![]() ![]() Bryce Harper Lost opportunity for the YankeesĪt the end of the day, Yankees GM, Brian Cashman, didn't meet up with Harper as he decided to go in another direction, as they just traded for Giancarlo Stanton a season before, and they didn't have salary cap room for another mega contract. But, I couldn't imagine not being a Philadelphia Phillie. I grew up a Yankee fan my whole life everybody knew that, I grew up watching some really good Yankee teams: Bernie Williams, Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, I mean, I loved those teams. Bryce Harper loved the Yankees back in the dayĭuring an interview at the Pat McAfee Show on ESPN, Bryce Harper admitted that he was a huge Yankees fan while he was growing up, and was asked if he was willing to sign in the Bronx back in 2019 when he was a free agent. However, things could've gone a lot differently, as Harper had another team in his heart: the New York Yankees. But Harper already led the Phillies to one World Series last year, and I suspect if they make it back this year and win it all, Middleton will feel the “silly” $330 million - even the last $125 million of it when Harper will be over 35 and presumably starting to break down - will have been money well spent.Harper has stated during this playoff run that 'he absolutely loves Philadelphia' and that he would do 'absolutely everything' to win a World Series championship' for the team. Bryce Harper originally signed a 13-year, 330 million deal with the Phillies. I was as big a critic of Middleton as anyone for allowing himself to be played by Boras for as long as he was. That was when Middleton, probably weary of bidding against himself, ponied up the extra three years and $30 million Boras was looking for to finally get the deal done. It wasn’t until mid-February when Boras was finally able to get the Dodgers engaged but only on a short term deal with a record AAV, while there were reports the Giants were now supposedly willing to go beyond 10 years. As the calendar went from November ’18 to February ’19, Middleton’s offer was still out there, unaddressed. Meanwhile, lest we forget, no other team was either. Given the Yankees’ wealth and previous propensity to pursue the top free agents in the market, it was hard to for the media to comprehend why Hal Steinbrenner was unwilling to spend another $300 million on a player into his late 30s a corner outfielder that, at the time, he really didn’t need. When it was pointed out the Yankees’ outfield was pretty set with Aaron Judge in right, Brett Gardner (coming off the most productive season of his career) in left and Aaron Hicks (who the next year they felt worthy of a seven-year, $70 million extension) in center - and that, the year before, they’d already committed to taking on Stanton’s contract to be their DH - Boras began to float the notion that Harper, a right fielder his entire career, would agree to play first base (for a record amount of money, of course). ![]() Rather, he continued to try getting a market going for Harper, repeatedly leaking to the media an ideal fit for him would be his childhood favorite team, the Yankees. Those words were music to Boras’ ears, but when Middleton followed them up with a “real” 10-year, $300 million offer, Boras, who was determined to get a deal that would exceed Giancarlo Stanton’s record 13-year, $325 million contract, had no response. The only owner in baseball who did not view it that way was the Phillies’ John Middleton, who admitted early on that winter he was probably going to have to spend “stupid money” to restore his team to championship caliber after six straight losing seasons. Still, most every team in baseball viewed the 10-year, $300 million “benchmark” prohibitive, mostly because of the years. From the get-go, Boras made it clear the parameters for Harper were going to have to significantly exceed the reported final 10-year, $300 million offer made by the Nationals that was flatly rejected because so much deferred money had reduced its present value to only $184 million. Let’s re-visit that offseason of 2018-2019 when Harper finally hit the free-agent market after his agent Scott Boras had predicted he would be the highest player ever almost from the day the Nationals made him the first-overall pick in the 2010 draft out of a small college in Henderson, Nev. ![]()
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