The San Diego Padres made a huge splash Tuesday by reportedly agreeing to a 10-year, $300 million contract with free agent superstar Manny Machado.
But they might not be done yet.
There still is one huge free agent on the market. And the Padres reportedly aren’t ruling out also trying to sign Bryce Harper, MLB insider Jon Heyman reported Tuesday.
Padres are pulling off one surprise (once Manny’s finalized) but here’s another shocker : they aren’t ruling out Bryce Harper, too. 110M payroll (with MM) is still lower than most.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 19, 2019
As Heyman notes, the Padres’ payroll still is quite low. But they would need to open their wallets even wider to land the 2016 National League MVP. Harper, who is represented by Scott Boras, isn’t about to take less than the Padres gave Machado, meaning San Diego would have to break the record it just set with the Machado signing in order to add the star outfielder, as well.
San Diego has a bunch of notable prospects and looks like it will be able to contend in the NL West perhaps as early as 2020. Adding Harper could set up the Padres for a run at a wild-card spot this season, but San Diego still needs to bolster its starting pitching.
