[Rummyfan]

Harper is very good, but not great. Maybe he will go on a several season tear in Phillie. I hope he does. But recent history has shown these monster long-term contracts do not work out well in the long run. Thirteen years is an eternity in baseball terms and Harper will be 39 by the end of the contract. And the Phillie fans will not be very patient with him....

[Rummyfan]

And he could have stayed with the Nats for ten years and $300M. Why go to Philly?

[Rummyfan]

Though few mention it, subtracting Harper, while it will cost 34 homers, a .899 career OPS and some amazing hair flips, would help any team improve its attention to fundamentals. When the most famous player on the team can’t go 10 days without failing to run out a groundball or overthrowing a cutoff man by 15 feet or throwing to the wrong base or being caught unprepared in the outfield or on the bases, it’s hard to demand total alertness from the other 24.

[DainBramage]

Playing and living in DC must be hell.

[sauropod]

Just drove down i-95 and saw a billboard in Delaware that said Philly welcomes Bryce.

[humblegunner]

Who?

[pnz1]

So he’ll be at Phillies with McCutchen?

[Alberta's Child]

A move like this might make sense if it boosts Philly’s attendance significantly, but that’s it. This sounds like a business decision, not a baseball decision.

[Pelham]

“In my view, Harper was too much about himself and not enough about the team.”

I know someone whose son and Bryce Harper were on the same Travel Ball team. So she knew Bryce and his dad back when.

This is a very easy going, fun loving woman, not some hard nosed baseball mom- and her estimation of Bryce and his dad is exactly the same as the above quote. In fact her opinion of them rhymes with “hole”.

[Will88]

That year Mickey Mantle had one of the best seasons ever by a hitter. He won the Triple Crown with a batting average of .353, 52 home runs, and 130 RBIs.

And was paid around $100,000 for that production back in 1956.

[Will88]

That year Mickey Mantle had one of the best seasons ever by a hitter. He won the Triple Crown with a batting average of .353, 52 home runs, and 130 RBIs.

And was paid around $100,000 for that production back in 1956.

[be-baw]

That outrageous contract is, as has been reported, stupid money spent by the Phillies. I give Harper credit for milking it as much as he could, but you’re right, these long-term contracts, more often than not, end up being bad investments.

I’m a Tiger fan. The deceased owner, Mike Ilitch, wanted a World Series Championship so badly that he signed players to outrageous contracts, most of which have been a waste a money: Prince Fielder was probably the worst but they also wasted money on Justin Verlander, Miguel Cabrera and Jordan Zimmerman. Amazingly, they traded JV to the Astros and had to eat a portion of his contract. Meanwhile Verlander is still a perennial Cy Young contender for the Astros, Miggy and Zimmerman have missed a lot of time because of injuries, although both are supposed to back this year.

Can’t blame Harper for getting all he could. It appears that baseball contracts have split into two types: extremely lucrative contracts like Harper, Machado and Arenado have, and relatively piddling $1-5 million/yr contracts for solid, but not spectacular players.

The players don’t like it. They claim that their window of opportunity is short: that is the time they have between when they can first become free agents and when they get into their early 30’s. I’m sure they will try to have the rules changed during the next bargaining session.

[SuperLuminal]

Wish I had a "shoulder shrug" picture to post...

Now, if the Nats lost their Max Scherzer, I would be pissed...

[pgkdan]

Despite all of the thrills Harper brought to Washington, I’m not sorry to see him go (though I wish it hadn’t been to a division rival). It’s not so much that I believe Harper, whose performance has been declining since 2015 especially defensively, isn’t worth $300 million. It’s more that I grew tired of his act.

In my view, Harper was too much about himself and not enough about the team.

My sentiments exactly.

[Ransomed]

I think maybe the Nats dodged a bullet. Sign/extend Rendon.

harper’s WAR per year
2012-5.2
2013-3.7
2014-1.1
2015-10.0
2016-1.5
2017-4.7
2018-1.3

Seems kinda hit and miss for 300+. But who knows, he could rip out some seasons like 2015.

Freegards

[major_gaff]

Consider it payback for taking Jayson Werth...lol

[shanover]

Feels good that the baseball team of the Swamp lost Harper. The tears,fake skepticism and all other silly banter and Philly and Harper hate is joy to me. The Phillies are stacked. The team will recoup $330 million easily and then some and we will get a few World Series titles within the early part of his contract. Next up is Mike Trout.

[rexthecat]

That year Mickey Mantle had one of the best seasons ever by a hitter.

Mantle once admitted that he "never played sober." Can you imagine what his stats would have been if he wasn't always drunk at the plate?!

[detective]

Bryce Harper had one great year(2015) and a few very good years.

But he could not hit against the shift. He did not play good fundamental baseball and he was terrible in the post season.

Harper is a career .211 hitter in post season.

[pepsi_junkie]

Look at it this way: Harper is 26, not 29. It’s really rare for a player of his caliber to get to the open market at such a young age. That’s worth a risk. So they locked up a solid player for 13 years at a rate which in a couple of seasons will seem cheap. Sure he may break down in the final 3-4 years of the contract (though if the DH ever gets to the National League he’ll likely still be productive regardless) but in 11 years I’ll bet the $25M per year he’s getting will be going rate for an average player, such is salary escalation.

[ratzoe]

And the Phillie fans will not be very patient with him....

Thats exactly my feelings about it. I was a diehard fan of the Senators and waited 35 yrs to get another team here in the DC area. Even half adopted the hated Orioles for a while until they fired Davey Johnson in the 90s. Bryce is a talent, no doubt, and I have no issue with him getting what he could. The Nats, IMO, aren't really hurt on the field by him leaving, maybe in attendance and merchandising. But, he really couldn't have picked a worse place to go than Philly and he will realize that sooner, rather than later.