The twists and turns keep coming in the public on-again off-again courtship between the Washington Nationals and free agent outfielder Bryce Harper. The Athletic’s Jim Bowden tweeted last night that the Nationals latest offer to Harper was actually “much more” than the $300MM commonly quoted. Per Bowden, the 10-year, $300MM offer was merely the first offer the Nationals made to their erstwhile superstar. The offer as stated – seen by many as the low-end of what Harper might expect – has been the single biggest signifier that the Nats are ready to move on from Harper, but the ongoing entanglement between the two sides is evidently more complex.
There’s lots to read into this, of course, especially given recent rumblings about Harper. In the context of the White Sox being unwilling to move beyond a 7-year bid, sources from 670 The Score’s Bruce Levine said that Harper has multiple ten-year offers in hand. Presumably, this meant offers from multiple teams, but given the lack of specifics, we have been left to speculate about which teams might have already extended such a deal.
The Cubs are keeping tabs, but it doesn’t appear as if they’ve made an offer. The Phillies would be most people’s guess, but Harper himself didn’t attend Philly’s initial chat with Scott Boras during the winter meetings, which could presume it was more of a “testing of the waters” type precursor to the face-to-face meeting planned with Harper this week. There were mixed reports about the Dodgers meeting with Harper early in December, but besides the hailstorm of rumors set off by the Puig-Kemp trade, there hasn’t been much concrete linkage between the two sides since. The juiciest bit of news has been the recent report of a five-hour meeting just before Christmas between Harper, Boras, and Nationals owner Ted Lerner. Matter of fact, Levine’s mention of ten-year “offers” could just as easily refer to multiple ten-year offers from the Nationals. Combine that with Bowden’s tweet from last night and it’s hard not to put the Nats in pole position at this stage. Still, until something more concrete comes from Harper’s camp, the best we have is conjecture.
Just sign somewhere already
Greatest username ever!
Guaranteed to be stolen for many readers’ fantasy teams
Yup I’m taking it… lol
already been done
Absolutely going to happen by me too. This is where we need a like button on here
Bunch of syndergarters
fo sho
No,hope it drags on til March to move the price down haha,with Scot Boras Ego it might,still say he going west but if he stays east I think it’s Washington with the newest offer.
What does “Scot Boras ego” have to do with anything? One more time, the agent works for the player, and the player makes the decision to accept or decline the contract.
While you aren’t wrong, the player hires a particular agent for a reason. Scott Boras has a track record, so when you hire Scott Boras over any other agent you are saying, “I trust your decision making and will let you do your thing.” If the player was going to make the decision without the opinion of his agent, why would you hire one, especially one of the more expensive, high profile ones?
And to add on, Scott Boras also routinely holds meetings with team reps without his clients present, a la Boras’s meeting with Philly on Harper in Vegas. Agents have a significant amount of say in the process. If a team hates dealing with a specific agent, that agent’s clients will likely not get signed by that team. If an agent thinks his/her client can get a better deal elsewhere, the player may not sign with that team even if he wants to, a la Patrick Corbin – everyone knows he grew up a Yankee fan, but his agent got him a better deal in Washington, so that’s where he ends up.
Again, the agent might go to the meetings solo, but they report back directly to their client, who makes the final decision. The player is never forced to sign with a team he doesn’t want to sign with.
Your post is really confusing, is it pro or con on Boras? Agents almost always meet with teams without the client being present. A player pays his agent to be his proxy for negotiations, just like when you hire a lawyer to negotiate a settlement.
true but Strasburg hired Boras too and re-upped before free agency
A player is only required to be at contract negotiations one time under the CBA and I would bet most follow that.
Those are just rumors to jack up the price!!!
Let’s see how this ends up. Multiple ten year offers? I have my personal doubts.
I just posted almost the same thought. Time will tell.
how many of his “many” long term contract, or for that matter any long term contract have worked out for the TEAM. NO MORE long term contracts.
If you payed any attention over the years it’s no secret to the owners,some don’t even deal with the player because of Boras
Now you know you have to read something more than 3 times to comprehend whatever it is you just read.
It’s not ego, it’s business. Boras has a job and he’s really, really good at his job. I don’t care how long it takes for him to sign, I’m just glad I get baseball news.
10 yrs 300 million? That’s a clown contract, bro.
I’ve been waiting for someone to say that, you didn’t disappoint
It sure is! He’s not worth that much. 7/210MM
A clown is any GM who signs him for even the low end of what he’s asking. Can you imagine paying, say, $35 mill for a guy to hit less than .250 and play less than league average defense. At least he’ll draw some walks (while striking out an ample amount) and have a good obp!
