Harping Along
By Peyton Schultze
Despite a roster without many glaring holes, could the Dodgers still pursue Bryce Harper?
Following late and breaking news from Bob Nightengale of USA Today stating that the Los Angeles Dodgers have re-entered the sweepstakes for superstar outfielder Bryce Harper, rumors around the league are circulating of Harper’s preferred destination. Coming into this week, many around the league expected that Harper would wind up signing with the Philadelphia Phillies with their surplus of free-agent spending money in play. However, that script has seemed to flipped and is now a mystery.
At this point, Nightengale is also reporting that Harper is expected to make his decision by the end of the week and choose between the Dodgers, Phillies and San Francisco Giants. Yet all three teams represent three vastly different situations for Harper.
The Dodgers are in win-now mode, yet are hesitant to spend over $300 million and give a 10-year contract to Harper that would put Los Angeles way over the league’s luxury tax. The Phillies have the most money to spend of the three options, yet are a young and upcoming team that is just coming off a free-agency whiff on superstar Manny Machado. Lastly, the Giants remain one of the worst teams in the league heading into 2019 after huge success at the beginning of the decade, but are willing to give Harper big money without a major long-term commitment.
It’s been a long ride in free agency for Harper and his money-seeking agent, Scott Boras. But with the end in sight, who will the 26-year old baseball phenom end up signing with?
Harper has pushed through a grueling free agency process, yet remains one of baseball’s brightest stars.
With Spring Training already having begun and with Harper’s hesitancy to sign with the favored Phillies, it’s hard to understand what team truly has Harper’s heart at this point in free agency. From the moment free agency started, Harper and agent Scott Boras seemed to make it clear that they would likely sign with the highest-bidder among all of the MLB teams. Yet at this point, it seems clear that the Phillies are and have been the highest bidder throughout free agency. So why isn’t Harper putting ink to paper already and heading to the City of Brotherly Love?
This questions brings the Dodgers and Giants into the picture. As a native of Las Vegas who lives there in the offseason, Harper’s two other options are West Coast teams with recent success with close proximity to Vegas. While the Giants seem to be hanging around the Harper sweepstakes in hopes of a late change of heart, the Dodgers remain a huge threat to signing Harper due to their role as one of baseball’s organizational powerhouses. It’s been widely regarded that Harper’s top destination would be the Dodgers if they offered him a long-term contract, but Los Angeles seems set on not offering much more than a short-term contract with high AAV (average annual value). Yet, as Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times tweeted out this morning, the Dodgers may have some advantages:
“Being in Bryce Harper’s orbit the last couple years, I got the sense that he appreciate baseball history, enjoys the big stage, and loves Los Angeles. Doesn’t mean he signs there, obviously, but the Dodgers check those boxes.””
After his expected departure from Washington, Harper will look towards joining a new team with title aspirations to raise his status as one of the game’s elite players.
In the case of the Dodgers, this sudden emergence in the Harper contest does not seem to come across as desperate, but instead as timely and situationally opportune. The Dodgers obviously noticed that the Padres, a NL West rival, signed superstar Manny Machado and now seem to be a divisional threat in the future. Now that San Francisco, the Dodgers’ bitter rival, made headlines and has entered the conversation for Harper, the Dodgers seem to at least be checking in and applying pressure to their hated rivals to the north. The Dodgers have now won six straight NL West titles, and will be looking for a seventh in 2019. This is causing teams around them in the division to take action in attempts of stopping their reign atop.
Likewise, the Phillies also seem to be going after Harper in an attempt to return to relevance by acquiring young superstars to end the recent National League dominance of the Dodgers and Cubs. Coming into the offseason, Philadelphia seemed confident in their chances of landing a star free agent, such as Machado or Harper, that would vault them back into a contender status. However, their supreme confidence could be their downfall if the Dodgers find a way to come in and steal Harper from the Phillies’ grasp, leaving Philadelphia with nothing and with a terrible offseason.
If nothing else, the fact that it has taken Harper so long to choose a team plays into the favor of the Dodgers (or even the Giants). While Boras is certainly pushing for Harper to vault past Giancarlo Stanton’s mega-million dollar contract, the money may not be the most important thing for the outfielder at this point of free agency and could be having doubts about committing long-term to the Phillies. For two teams desperate for another chance at a World Series, the Dodgers-Giants rivalry seems like it could be extending beyond the playing field once again.
If added, Harper would be another valuable piece of an already-potent Dodgers’ lineup searching to win its first title since 1988.
With a huge week upcoming for Bryce Harper and the future of Major League Baseball, there will be many questions and rumors about where Harper truly wants to be for the next several years of his spectacular career. Will it be in Philadelphia with the young and inexperienced Phillies in their chase for their first title since 2008? Will it be with the Giants in their hopes of kicking off a new mini-dynasty for the second time in the decade? Or will it be with the Dodgers in hopes of breaking their long title drought in the city of stars? A high-flying week full of rumors and one major descion is upon us; so where will one of the game’s most exciting players wind up? Stay tuned.