"Now that the deed is done and Bryce Harper is officially a $330 million Phillie, it’s worth examining just what happened here, how it happened, and why it may not have near the impact it’s cracked up to be."
Depends on what you mean by "impact."
A great player moved from one NL East team to another.
"Given the fact Harper was coming off a comparatively 'down' season for him (in which he hit just .249 with more strikeouts than hits) and most of the big spending teams like the Yankees, Red Sox, Cubs and Dodgers (at first) signaled early on they would not be in the bidding, it was problematic Harper was going to get the kind of barrier-breaking ($400 million?) deal his agent, Scott Boras, had been touting almost since the day he arrived in the big leagues with the Nationals in 2012. So for that, you have to give Boras credit for once again finding the One Dumb Owner who would essentially bid against himself to get the contract over the 10-year/$300 million plateau."
I always do a double-take when I see Bryce Harper's age. He's only 25. He has already hit 184 HRs.
2018 was a relatively down season with a lot of strikeouts. Also, an OPS of .889.
I'll take .250 BA, 34 doubles, 34 HRs, 130 walks ... I mean, jeez, will ya? ... yeah, I agree ... too many strikeouts.
He's not Mike Trout, but he's also on the fast track for Cooperstown, no doubt about it.
"In this case, that would be Phillies owner John Middleton, a nobody on the big league stage up until a couple of years ago when he decided to exercise his majority share-holding clout with the team and push out the longstanding senior management decision makers in Philly, Bill Giles and Dave Montgomery.
Like
so many owners before him, going all the way back to George
Steinbrenner, Middleton wanted to make a statement by signing one of the
biggest free agents of the winter, no matter what the cost."
Gimme a break.
"Harper will thrive in the Phillies’ bandbox Citizens Bank Park, but there is nothing to suggest he is the savior who will lead them to the World Series Promised Land. In his seven years in Washington, the Nationals went to the postseason four times and were bounced in the first round in all of them. Harper’s best postseason was 2014 when he .294 with three homers and four RBI in four games against the Giants. In the other three, he hit .186 with two homers and six RBI in 15 games."
I think the Phillies will win a World Series with Bryce Harper.
But, again ... why are we even talking about winning the World Series as a barometer for success?
Ticket sales, merch, franchise value.
Also, why are you seriously examining his previous playoff appearances?
Who cares?
This is just boilerplate hack garbage: So and so is paid too much and isn't clutch based on a small playoff sample size.
"Finally, this notion the Yankees and Mets should have been in on Harper – the Mets just to keep him away from the Phillies and the Yankees because they’re, well, the Yankees – is utterly ridiculous. Neither team needed him – certainly not at 13 years/$330M. The Yankees are realizing how much they’re going to regret down the road taking on Stanton’s contract, while the Mets need to be spending what it takes to get Jacob deGrom signed longterm."
The Yankees are expecting future mammoth contracts for Judge (and others) and probably can't afford to spend $1 billion in the outfield. $750 million maybe, but not $1 billion.
Stanton had a disappointing 2018, no doubt about it, and he needs to cut down on his strikeouts. Figure something out where he doesn't swing at everything.
But he still hit 38 HRs, scored 100 runs, and drove in 100 runs. I see no reason to think he won't be a premier hitter for a long time. Do it in the playoffs and the Yankees will have no regrets.
As for Jacob deGrom, there is no longterm. He's a 30-year-old pitcher.
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