I agree I don’t understand why more people don’t see this
Good !!! STL, sign Rendon next year when the Nationals can’t afford to keep him . Better yet, trade for one of their young stud outfielders that the Nationals are willing to throw to the side !
if harp comes back its Eaton that goes not one of the young guys
I see the Nats trading Taylor before Eaton.
Less value but the money is similar atleast AAV wise
Gorman will be up in a few years so that wouldn’t work out.
No not Eaton can’t be Eaton gone. I remember when they got him the Sabermetric clowns were saying how he was on Trout’s level.
Wow how the tides turn in the analytics world.
Eaton was never on the same level as Trout. He is a great player however who’s suffered some pretty bad injuries. It’s important to put things in context. He didn’t just drop off, he got hurt.
He has always been hurt & yes the Trout example was an exaggeration but his supposed WAR was not as high as Trout’s at the time but his value was close according to the rankings. Which is rediculous
That’s only because teams want Taylor,Eaton is broken Glass
Wow no love for Rendon ?
Gorman will end up being a 1st baseman anyways .
Nationals would be the only team I could see going to something like $375mil over 12 years.. This way you could keep him a lifelong National, and it gives them leverage as probably the only team willing to go over 8-10 years.
The Phillies have been reported to be as high as 9/360 mil, that is an AAV of 40mil, non deferred. I don’t think 12 for 375 for an AAV of 31.25 will get it done. Needs to be a lot higher AAV for a 12 year deal
Where did you get this info on a Phillies offer?
He didn’t.
I’m a Phillies Phaithful. I don’t want to spread the sources name, not sure he would like that on a different site, but it is legit. The offer has since been pulled back since no other team has been close to a 40mil AAV for that many years. They’ll go back to that level if needed.
From one Phillies Phan to another, I would not spread false hope/lies about this. I’ve suffered enough over the years, i have no need or reason to “make it up”. Let the haters down vote it, call it fake, whatever, I fully believe the source, straight from the org. So be confident, Philly is going to offer the most and get 1 of these stars.
That post makes you sound like you’re as high as 24/365.
Lmao
Wonder if maybe he isn’t getting 10 year offers and that’s why he’s waiting? Either way Boras and there were a couple players last year never got anything signed until late and the contracts were discounted from what they were looking for. Repeat this year? Insight anyone?
Boras always plays it slow. The slow market last year was probably more tied to some of the usual big spenders trying to stay under the luxury tax threshold. Bryce is gonna get paid, and it won’t be for a discount. That’s just my take on it anyway
He isn’t worth half of it. But I’m stoked someone out there is going to pay it. Common Dodgers! 500 million for 10 years. Lol
Agree. His career BA is only .279. It’s not like he’s anywhere near a .300 hitter.
It’s not even his batting average. It’s the fact that he’s had like 1 or 2 truly elite seasons mixed in with a bunch of solid but not super impressive seasons.
Trolls gonna troll
Why is it trolling, if true?
.388 career OBP, .900 ops even with some down years in power. Dudes still only 26
Well, two of his last three years have been worth 1.5 war or less.
His defense is why his war is down. You’re signing him for his bat. 132 wRC+ the last three years. Excellent but not hall of fame worthy unless your Harold Baines.
4.2 oWAR last year, which isn’t outstanding but just shows he was hurt by horrible defensive metrics. I’m not able to watch a lot of Nationals games…is his defense really that bad? His defensive numbers for ‘18 are way worse than any other year.
Brian Kenny did a spot on MLB Now focusing on just his defense and it appears he was trying not to get hurt. He had always been aggressive on defense and he was slowing down near walls and pulling up on balls he normally would dive to catch.
For $30-40 million per season, you’re not ‘signing him for his bat’. You’re signing him to be an elite player. If you’re giving him that much money, he can’t be so bad on defense that it wipes out a lot of his offensive value.
U dont pay 30 mill for just a bat, also the bat wasn’t elite last year
Depends on your definition of elite. He had a WRc of 135 last year. Which is tied for 15th in baseball. The thought on MLB Now when discussing his defence was there wasnt any reason to believe he wouldn’t bounce back to average. Route speeds were the same as in the past. He just didn’t sell out on diving and plays at the wall.
