IT’S STILL SLIM PICKINGS
Evaluating the best fits for Harper, Machado reveals lack of options
With spring training just around the corner, Bryce Harper and Manny Machado are left to ask one question: Is this everybody?
Has a broken system of free agency and an industry hell-bent on stuffing as many nickels as possible under a mattress at the expense of competing truly produced only four serious suitors for two 26-year-old potential Hall of Famers?
And if that’s it, where do they best fit among the White Sox, Phillies, Padres and Nationals? Let’s break it down:
Bryce Harper
4. White Sox: Nothing against the South Side — or the many millions of dollars chairman Jerry Reinsdorf might lavish upon him — but Harper simply has more optimal destinations. The Sox are getting close in their rebuilding efforts, but they are much further away from contention than the Phillies and Nationals and lack the organizational depth the Padres boast.
While the Sox represent the largest market of the four, Harper would be given the task of slugging them into relevance, with the Cubs perpetually the kings of the market. That’s a tall order on top of the usual pressures that come with signing a potentially record-setting contract.
3. Phillies: If it comes down to straight cash, put the Phillies atop this list. They’ve been saving it for years and still haven’t been ‘‘stupid’’ about spending it this winter. A combination of revenue, market size, hunger and paucity of future contract commitments empowers them to
blow Harper away with a record-setting deal.
But can money buy Harper’s love? He’d be entering the most pressure-packed environment among the four franchises and might be a pariah in two markets: Philly, should he get off to a slow start, and Washington, where a segment of the fan populace would feel some sense of betrayal that he scooted a couple of hours up I-95 to try to beat the Nationals 19 times a season.
2. Nationals: It’s familiar. He’d be the guy who came home. There’s significant value in spending your entire career (or almost all of it) with one team. Harper would be the Cal Ripken or Tony Gwynn of his generation and give Alex Ovechkin a run for his money as the greatest athlete in D.C. this century.
The question is, how deep can owner Ted Lerner dig into his pockets for Harper? The team did make an offer in the range of $300 million before free agency began, knowing well that Harper would reject it and that he almost assuredly would fetch more on the open market. So now that he’s there and the Nationals have laid out $140 million for Patrick Corbin, what’s truly their best and final offer?
1. Padres: We’ve been bullish on a Harper-Padres union for a while, and the meeting last week between player and team brought that concept fully into public view. The Padres can offer Harper everything the other clubs can but also much, much more.
Money: With dollars committed only to Eric Hosmer and Wil Myers after 2020 (and Myers dropping off after 2022), the Padres can dip into revenues that include a local TV contract valued at more than $1 billion to make Harper more than whole.
Success: While shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. is the jewel of the system and a consensus top-three overall prospect, the overall depth of pitching in the Padres’ system is what gives them the greatest shot at long-term, on-field prosperity.
Happiness: Because everybody’s happy in San Diego.
Manny Machado
4. Nationals: Not in on Machado, just Harper, as they take aim at extending Anthony Rendon, their own All-Star third baseman.
3. Padres: Many of the reasons that make Harper a great fit in San Diego apply to Machado, too. What’s more, the Padres have an immediate need at third base, and Machado conceivably could team with Tatis for nearly a decade on the left side of the infield.
2. White Sox: We’re not here to overplay the Machado-friendly moves the Sox made — trading for brother-in-law Yonder Alonso and signing close friend Jon Jay — but we’re also not going to ignore them.
The Sox are also in position to give Machado anything he wants. A blank check? They have only $15 million committed for 2020 and nothing beyond 2023. The shortstop position? If the Sox determine Tim Anderson’s inability to get on base is a chronic condition, they could trade him or move him to a reserve role.
Alonso and Jay won’t be Sox forever, but there’s plenty more to make it worth Manny’s while.
1. Phillies: Machado would rejoin forces with former Orioles coach and mentor Bobby Dickerson and would be moving into a hitter’s haven to further burnish a possible Hall of Fame candidacy. He also would be closer to his native Miami here than any other destination.
And after getting his first taste of the World Series last season, he would be joining a ready-made
contender.