Bryce Harper signing gives Phillies power, lineup flexibility and, just as important, future roster flexibility.
Relevance returns to South Philly
PHILADELPHIA — The Phillies are relevant again.
All it took was $330 million over 13 years to sign prized free-agent outfielder Bryce Harper on Thursday.
Yes, that record-setting contract qualifies as “stupid money.” But Phils owner John Middleton didn’t have much of a choice if he wanted to field a playoff contender after seven years of not making it to the postseason.
And it finally gives fans a reason to come back to Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies haven’t drawn more than 2.16 million fans at home since 2014. From 2008-12, when games were notto-be-missed events, the lowest total was 3.42 million.
While manager Gabe Kapler repeatedly raved about the team’s offseason — trading for catcher J.T. Realmuto and shortstop Jean Segura, in addition to signing left fielder Andrew McCutchen and reliever David Robertson, were clearly upgrades — none of the new players moved the needle until Harper.
BetOnline lowered the Phillies’ chances to win the National League from 7/1 to 4/1, the World Series from 12/1 to 8/1 and increased the win total from 85 1⁄2 to 89 1⁄2 once news broke of Harper’s signing.
To me, the Phils’ starting pitching remains a question mark.
After ace Aaron Nola and No. 2 Jake Arrieta, the Phillies are counting on Jerad Eickhoff, Zach Eflin, Nick Pivetta and Vince Velasquez to fill the final
three spots. Injuries limited Eickhoff to just one September start in 2018, while the other three had their moments last year before struggling late in the season. But let's save those concerns for another day.
The left-handed-hitting Harper, whose 14 home runs at CBP are his highest total anywhere except Nationals Park, should hit plenty of homers to the short porch in right field.
Harper's presence — my guess is he bats in the No. 3 hole — should also translate to first baseman Rhys Hoskins, Segura, McCutchen and the rest ending up with better pitches to hit.
Harper and the Phils open the regular season March 28 at home against the defending NL East champion Braves.
Harper, 26, fits the Phillies' patient approach at the plate extremely well, having averaged 107.5 walks over the past four years, including a majors-leading 130 last season. He also averaged 32.3 home runs, 93.5 RBIs and batted .282 in Washington during that span.
Baseball Reference projects Harper's 2019 numbers as 27 homers, 87 RBIs and a .265 average.
When is the last time the Phillies landed a player of this caliber in the prime of his career? While Pete Rose is widely regarded as the franchise's top free-agent signing for leading the Phils to the 1980 World Series title, he was 37 when he became a Phillie.
I'll admit I thought Harper, who is from Las Vegas, was going to end up in Los Angeles or San Francisco after those clubs supposedly made late pushes for him — and that agent Scott Boras was using the Phillies to leverage a deal with the Dodgers or Giants.
It didn't turn out that way. Some reports indicated Boras and Harper wanted the ability to opt out after three years and the Phils preferred five — five years is what infielder Manny Machado has in his 10-year, $300 million pact with the Padres — but there is no opt-out in Harper's deal.
Boras told reporters Thursday that Harper's “mandate to me was, ‘I want as many years as I can get . ... I am going to recruit players to my team and I want to know I will be there for the remainder of my career.' ”
And while $330 million is the largest contract in North American team sports, the $25.4 million average per year should help the Phils remain under the luxury-tax threshold.
Could you imagine if South Jersey native Mike Trout, the best all-around player in baseball, joins Harper in Philly when he becomes a free agent after the 2020 season?
Now that would really be something.