Padres458 NOT TRUE. Stanton is a DH @ $30 mil and more. The marlins BACK LOADED his contract so they didn’t have to pay him $30 mil. Also Cathford64 & thegreatcereal–what ever::: Let not for get Boras pushed the CUBs to bring up Byant before the CUBs wanted to., some his client list Here is a few:
Ben Broussard*, Bruce Chen, Eric Gagne, Jose Hernandez, Andruw Jones, Byung-Hyun Kim, Travis Lee, Kyle Lohse, Rodrigo Lopez, Greg Maddux, Corey Patterson, Mark Prior*, Alex Rodriguez, Kenny Rogers, Julian Tavarez, Ron Villone, Jeff Weaver, Brad Wilkerson, are not household name except for Jones, Maddux. I leave A-Roid off because of the Roids. And before ANY of you NNY fans start he admitted to takes suppliments but refused to say roids but the guy who gave it to him and Jose said the took ROIDS. NNY fans shouldn’t try to protect him anyway, he’s never owned that YANKEE honor. He never put himself into a YANKEE mode, which is a mode I think is really good but A-Roid and his slapping the ball out of the 1B glove stuff, issue with Jetter, He’s not YANKEE mode.
He ran into a wall in Chavez a few years ago and ended up on the DL for half the summer. Ever since then he has been extra careful at the wall and along the RF line close to the seats.
He also played some cf last year i believe, which couldn’t have helped his def metrics
Dodgers simply don’t offer lucrative long-term contracts to non-Dodger free agents. Too smart for that.
“Multiple 10 year contracts” (source- trump)
Here’s the thing, both of these two stars come with baggage that most teams will not pursue.
My guess, he will sign with the team offering the highest annual salary, even if it’s 5 or 6 years.
nah, if they sign for small contracts it will probably be the most we have ever seen for AAV for 3, maybe with a player option for 4th year. I cannot see either signing a contract that ends their age 31/32 year.
This is baseball. Don’t be a political douche. Stay on topic.
If I’m one of the very few teams in on Harper or Machado, I would not increase my offer, but instead I tell their agents that from here forward, the offer drops by $2M/day from the initial offer on the table right now.
That’s not how it works lol. That’s how you end up like the Marlins.
It works however the party offering the contract wants it to work, as they are the “master of the offer.” Not many in on their services, can afford to play hardball.
And then there was one.
“You can trust me. I won a contest!”
Don’t become a hostage negotiator. LOL
Right, because a contract to play a game and the fate of someone’s life should be approached in the same manner.
We don’t negotiate with terrorists…
I guess we’re gonna need some more contract negotiation guys..
At this point make your BAFO and give Boras 30 minutes to discuss with Harper. Offer is off the table after 30 minutes and no further offers will be made.
That works if there is no other option available for them to take, but all it takes is one other option and your plan falls apart leaving you with neither of these guys and most likely allowed for the other team to get him at an even lower price than they would have paid to begin with.
Strong-arming the negotiations and creating a bunch of tension is definitely how you want to start a 10 year relationship
Lol, that’s a Jim Dandy offer and it’s notorious for being an extremely poor negotiation strategy. For future reference never use this unless in dire straights. For example, your partner gets murdered and you just want to sell the house and move on. It has absolutely no place in an mlb contract negotation.
Does he really want to go back to Washington though ? Regardless they are bidding against them selves
We might as well stop checking until Harper and Machado sign since every single tweet that comes out contradicts the previous one.
…If he wanted to play in Washington. Which he doesn’t.
And what makes you say that
Because he wants to win
And the Nationals don’t have the pieces to win?
just sign w/ LA. be close to home & be done w/ it
As a Giants fan I would love this for a few reasons.
First, it would be a regrettable contract that makes Kemp’s look good in comparison.
Second, I’d get to see him play a lot since they are in the same division. I could truly evaluate whether he’s the second coming of Mickey Mantle he seems to think he is. Thus far he looks a lot like the second coming of J.D. Drew.
Third, it will give us fans a large target to boo the hell out of now that Puig is gone. Actually, with a ten-year deal we can sit back and relish it. We haven’t had someone that annoying to root against since Lasorda retired. Puig was fine, but he seemed kinda stupid and I think he thought we were booing the center fielder the whole time.
Kudos to an accurate post Jek. As s Dodger’s fan, everything you said is spot on. These clueless Dodger’s fans that want Harper embarrass the rest of us.
Harper is a better OF than anyone the Dodgers have had. Its really sad you believe wanting him is “embarrising”. Guess you want the billionare owners to trade guys like Puig in salary dumps and pocket the saved money
Harper is not going to get a 10 year contract from Dodgers
Third, you can long for the days Gregor Blanco, Gorky’s Hernandez and Hunter Pence tore it up in the Giants outfield.
@left you mean the guys who were there when the Giants won three World Series championships? Sure, I long for those days. What’s your point?
