Time for Harper, Phillies to reenter playoffs
John Middleton took $330,000,000, separated it into 13 piles and agreed to slide one to Bryce Harper every year until 2031.
The idea was as popular as it was necessary for the franchise in baseball’s largest monopoly market, a way to add a certified superstar to a sinking operation, evidence that ownership still cared to give winning a try.
For his efforts, which included a celebrated recruiting trip to Vegas in a private jet decorated with the Phillies’ logo, Middleton was entitled to one thing and to be hopeful for another. He was entitled to full commitment from Harper. And he could hope that it would lead to, as Middleton had once famously growled, retrieving his World Series trophy.
That was two years ago, and both sides have honored the agree
ment. Middleton has paid and Harper has played. He has run out every clubbed ball, stretched singles into doubles, patrolled right field at a Gold Glove candidacy level, shown respect for the community, led in the room, played hurt and run up impressive statistics. He’s even rocked a Phillies Phanatic bandana, the indignity proving his determination to take his obligation to the next level.
Yet – how to say this? - it hasn’t worked anywhere near as Middleton and his paying customers had planned. In Harper’s two seasons, the Phillies have gone a combined 109-113, finished fourth and then third in the National League East, and have not enjoyed a winning record. They have had a manager fired, a president rolled out and a general manager shoved aside.
Lousy wouldn’t be the right word for how the Phillies have performed since Middleton agreed to what, for that moment, was baseball’s juiciest-ever contract. But it would be close enough for the ump to look the other way.
Little of that has been Harper’s fault. The Phillies did play .500 baseball in 2019, the first time in seven years they didn’t rock a losing record. In a concession to coronavirus last year, the Phils played just 60 games in an American-National League hybrid setup. The Phillies did finish it by losing seven of their last eight. But even great teams can lose seven of eight at some point. Joe Girardi’s outfit just happened to be in that
kind of lull when the horn sounded.
Middleton committed to Harper for 13 seasons, not one-and-a-half. So the race is still absurdly too early to call. Girardi, among the best in his industry, has not even managed a real season. Dave Dombrowski, among the best in his industry, has yet to field one Phillies team. Harper is 28, not 38. But if the man out the three-thirty-million is edging toward discomfort, could he be blamed?
No two sports situations are ever identical. There are different players, different times, different schedules, different points in a program’s development. But the Harper signing, and the excitement it splashed, was not unlike when Bill Giles cleverly concocted a way to finance a record contract for Pete Rose. Within two years, the Phillies were world champions. In 2009, Ruben Amaro devised a way to add Roy Halladay to a pitching staff including Cole Hamels, Cliff Lee and Roy Oswalt. That year, the Phils won the pennant.
Rose joined a team with
Mike Schmidt, Larry Bowa and Steve Carlton. Halladay supplemented Jimmy Rollins, Ryan Howard and Chase Utley. As for Harper, he has shared a lineup with J.T. Realmuto, yet nobody else who would inspire images of Cooperstown. And he joined a flagging operation, not one that already was collecting division flags.
Different times, different situations.
Yet the same hopes. Harper has called himself “fortunate,” and not just financially so. This stroke of luck, he said, emanates from the chance “to play for an organization that is ready to go and ready to win, and that made the significant moves that we needed to make in this offseason.”
The Phillies will be better than last season, if only because Matt Klentak, who can’t identify baseball talent, is no longer permitted to dabble in pitchingstaff construction. But the NL East has improved, and there will be fewer playoff spots to win.
If Alec Bohm, who should
have been the 2020 Rookie of the Year, continues to develop as a star, and if Rhys Hoskins avoids slumps, and if Realmuto demonstrates that he deserves the $10,000,000 raise he will enjoy this year, and if Dombrowski’s bullpen can be average, and if Girardi can show why he is on a Hall of Fame arc, and if Andrew McCutchen can stay healthy, and if Aaron Nola has a strong September, the Phillies can do plenty in 2021. But that’s only if Harper plays like the superstar Middleton is financing.
In his first season with the Phils, Harper hit 35 home runs, drove in a buck-14, walked 99 times, scored 98 times and stole 15 bases. That will work. Last season, fighting off back pain, he produced 13 home runs and 33 RBIs in 58 games, figures that project to high production over 162 nights.
In every way, Harper has been outstanding. But as a Phillie, he has yet to be an All-Star or receive a single MVP vote.
He says he is healthy. He is surrounded by a better team. He is entering his physical prime. He won’t have the option this season to be a designated hitter, but he is a defensive value even if he is going 0-for-5.
“Bryce feels a responsibility that, ‘I signed that contract and I need to be out there every day, helping my teammates win,’” Girardi said. “And I appreciate that.”
Another of those John Middleton cash-piles is about to be pushed his way. A winning season is a reasonable expectation for the investment. That 2031 season will come soon enough.