taking the best player available works out better than saving money nine times out of ten.
Haha, It’d be nice for Harper to prove something outside of jr college before him and his rep start demanding some mega deal. At least Strasburg proved something in a division I level school, this kid is coming up as a 17 year old and wants to shatter record bonuses as if he’s ready to help contribute to a major league team.
I’d like to see this guy face some major league pitching to bring him and his representation down from cloud 9.
I seriously just don’t get this.
1. The kid kills it in HS as a sophomore. There is literally nothing left to prove. He gets crucified in the media (and from people on this site) for skipping HS and jumping into college baseball. All he wants to do is play against better competition.
2. So, he goes to a JR college (which he HAD to do since he didn’t have a 4 year degree). The JR college is one of the very best in the nation (currently ranked 4th). He’s putting up a 417/507/899 line. He has 21 HR’s in 51 games (the next best power hitter has 10 HR’s). He’s also stolen 16 bases. All while playing catcher – using a wood bat.
3. He has played in virtually every competitive tournament imaginable. It’s not like he is ducking out against tough opponents. The kid has challenged himself with every opportunity presented to him. He hasn’t been handled or coddled. To the contrary – he’s been thrown into the fire with players who are older and more experienced. Yet, he has still dominated.
4. I like Strasburg a lot. Think he will be a solid pitcher for years to come. However, if I had a choice today I would take Harper over Strasburg. Let’s give them both 5 years and see where they are.
5. In any event, Harper will break Strasburg’s record. His leverage is far superior to Strasburg’s. Being able to go back to school for what would be the equivalent of his senior year of HS could be pretty tempting if the offer from the Nats sucks.
stop usin’ that der dang logic around these parts! ya’ here?
You make some good points but my argument mainly stems from the fact that Strasburg is a polished major league ready athlete. Not only is his stuff about as good as it gets out of the college level, he’s faced legitimate NCAA division I talent and dominated them. While Harper is undoubtedly a special talent I’m not sure that as a 17-18 yr old he can jump through the minors at a record pace and while he’s putting up monster stats there coming against the junior college level. There’s a pretty big jump between that, NCAA div I, and the minor leagues. While there both phenoms Strasburg at least for me deserves the larger bonus as he’s on the cusp of seeing major league action.
Harper’s College League isn’t that good. Sure his team is the powerhouse but there are maybe 1-2 good teams out side of that and the rest produced few drafted players the past few years. I forget the exact numbers (read them in a quote) but the quality of pitching at times isn’t much better than career single A players.
btw it is worth noting, who cares if his team is the powerhouse? Not like he is facing his team’s pitching
Fair enough – don’t compare him to opposing teams. Compare him to the rest of his team (which is a powerhouse team). Here’s Harper’s stats and ranking relative to the rest of his teammates:
Avg: 417 (1)
Runs: 65 (1)
RBIs: 64 (1)
Hits: 70 (1)
2B’s: 16 (1)
HR: 21 (1)
SB: 16 (T-1)
BB: 31 (2)
Team leaders in OPS:
Harper – 1406
Delp – 1026
Cook – 980
Kirk – 923
That 400 point spread between Harper and the next best offensive player (who is, by the way, having a great season) is bigger than the difference between the career numbers of Albert Pujols and Yuniesky Bentacourt.
I honestly just don’t know what people want out of him. And for the record, at this age Strasburg was a good, but nothing amazing, HS pitcher. Wasn’t drafted and ended up going to just a decent college baseball program. This isn’t to knock Strasburg at all (whom I think will be great). It’s just to point at that at this stage Harper is light years ahead of Strasburg and is by far the best amateur player going into the draft.
I still think you missed my point completely. Atleast Strasburg did his work against future minor leaguers even big leaguers instead of Harper vs barely draftable players. Like the other poster said, there is a huge difference between DI and JC. Not saying Harper isn’t special and the top prospect in this years draft but he isn’t on the Arod/Griffey Level as far as talent goes. And I would put Strasburg ahead of Harper too easily. He dominated the closest to ML talent you can get in college and though it took him a while to hone his skills I put more value on that than Harper vs undrafted pitchers.
But you have to look at talent based off their age. What was Strasburg doing at 17? Who did he face? How dominant was he?
At age 17 there is no question that Harper is playing against better competition AND performing at a higher level. And honestly there are no direct comparables to Harper. We don’t have stud players coming out of Div I baseball at 17. It just has never happened. The best comparables to Harper are guys like A-Rod and the Uptons who were most certainly facing inferior competition to what Harper sees on a daily basis.
Why is Harper’s leverage superior to Strassburgs? The reason for saying that is because he is younger, and college etc etc.
Everything this guy has done for the last 10 years is signing big baseball contract. He will not want to wait another year and risk injury, and it will only delay free agency which is where the big money is.
If he gets offered a big contract, he will sign it, even if it doesn’t beat Strassburg, who was more proven, older and more mature.
Even Boras states that Stasburg was a special player and that Harper isn’t on that level.
And if the Nats select him, why wouldn’t you want to sign with the Nats – they have good young talent. Next years #1 pick will be with a team with little to no young talent. So you may get a million more, but have to play for the pirates. I would rather take a million less and catch Strasburg.
A-Rod, Mauer, and Justin Upton didn’t prove themselves at EVEN the junior college level before getting big bonuses as number one overall draft picks. In fact, they only proved themselves at lower levels at an older age. Jason Heyward dropped in the draft because teams worried too much about the level of competition he faced. Got any more wisdom for us? Do you think only college players should be drafted 1.1? A few hall of famers would like to talk to you.
Heyman has been wrong on numerous things lately regarding the Nats and I think this is another. I doubt Harper gets more than Strasburg did and if he does it’ll be the biggest bonus in history but for far more years.
if memory serves, strasburg got a $15.067 million signing bonus. thus, the confusion. harper won’t touch that, but there will be a ton of pressure to draft him first, so it doesn’t hurt to be a bit bold….
BTW, Harper can pitch and has thrown the ball at 98 mph at age 16. He could probably be as good a pitcher as Strasburg if that’s the direction he wanted to go in. He is the LeBron of baseball, and will get a record contract.
BTW, Harper can pitch and has thrown the ball at 98 mph at age 16. He could probably be as good a pitcher as Strasburg if that’s the direction he wanted to go in. He is the LeBron of baseball, and will get a record contract.