I wish but once again the didgers are not going to spend the money if they dont give harper a big contract they are not going to give anybody a big contract,what a disgrace they got more money than anybody in baseball and refuse to spend it,im a dodger fan and im telling everybody thats a dodger fan if they dont get harper they should quit going to ballgames in protest 2 players that wanted to come 2 come play for dodgers and dodgers refused to pay them what a disgrace if the owners dont want to spend any money they need to sell yhe team and sell it to somebody that wants to spend the money
You’ve got to be kidding tarheel. Signing Harper to a huge long term deal would be an albatross contract the Dodgers would regret for years. The Dodgers are too smart for that. Calm down. They’ll spend the money either by signing quality guys to shorter term contracts or making a trade or two before spring training or trading for super stars with shorter term large contracts before the playoffs. Patience my friend, patience.
@tarheels23 Protest??? Do you realize the Dodgers had the highest payroll for something like five years in a row until last year? A couple years ago it was something around $300 million.
Talk about what have you done for me lately. Try being a Padres fan before chiming in with this nonsense.
Remember when A-Rod made a lousy $252 million?
Remember when Pete Rose signed that horrible $800k per season contract offered by the Phillies?
Remember when I used to give my old lady smecklers powder because the geritol mixed with hooch made her tummy upset? And when I’d get doc on the horn he’d tell me to get that tomato some more quilt for the bones. I remember one time when we was on a toot, pure zozzled and ossified and along comes this bimbo, and he was holdin’ someone’s mazuma. And we told him that we would let him iron his shoelaces and hold the bag while he dillied and dallied. Well, well, we rumpused over to our hayburner lickety-split, picked up a couple hotsy-totsys , and we made that last til the cows came home. But no one’s taking any wooden nickels where I come from. Now, where was I?…
I do remember that.
That you Trilly? Old Man Coolridge must rolling in his grave. Where was ya? You’s gonna tell us about when we was baseball players. Use to pay us in hot dogs and sheep testicles. Make the muscles big. I remember when old Johnny Baker got himself a ten spot. It was like skypilots that year. Or when we found that Fred over at the Pittsburg team in the National League was making almost double for a decade. Them was the days. We was always walking downhill.
And it wasn’t Geritol you gave her. It was Bromo.
And I had an onion on my belt, which was the style at the time.
You’s right. It was Bromo. You know it is French? All them nervous people back then. Now a days they just give you some of that coca cola extract. Johnny got himself a place in Cooperstown. Fred from over at the Pittsburgh team in the National League did too. It was all duck soup back then. Even gettin’ blatto. Some dilly times we had. And we left a lot of dead bone-ers in the ground.
Nothing like bidding against yourself. Learner is probably terrible at eBay.
Something tells me the guy who created a $5 billion fortune from scratch, in an opaque business that’s all about negotiating, is a decent negotiator.
Realistically…. what are the chances that the Nationals took a stab at 10/300…. knowing that it was going to take a much higher bid to land him… but they were hoping to get a bargain…???
I’d say those odds are pretty good.
And now, they have waited out the market somewhat, and expect to come in at the last minute and sign him at a price that they had always expected to have to pay.
Boras conveniently leaking false information?
I was thinking the same thing.
Owners can’t collude but, players and agents can leak negotiations most corporations would be in anti-trust litigation for.
one is the worker and one is the owner. People use other job offers as leverage in salary negotiations.
I don’t believe there isn’t anything Boras will not do for his clients that also benefits himself.
I put it out there Boras, show me the money
You can see this never working out. He is a waste for the nationals. He needs protection.They pitch around him. Same for goldy in arizona. When JD was there he was great cause they had to pitch to him.
Rendon, Turner, Eaton, Soto, and Robles will provide plenty of protection at the top of the order.
Harper/Boras are waiting to se if the Cubs can move money aka Jason Heyward
No way the Cubs are going to be able to trade Heyward.
So Heyward contract is best contract ever. Saves Cubs from getting Harper. Go Cubs !
At least Heyward is good for something hahaha
Didn’t you hear about the rain delay speech?! 😉
It that is all heyward ever does for the Cubs it was worth it
No way that happens so unless he doesnt want to play the next few years they arent waiting that long
He will make lots of money regardless so I believe it will come down to where he wants to play. Cubs or Dodgers.
Yea, and totally not if the Dodgers want to take on that contract.
Dodgers. Book it.
Syndegaard for Harper
Go into a circular room and look for the corner, also look for the r you left out of his name. When you find those, slap yourself.
Eaton will get moved to Cleveland if Harper re-signs
I get the feeling he wants to sign with LA… money, fame and perennial contender. Nationals have an aging core.
Fame? Nobody cares about west coast baseball or guys who play on those teams.
Aging core? Other than Scherzer & Zimmerman, any impact level players are 28 and under.
Strasburg is still an impact player and is 30. I agree with your premise though. Nationals have two of the youngest impact players in the league.
