Ah, the Bryce Harper rumor mill is running strong again. I guess it’s easy to look at the outfield predicament of the 2019 Giants and say they are likely all in on the pursuit of the former NL MVP. However, that’s kind of lazy and discard’s Harper’s own perspective on the matter.
1.) Hitting home runs at AT&T Park for left-handers is not easy if they are not named Barry Lamar Bonds. Harper’s appeal for many of the fans who are all in on him is the dingers. Fair enough, we are watching a dinger deficient team. That said, say they did get Harper, his numbers would likely be dampened by the park factors. Then many of those same fans would be the first ones calling KNBR to complain about him. (It happens in every fan base, no one is immune).
2.) Hunter Strickland. It’s patronizing to imply that neither of these players could put aside their history and have a professional working relationship. I get that. But, man, why would anyone want to play on same team as that guy? Let alone Bryce Harper.
3.) Harper declined his ($300 mil/10 year) offer from the Nationals. It could be that he wants to stay and is hoping they give him a more generous offer. Or maybe he is looking for a better offer elsewhere, or just looking to be elsewhere. Either way, I don’t know if he would want to walk away from a team in the midst of a rebuild only to sign a long term contract with a team that is on the razor’s edge of a rebuild.
Remember, the Nationals have been considered contenders for the last several seasons and it never worked out well for them. I doubt Harper wants to spend the remaining golden years of his career on a team that has been floundering in 80-100 loss seasons.
Unless the Giants front office comes up with a presentation for how they plan to turn around the sinking ship in a reasonable amount of time, I don’t see him wanting to come to a team that has already had massive recent playoff success. He’s still looking for his own.
Look, I used to be all in on Harper back when the Giants weren’t playing like a shaken up box of weasels. But the fact is, they’re going to have to have a better trajectory before they’re going to attract huge free agents in the prime of their careers.
(All of that said, you’re damn right I would buy everyone in may family a Harper jersey for Christmas if he did happen to sign here.)