Crazy money and agree that it doesn't makes sense where the AAV is less than what the Nats offered last fall. Local media here has already been asking Mookie Betts if he's going to stay in Boston or if he wants Machado/Harper money and he's still two seasons away from fee agency.

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

MLB is guaranteed money. 330>300.

This locks Harper in at $22M per year for his last three years when he would be 37-39 years old. What are the odds Machado gets $22M/year on a new contract when he's 37-39 since he's the same age as Harper? Most guys aren't putting up $22M/year numbers at that age.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

$22m per year might not be THAT much a decade from now, so it’s possible he could get that on the back end of his career. But maybe not.

For me the decision between $300m over ten years and$330m over thirteen wouldn’t be about the money. It would be about which team has a plan to win over the next several years and the greatest chance of long term stability. Of course, he might not be there for more than a few years (Stanton left Miami) so maybe I’d just look at the current roster situation.

CBP in Philly has been a morgue the last 5 or 6 years, it will bring back some excitement for baseball in the city. I used to go to games when I lived up there and going to the park, circa 2006 to 2009, was a fun experience. It was a good move for their franchise.

He should have gone with the Dodgers for four years and $180 million.

I pretty agree about the move for the franchise. However, it will depend on the Harper they get the majority of the time. .249 Harper with a ton of strikeouts, or MVP Harper who was fun to watch. I think right now it makes sense for them, especially with that small ballpark .

Yeah, a 4 or 5 year deal at 35+ would have let him hit the market at 30 or 31 and able to sign another mega deal.

But it is a nice position to be in when you are debating whether $330M guaranteed is a good or bad deal.

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

Here in Philly, the vast majority of fans are excited. He's a 279 lifetime batter. Last year's 249 included a miserable 1st half combined with a .300 second half. He had the most walks of any player last year.....not getting good pitches. Won't have that problem here....won't be able to pitch around him. The Philly "experts" say he will make everyone else better. Obviously, only time will tell but when looking at the big economic picture, everyone is expecting a financial benefit to a lot of people and get the Phillies back to on par with the Eagles.....as far as local sports talk goes. Some people concerned about the "teammate" issue.....guess we will see.

Four years for $180 million is $45 million per year. That was a real offer.

I have no idea why he didn't take it.

Not been able to listen or read any of the local takes from back home since I was on the road today for work and heard it. I'll be that guy ... I don't like it. I don't like Bryce Harper. I don't think this is a good move for the Phils. I don't think he's thaaat good, and he's overrated. Sure, I may end up being wrong. I just feel like this could be another Ryan Howard. I would have preferred that we save the money, build up some younger guys, continue to grow the team, get in some other solid stars that don't cost that much ... AND THEN ... BRING HOME! MIKE TROUT!

I want Trout. He wants to be a Philly. Get him out of Anaheim. Bring him home. Give me the best player in baseball. Screw the big hair and beard and the chain and ego. Didn't want either of them. Give him 6 years and $500M. Bring him home.

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Gnothi Seauton.

I'm not an expert on how agents operate, but I'm going to guess that long term contracts have a bigger payout for them. Also, what happens if Harper has 4 'average years'? He won't exactly get another chance for another 4 years past his prime. 4 years at 180 is too much of a gamble in this day and age. Don't forget how injury prone this guy is too.

I don't think he wanted to play for the Nats anymore. And, without that extra $30m, how is Bryce expected to feed his family?

In reality, Scott Boras told him to hold out. He's notorious for not taking the first offer. Plus, it allowed Boras to complain that there's something wrong with the system because no other team stepped up and made a better offer earlier. Other people are nodding like bobble-heads thinking he's right. Boras is an evil genius and MLB is is playground.

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Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

This contract won't age well.

He's terrible defensively, strikes out a lot and has already had two bad seasons at the plate.

When he's 35 this contract will be a boat anchor.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

Yup.

I saw a great fun fact on Twitter this morning - when Harper's contract ends after its last year, Bobby Bonilla's contract with the Mets will still have four more years to go.

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"You can never win or lose if you don't run the race." - Richard Butler

I tend to agree with that.

That's why I think it might be a better deal than Machado's from Harper's perspective. I think he won't be that good in 10 years and no way he gets $22M/year when he's no longer that productive. This guarantees another $66M for years 11-13.

Flip side is that if he took the same $300M/10year deal as Machado that he "only" needs to average $10M per year for years 11-13 but that's still a risk. The list of modern position players that were great (or even really, really good) at 36 years old or older is not a very long list. Name recognition alone might get a 36 year old Harper $10M per year but who knows.

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Favorite Gear: Dimond | Cadex | Desoto Sport | Hoka One One

Oh for Harper I fully agree, this is a great contract. No chance he's getting 66 million over 3 years at 36.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

Boras probably said "I know these people. If you don't sign with them, you'd better go to an AL team, or expect to have batteries thrown at you on a regular basis"

https://sports.theonion.com/...l-of-fame-1819574818

https://www.wbur.org/...adelphia-sports-fans

Full disclosure: I threw a Hot Wheels car at Juan Samuel once, when he was on the Mets. A couple Tasytkakes, too

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

This is a prime exhibit for me, for why baseball is becoming unwatchable. He spurns the team that drafted him and showcased him as their star to go to a division rival over what amounts to pennies in the end. The salaries are a joke again. I also am of the belief that you're better off spending that money on two good starting pitchers and it will be worth more. I'm not an advanced metrics guy so I don't know that the stat geeks say about that.

Once the Green Deal passes, isn't he losing like 150% of everything he makes over 10 million anyway?

Depends how you look at it. He appears to have had a 4/180 offer as well. Which means the Phillies get an additional 9/150 Starting when he is 30.

If he can still hit they could move him to an AL team (or NL if they pick up the DH which is seeming more likely) to DH. If I'm the Phillies I would probably want to either front load the contract or have it spread evenly to make it easier to move him if he fell off. What I don't want to do is be like the Angels with Pujols backloaded contract (27,28,29, 30 over the next 4 years) and be stuck with a guy that can't even make it to first base without a breather partway there.

But I think you are probably right. And at best I think he lives up to the deal, no way he or Machado outperform their contracts.

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I'm beginning to think that we are much more fucked than I thought.

Ryan Howard v2,0

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"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

I can't wait for the first Phillies game back here in DC with Scherzer on the mound. He either strikes out or goes yard, every at bat.

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The devil made me do it the first time, second time I done it on my own - W

Still a better contract than the Mets gave Bobby Bonilla. Guys hasn’t recorded a hit for them in 2 decades and the Mets are still paying him. And they’ll continue to pay him after Harpers contract runs out

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Matt

Man, that was funny. It made me think about Steve Belts and Von Hayes! My dad actually owned a tastykake franchise when I was in Middle school. Hit the truck every day after school for some honeybuns or kandykakes!