I have a feeling they’ll have 3 once Harper re-signs with them.
Soto Eaton and Robles are aging??
Smart move is to become face of Dodgers. You know, the role Machado should have taken but squandered
It wasn’t an option for Machado (Does the name Seaver ring any bells?).
Nope, but Seager does.
He’s a good fit for LA on several levels. That’s my pick for where he signs. It has been for the last two months, makes too much sense. Machado to Philly.
Have these teams figured out you need 25 players to win a WS and that the biggest free agents are usually – almost exclusively- never worth their enormous salaries? What have the Nats won WITH Harper? Zilch. Laughable.
Won with Harper? About 21 more games per season and 4 division titles. Probably a lot more bucks for the owners, too.
“Have these teams figured out you need 25 players to win a WS ”
When will you figure out that most of the 25 are free players due to the MLB system of “Seven Years a Slave”.
Good gravy a lot more then 300 million??then 14 years ? Team paying 30+ million when he is 40 and broken down? Bright side when he cripples or bankrupts a team Jason heyward contract will long be forgotten. Hey Mlb check the stock market . Trees don’t grow to the sky. These contracts won’t last forever
Now with the news of bigger offers from the Nats if he takes less to go somewhere else it makes bryce look bad (i want to be in DC comments) and Boras look horrible
When will this end! lol someone sign these fools already and end the madness.
I gotta agree, it’s getting old on the visits… Boras, got slammed last year with JD asking the moon. So who blinks first? I’m all for a free agent deadline!
How can the Nats afford this with the crazy TV deal involving the O’s but the Marlins can’t afford anything
Someone needs to get these owners books open before another tax payer is forced to pay for another park.
People go to games in DC so there is actual ticket revenue. There is a core of die hard fans here and there is a large population of transients from out of town who come to support the opposition. There is also a huge lobbyist/corporate base who buy out the suites for asskissery purposes. No one goes to games in Miami. No one buys realmuto jerseys but there are millions of Harper and Scherzer jerseys in DC.
“Someone needs to get these owners books open before another tax payer is forced to pay for another park.”
^^^THIS^^^
*Jim Bowden.
Haha!!
This is my only hope to not go 0 for 50
Common Nats get me on the board!!!
This just in… Jim Bowden had a confidential conversation with an informant named S***** Bor** who isn’t trying to tamper the market by lying about stupidly insane offers which were made for his client who is struggling to secure offers from anybody more than 7 years.
Multiple offers may mean multiple different variants of delivering a total cash/opt-out package. Doesn’t necessarily mean Lerner is bidding higher by the minute. I really don’t get the fizz about Harper. He’s very good, and at his peak, he’s great. But erratic. 19.9 of his 27.4 BWAR come in three seasons. In 3 other seasons, he’s at 1.5 or less.
I’m still sitting here waiting for the Mystery Team to finally sign a big free agent. Every year it’s rumored; but this might be the year!
Harper to sign with Royals, 12-years $355 million?
Harper to sign with Pirates, 11-years, $346 million?
No? No one’s with me on this?
sorry about my stupid post
If LA can trade Puig and Kemp the the Cubs can move A defensive wizard that hit .270 and only strikes out 60 times last season . A team could easily put him in CF a position that’s lacking in the Majors
Homer Bailey came back in that deal ,, and the dodgers just dropped him,,, It kinda makes your point of saving the money the Cubs owe Hayward mute,,, NO?
Everyone acts like Heyward is the worst player in baseball. Guess what he’s an excellent defender and not horrible hitting. He’s rarely hurt and takes the field when asked. Is he worth that money? Hell no but someone would take him with some money added to it.
Heyward is very valuable, his bat hasn’t lived up to the “potential” that many thought, but he does so many other things so well. Still young and the bottom line is the Cubs don’t sin the ring two years ago without him. It’s not like it’s a Pujols or Ellsbury contract.
pujols has been great except his production drop caused by injuries. harper? doubt he is even worth a 10 year contract let alone the $$$.
Good assessment. I would not sign any player for 10 years. It’s not a good sound business decision.
The number of Scott Boras koolaid drinkers is astonishing. There isn’t an offensive metric anywhere that reaches the $30mil AAV regardless of term length. Factor in standard decline and it’s laughable. Take out any of the single season stats above or below the 10% career average and do the math and look at the comps.
Scott Boras has gotten a bad reputation. He is a hard negotiator. He works for the player and tries to get them what they want. Guys like Matt Harvey and Jordy Mercer and Ryu and Rosenthal have Boros as an agent and they weren’t demanding top pay. They signed early because they wanted to sign. Other Boras clients like Moustakas and Harper and Keuchel and Holland and Britton obviously have other demands.
