Club still trying to reel in Harper
SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. >> At the beginning of the week, the home clubhouse at Scottsdale Stadium had about a half dozen empty lockers.
Slowly but surely, the Giants have added to their roster, requiring clubhouse attendants to fill out nameplates for the new signees. Today, nearly all the vacant lockers will be filled as position players report to camp.
Bryce Harper, a 26-year-old free agent and one of the game’s biggest stars, won’t be among them.
At the beginning of February, a Giants contingent including CEO Larry Baer, president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and manager Bruce Bochy traveled to Las Vegas to meet with Harper and agent Scott Boras. A sit-down that was scheduled to last two hours ran for four, and since that meeting, the chatter surrounding a possible Harper-Giants partnership has been relentless.
Every team could use a Harper, the Giants could just use him more than most. Their outfield needs help, their lineup needs a boost and their season-ticket sales need a bump.
Harper checks every box and the Giants — from the CEO to their current players — understand that well.
So if the Giants have such a dire need for a player with Harper’s attributes, why haven’t they signed him?
Glad you asked. While the market for Harper should include all 30 teams, the Giants are one of only a handful with a realistic shot at signing the left-handed slugger.
The other franchises in public pursuit all offer distinct advantages. The Phillies have a hitterfriendly park and are eager to spend money to win immediately. The Padres have a talented future core that could use a centerpiece like Harper. And the Nationals, his first team, offer Harper the chance to grow his legacy and bring a title to the franchise that drafted him.
The Giants play in a cavernous ballpark that crushes the spirits of power-hitters not named Bonds. They play in a state that will claim a sizable share of Harper’s contract in tax revenue. And they possess a current core that may not have the talent to win now while their future core is still years away from hitting the big leagues.
So, why would Harper sign with San Francisco? And what would a contract look like?
At 26, Harper is one of the youngest players to ever hit free agency. His agent has stated that longterm contracts in the 10year range are of preference, as are deals that will pay Harper north of $30 million annually. There’s
massive risk in assigning more than $300 million to just one player over the next decade, but betting on Gerardo Parra and Yangervis Solarte to help win the National League West isn’t exactly the most secure strategy either.
Under Zaidi, the Giants are expected to cut down on reckless spending, focusing more on short-term contracts and building depth incrementally. But signing Harper to a shortterm deal would be shortsighted.
The Giants roster has multiple flaws, and though Harper fixes a few big ones, he alone won’t turn the team into a surefire contender. The club will likely be in much better position to contend come 2020, but paying Harper upward of $30 million per year on a short-term deal and fielding a team with several holes in the first year of that contract isn’t viable.
Instead, the Giants likely view Harper as a bridge from their current core to their next one. He can help sell tickets and improve the team now while still having prime years left in his career when prospects like Joey Bart, Heliot Ramos and Marco Luciano are ready for big league action. And he’s a bridge worth an investment of at least five years.
Though Boras is optimistic Harper can break a free-agency record with his contract, the Giants are not going to commit to a 10-plus year deal with anyone under Zaidi’s watch. But because Zaidi is reluctant to extend longterm contracts to players, the Giants may need to lure Harper by offering him a different record to break.
That record is the one for the average annual
value on a contract, currently held by Diamondbacks ace Zack Greinke who averages $34.4 million per year on a six-year, $206.5 million deal.
If none of the teams interested in Harper are currently willing to extend a 10-year offer, the Giants could secure his services and push past the luxury tax threshold by offering the outfielder a deal that pays him between $35 and $40 million annually. The Giants and Harper could meet in the middle, with one side sacrificing the desired number of years and the other sacrificing some additional payroll flexibility.
A seven-to-eight year contract in the $275 to $300 million range makes sense for both sides, as the Giants would keep Harper for the duration of his prime years while the outfielder could still earn close to the same amount he would on a 10-year deal that pays him around $30 million annually.
At the end of a contract of that length, Harper could also hit the freeagent market again, potentially earning much more at the age of 33 than he would at the end of a 10year deal when he’ll be 36. Though any contract involving a superstar represented by Boras will likely include some type of notrade clause and potentially multiple opt-outs, it’s impossible to know what kind of particulars the Harper side is looking to secure.
What we do know is the Giants’ interest in Harper is serious and his desire to sign a life-changing contract is genuine. Whether that contract breaks records remains to be seen, but there is a feasible way the Giants can make him the highest-paid star in the sport.