- Forget about the marathon 117 days it took for Harper to sign, forget about all the ill will the Philly fans were starting to spew towards management, forget about the money, the Phillies got an elite baseball player capable of making this lineup one of the best in baseball. As a fan, I love it. “Not my money” has been my battle cry for months now, if the Phillies got outbid after promising to spend stupid money then I would have been rip roaring angry. We got the guy, we got the guy.
- Now logistics, holy crap that’s a lot of years and money. There’s no doubt Harper will not be worth 25 million dollars at age 39, the final year of this contract, but, if the options were 10/330 or 13/330 or the 10/300 that Machado received, I do the 13 every single time. I’m all about spreading the money out and stretching it. Gaining 5-8 million dollars per year to play with is big for a team that just pretty much went all in. It simply gives them a bit more flexibility. I’m all about the AAV and this is pretty reasonable. Inevitably, this contract will become brutal, but sometimes that’s just the cost of doing business.
- Baseball is stupid and needs to fix their free agency process. I don’t know how to do it, but there has to be a way for it to not drag on for months. Generally, players in any sport like to see big contracts dished out because it helps their value at some point, but there’s no doubt these negotiations held many other free agents hostage all winter long. Think about when NBA or NFL free agency starts, the big guys are gone sometimes within minutes. It’s late if it drags on for 2 weeks. This was ridiculous. Put a limit on when these guys can sign, make it from November 1st to December 31st otherwise you can’t sign until May. Figure it out, there has to be a better solution than the shenanigans that happened this offseason. I would love to know how much all this waiting actually helped Harper or the Phillies.
- Harper is notorious for wearing #34 and I’m curious to see if he keeps that number. I was under the impression that nobody was wearing that number for the foreseeable future as it belonged to now Hall of Famer, Roy Halladay. R.I.P. I don’t care what number the guy wears, just something interesting to watch.
- I officially am now a proponent of the NL adopting the DH.
- Bryce Harper is going to hit a gazillion home runs at the Bank and for the first time since the Phillies boasted a lineup with guys named Howard, Utley and Rollins and a rotation with Hamels, Halladay, Lee and Oswalt, I am genuinely excited for a baseball season. Let’s go!!!
- As a fan of all Philly teams, getting to watch Harper, Hoskins and Nola for the Phils, Wentz and co for the Eagles, Embiid and Simmons for the Sixers and rookie goalie sensation Carter Hart for the next 5-10 years is a pretty remarkable place to be in as a city. Here’s to the good times ahead.
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