Jim Bowden says it was much more than $300 mil… but not sure how much. He says multiple teams made offers, but not sure who. Might just be multiple offers from the same team. Don’t know if the Phillies made an offer… nor the Cubs. Not sure if Harper even met with the Dodgers. White sox might have made a 7 year offer… or not.
All we have is rumor and conjecture.
So, entire article says “we know nothing”.
So, while I’ve been a fan for a few days (*_^), I never really paid much attention to how agents negotiate with teams..I would imagine that they have to be honest with teams or teams would be reluctant to deal with them..
My question if anyone can point me in the right direction, is a hypothetical one. If 4 teams are negotiating with Boras, and they each make an offer, is it a blind offer, or does Boras say to Team A that its under the highest bid thus giving them the opportunity to best the offer….does this continue with each interested team till the offers stop?
Thanks if you really know
Think of it more like an auction. The numbers are used to raise price, some teams like to be in the loop when offers rise so they can bid slightly higher like the price is right. Its messed up but some will throw out offers to get other teams to bite at a higher price.
And never, ever trust what an agent is telling you.
socal, don’t they have to?
This is b.s. Bowden is being used by Boras.
It’s going to be hilarious when the actual contract he signs comes in nowhere near expected.
Any astute FO isn’t making an offer yet for Harper outside of Nationals efforts. Boras and the clubs themselves will see what Machado gets first before the real fireworks begin.
Machado is not going to get that much. Fans may not care about the person’s character, but I guarantee you Hal Steinbrenner does, and that’s a big interest out of the Market.
I have no doubt the Nationals offered Harper that. They offered him that much last year.
This sounds like Boras using Bowden to up the subsequent offers from other teams to spark a bidding war. I don’t believe it for a second. Also too much conflict of interest with Bowden being the ex-Nat’s GM.
Smoke sceens. Harper is either going to the Orioles
the Rangers or the Tigers. Believe the penguin
You forgot the Marlins and the Rays.
10yr, 12yr or 100yr. it likely will not matter much as any long-term contract will likely have 1 or more opt-outs that, barring a career threatening injury, will get exercised.
another thing to consider, an AAV of 35 to 40 million may well be considered a bargain in 5 years or so. and Harper will just be entering his 30’s at that time. right in what many pundits consider an MLB player’s prime.
the media has driven the anti-Harper bias more than anyone or anything else. i mean really, what has Bryce done to deserve the hate? has he spit on anyone in game? cleated anyone? been known as a dirty player? he gets faulted for playing with his hair on fire and running into walls for plays and then called out for lack of hustle for not running out groundouts.
He’s probably got another 12 years or more of pretty decent to fantastic play ahead of him. i, myself am looking forward to what the numbers ultimately total out to regardless of what cap he goes into the HOF with
While I agree that Bryce seems to be unjustly hated mainly because he plays harder than most, the other stuff you mention is wrong. No pundits believe that once a player gets to 30 and beyond, they are still in their prime. It has been statistically proven that an MLB player’s prime is ages 26-29. That doesn’t mean players can’t be good until 34 or even older, but there is a reason that broadcasters and experts talk about going over the jump of 30. Also, Bryce will not be have another “12 years or more of decent to fantastic play”. That would mean he’s still playing great at 38, which virtually no position player has done. Especially given the fact that Harper is getting rated barely above average defensively and there have been rumblings of him switching to first. His legs may give out by the time he’s 30.
Whoever signs Harper better hope he exercises his option that he is likely to get because he will decline fast and the team will regret the signing.
The HoF? He will actually have to have another 10 years of great play to be considered for that. Pujols has the only resume of active position players that is guaranteed HoF right now.
trout?
Trout = 1200 hits, 240 homers, 650rbi so not there yet, but add in the stolen bases and it is already getting close. Harper= 900 hits, 180 hr, 520rbi, not really close. Kershaw 150 wins, 2200K, 3 Cy young, if retired today most likely still a hall of famer.
Miggy?
only Pujols???? i’d argue that Beltre, Ichiro, Kershaw, Trout probably are locks or near locks as well. and i could name another half a dozen that will get in and i’d lay money on it.
Beltre retired. Forgot about Ichiro, but also a definite lock there. Of course Kershaw and Trout are in the discussion unless the ground falls out from under them, but I was thinking absolute guarantee 1st time on the ballot that are currently playing. I believe Cabrera most likely will be voted in 1st time as well.
What about Schwarber?
So, the Nats offered $300M for 10 years in Sept. Harper/Boras turned it down. Since FA started, there has been very little action on the Harper front. Everybody says Harper/Boras will wait until Machado signs and “sets the market”.
