GIANTS SERIOUS ABOUT HARPER — IN SHORT TERM
The Phillies, who have been the favorites to land free-agent outfielder Bryce Harper all winter, suddenly have serious competition in the Giants.
One high-ranking rival executive boldly predicts the Giants ultimately will sign Harper.
The Giants indeed plan to offer Harper a lucrative short-term deal, but they have no desire to provide a long-term contract approaching the 10-year, $300 million deal he rejected from the Nationals in September.
‘‘We want to be able to pursue players to bring championships back to the Giants’ fans,’’ team president Larry Baer told reporters at the Giants’ FanFest. ‘‘Bryce Harper is an amazing player. It’s very hard. These are competitions, and I can’t handicap it.’’
The Giants, who had not engaged with Harper until last week, had spent the winter listening to trade offers for their veterans while spending only $9 million on free-agent acquisitions. Their mission, when hiring Farhan Zaidi as president of baseball operations, was to build a younger, more athletic team for the future.
Yet with season-ticket sales stagnant and apathy starting to seep in from their fan base, the Giants decided they might as well check to see whether they can get Harper at a discount.
Harper certainly hasn’t found a tantalizing offer yet, or he would have taken it.
It’s also hardly a secret that he would prefer to play close to his home in Las Vegas and have spring training in Arizona, with his family able to jump into a car and see him whenever it desires.
Still, money talks, the California taxes are a monster and as gorgeous as Oracle Park is, it can be treacherous for homerun hitters not named Barry Bonds.
It will be fascinating to see how aggressive the Giants plan to be in their pursuit, knowing that just a year ago they were willing to take on $265 million in a trade for slugger Giancarlo Stanton that he vetoed.
The Giants had talked internally most of last season about the possibility of signing Harper. But after they went 73-89 and finished in fourth place in the National League West — prompting a front-office regime makeover — those talks went dormant.
Until now, that is. Baer, Zaidi and manager Bruce Bochy met for four hours last week in Las Vegas with Harper, his wife and agent Scott Boras.
The Giants badly could use a power hitter to anchor the middle of their lineup. They certainly would welcome the gate attraction. And they would promote Harper as their greatest free-agent acquisition since Bonds.
‘‘I don’t know where we are, but we’re giving it a shot,’’ Baer said. ‘‘That’s all we can do.’’