What the heck is going on with Bryce Harper?
At this point, your guess is as good as ours, and maybe even better.
For much of the weekend, it appeared inevitable Harper would sign with the Philadelphia Phillies early this week. But the story shifted late Sunday, and now three National League West clubs are reportedly in on the superstar free agent.
As expected, Harper will make a ton of money — like, more than the $300 million that Manny Machado got from the San Diego Padres.
Check out this tweet from MLB insider Jon Heyman:
Phillies have offered Bryce Harper over $300M but word is others are over $300M, too. they believe they may have high bid but their confidence to win was dented a tad by emergence of LA (a desired Harper spot). Philly has to decide whether to keep faith or dip into the stupid $
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 26, 2019
Heyman went on to offer an overwhelming amount of Harper news.
Here are some of the highlights:
the Phillies, whose owner suggested he'd spend stupid $, have had stellar winter (Realmuto, Segura, Cutch). but their big free agent forays have come up short. they lost on Corbin by $40M & Machado by unknown millions. it feels like Harper is guy they/their fans want most tho.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 26, 2019
there's been serious action among calfiornia teams lately. word is the padres checked back in on Bryce following news of LA's surprise emergence. the giants are also in, and one wonders whether even logical LA's renewed interest was triggered a bit by SF (& their former gm Zaidi)
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 26, 2019
there's been a lot of talk lately about teams showing short-term interest, but barring some wild offer (200M-plus, 4 years?), Harper is only considering long-term deals. 1 interested GM said Team Bryce made clear that teams had to profess they'd go long to even get a meeting.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 26, 2019
earlier, dodgers were only interested in short-term deal. is it possible they were granted meeting w/o long-term commitment due to desired locale/stage? possible. but as likely LA re-evaluated. short-term deal with certain super high AAV would also be worse for tax in near term.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 26, 2019
Got all that? Good.