Now, out of the blue (even though it would appear their original offer was plenty) the Nats have “offered much more”??
I’m sorry, but my BS meter is going off.
Exactly. Lerner would never bid against himself on this. The only way it might be true is if some team — the Phils or the Dodgers most likely — are a lot closer to a deal than we’ve been led to believe and have actually discussed real numbers that team Harper likes.
The Nats are known to be monitoring the market on Harper, and would have responded if a bond fide offer came in.
PHILLIES BEWARE!! DO NOT SIGN THIS PRE MADONNA..let the Nats dig and bury their own coffins. Wait for Trout! We dealt with bad teams for 6 years, what’s waiting another 2 more years going to hurt?
trout ain’t going there.
Trout is a forever LA Angle
Disagree. Trout is a very strong possibility for be a future Phillie. What’s going on now, will repeat in 2 years with Trout, just a much faster process.
He’s from New Jersey, right? That’s much closer to Philly than California. I’m sure he’d sit down at the table and talk to Phillies brass.
An acute one?
New Jersey is someplace you want to distance yourself from, not move closer to. Trust me, I spent much of my life there. After being in the L.A. area for so long, why would he want to return home? The Dodgers will wind up real players for Trout’s services.
Don’t be obtuse.
I don’t doubt your comment at all. To me, If the Phillies don’t land Harper or Machado, my guess is that they would try to entice Trout to come back east, much like many other teams that will try to grab him. LA is a good place to be, for sure.
What? You can’t wait two years when you have “stupid money”!!! LOL
To get Trout the Phillies must sign both Machado and Harper.
Trout is not coming home unless he is assured of being a winner in his home town.
I doubt that Harper would sign with Philly. He’s going to be rich wherever he goes. Phillies fans eat their own, and Harper had front row and center while he was coming up watching how Phillies fans treated Jayson Werth. Harper has the opportunity to become the greatest player in Nationals history. He’s a baseball historian. It’s got to be crossing his mind. I really don’t think it’s about the highest bidder, but the most loyal.
* prima donna
I wouldn’t be surprised if Harper sits out the start of the season cause no one wants to pay him the crazy price for a good player who is once in a while great. Bryce is good. Not great.. Once in his 7 year career has he gotten above 5 fWAR. and only once below 2fWAR. (think he was hurt a lot that year).
10y/300M would be the max guarantee .. add in incentives to get him another 100m over the course of the deal if he starts playing at trout type levels fairly consistently. Even too much for someone like me for a player who doesn’t play a premium position.
I think the Nats would revisit the 10/300 offer before that happened, and Harper would have to face whether he wanted to sit out. His market value is only going to decrease once the season starts and he begins to miss training dates.
The Nats are getting played.
“The Nats are getting played.”
MLB fans are getting played. The Nationals do not have a TV contract.
What teams paid taxes on their payroll last year?
The Nationals do not have a TV contract
The Nationals have a TV contract. It’s a seriously effed up deal with the Evilspawn Peter Angelos, and they’re locked in litigation right now, but they have a TV deal.
With a 40 man roster and a luxury tax, how many good players will one team be able to sign from now on if these contracts continue to explode? You can have 2 good starters, 1 or two big bats, and then use below average players and rookies to fill in all the gaps? I agree, Harper is a GOOD player, not a great one. He has good OBP, 30-40 homer pop in his bat, and crappy defense. Much like the political propaganda the media cranks out daily, these sports writers and agents have totally brainwashed people into thinking something should be a certain way when it lacks all common sense.
This is Scott borax doing what he does, that’s all..
Why do I have a sneaking suspicion that he’ll return to the Nats?
Its hillarious that there will be over 200 posts on an article that summerizes by stating :…”until something more concrete comes from Harper’s camp, the best we have is conjecture..” We don’t know anything! What’s your opinion?
The most there ever was is conjecture.
I enjoy reading the silliness that it gets to be.
This just in. Bryce Harpers childhood mailman supported the Raiders move to LA.
Harper may he leaning toward the Dodgers.
Machado had a substitute teacher who loved Homicide, Life on The Street.
That was set in Baltimore. Sources not ruling a return to the Orioles out.
Washington can’t win with him in the weakest division in baseball. The Nats have a ton of young, relatively inexpensive talent all over their roster. Harper had (and maybe still has) a ton of talent to offer somebody although he failed to show it much last season, other than a fast start against weak opponents. Washington has a very good core and saving the money they’d waste on re-upping Harper, they could put the rest of the pieces in place. Stop blaming the coaches; successful teams have a chemistry without cancerous personalities. Go ‘head folks; crucify me now….
The weakest division in baseball is the A.L Central.
The West is the weakest National League division. I say this as a Dodger fan. Two teams competing, the other three rebuilding. The Dodgers and Rockies each have 57 games against the Dbacks, Giants and Padres. Huge advantage for both. Those are two of the five playoff teams. Eight teams looking to compete in the other two divisions, only three will make the playoffs. The unfairness of the unbalanced schedule. Look how it screwed Tampa Bay last year. Major League Baseball needs to do what the NBA had done by eliminating divisions.
Harper sells tickets. There is a business side to this.
Exactly.
Nat for life???
I hope the Nats sign him. He’ll be an albatross for most of the contract.
Cmon Yanks:
8 years at 320 gives Harper 40 mill per and another chance at 35yo to sign one year deals or a final multi year deal. Give him an opt out to use whenever he decides he wants to opt out IF he decides he wants to opt out that is.
Bruce Levine is an errand boy sent by grocery clerks. There is NO way that Chicago would continue to be mentioned as a landing spot if they were offering max seven years. He’s a Cubs stooge.
Nationals just give up he is not re-signing with you.
Good. I’m a Nats fan, and don’t want him back (at the rediculous salary they’re talking about).
Here is why I find this fake news by the agent, and or Lerner making the Phillies pay more…
The Nats current 2019 payroll is at 192 million, Adding harper at even the 30mil AAV would really cost, at minimum 35mil per year with the pentalties. Per this article it is much higher than 30mil AAV, more they are suggesting it is 40mil …
So this in know guy is saying that the Nats/Lerner will pay Harper m, 45mil a year? While not really being able to address areas of need?
Lastly, I ran this scenario through my bull$—t meter .. and it broke the machine ….
Bryce Harper is going to get paid. Manny Machado is going to get paid.
If you don’t understand that implicitly then your place is on a wooden bench feeding pigeons in an institution for the mentally handicapped.
You seem like such a nice guy. I wish I knew you in person.
Not.
Not sure how you’re getting your figures. The threshold is $206M next season. Add $30M for Harper, and that puts them at $16M over. The penalty at 50% is $8M for the added cost. If the Nats do sign Harper they will undoubtedly will try to move some salary to mitigate the added cost. Lerner probably sees that as worth while to keep him.
I don’t think Harper is worth the contract he’s going to get. He’s going to royally mess up his back in a couple years because of how violently he swings
After all the BS this offseason he gonna end up going back to the Nationals. smh
How does Jim Bowden still get paid to write about baseball? That’s more interesting to me at this point than who Harper has offers from.
Lol!!
Bold prediction: Harper to Phillies, since in 2 more years Trout will be a free agent and being from PA, I’m sure he would love to sign there as well…
I wonder if some teams are holding off on Harper/machado due to the eventual world war 3 for trout in 2020
Blah, blah, blah… again, Harp to the Dodgers, Machado to Phillies. Wish these clowns would just sign their bloated contracts already so the other free agents like Pollack and others can sign.
Unless Kasten orders Friedman to sign Harper, there is no way he offers a contract big enough to sign him. I think Harper will be back with the Nationals and Machado will sign with the Yankees.
This was probably “leaked” by Boras to try to drive the price up.
As far as Mike Trout is concerned he is from Vineland New Jersey
Any owner who signs off on a deal for 10 years and/or $200 million plus should lose their franchise. A contract like that has never turned out good, nor will it. The only way it could possible turn out good is if a owner signed a young kid 22 or so years old to a 10 year deal.. By doing that you are playing russian roulette though,
Take the Dodgers for example. You sign Clayton for 10 years $200 million his rookie year and your a genius. Sign Edwin Jackson when he’s a rookie for the same contract and your an idiot!!!
Actually on the same team I point to Jayson Werth. His seven year deal is equivalent to the ten year period based on the point the player is in, The reason ten years is doable for a player like Bryce is his kill set relative to age.
Five years down the road the price of a similar free agent as Bryce would be then would be far more than the 30 MM we are using for our baseline based on the Nats end of season offer.For a more Present comparison look at Giancarlo Stanton in New York. In two years not only will he not be the top payed player but he will be slipping down to the average salary for a marquee player. by the end of the contract he could still be a deal.
Harper’s youth offsets his inconsistent defense this past season.. In addition his ceiling though close has not been reached. If he starts using the whole field consistently he can destyroy the shift early in the season and destroy pitching the rest of the season.
29 teams will win this sweepstakes. 1 will lose in a major way. he is a good but not elite player and his attitude is shit at best. does not hustle and only cares about $ it makes me laugh teams say they are saber thinking. lol no one who looks at the stats of 200 million + plus deals thinks they are smart.