On Thursday, February 28th the Philadelphia Phillies and Bryce Harper agreed on the biggest deal in North American sports history.  The Phillies organization will be giving Bryce Harper a contract that is worth 330 million dollars over 13 years with their ball club.  Surprisingly, Harper’s deal does not include any opt-outs or deferred money.  It also gives Harper a full no-trade clause throughout the life of the contract.  

Harper’s contract beats Manny Machado’s deal of $300 Million over 10-years that the San Diego Padres gave him earlier in February.  At one point this offseason it was thought that the Phillies were going to make a heavy push to get both the superstar sluggers.  After their owner John Middleton said, “We’re going into this expecting to spend money.” “And maybe even be a little bit stupid about it.” Surprisingly most baseball experts say that the amount they gave Harper was not so “Stupid” after all.  

However, the Phillies were not the only team thought to be in the mix in the Bryce Harper sweepstakes this offseason.  The very first team that was thought to be in big on Harper this offseason was the Los Angeles Dodgers.  L.A.  was coming off it’s second World Series Appearance the last 2 years.  However, they were unable to pull off a win that meant a championship.  They thought by adding Harper it would make them the favorite to win the N.L. pennant again and finally get them over the hump.  

The second team that was thought to be in on Harper was the New York Yankees.  Everyone knows that the Yankees are not afraid to spend money, and they would even be more willing to do if they could get a star like Bryce Harper.  However, the Yankees had a problem.  The problem was that Bryce Harper plays the outfield and the Yankees already have all of the outfield spots filled with two potent sluggers of their own in Arron Judge and Giancarlo Stanton.  Which meant if Harper did join the Yankees, him or Giancarlo would have to split time at the DH position. 

The third team that was in on Bryce Harper was the San Francisco Giants.  It sounded like the Giants were willing to give Harper a big check, but not the long years he wanted to go along with it.  The other thing that made you scratch your head when people said “Harper might go to the Giants” was winning.  The Giants do have a great history of winning, and there is no doubt about that.  But the Giants have not been to the playoffs since 2016, and a ccouple of weeks ago their longtime manager Bruce Bochy announced that he was going to retire at the end of this season.  

The fourth and final team that was said to be in on Harper since the beginning was the Washington Nationals.  The Nationals was the team that was most familiar with Harper’s services.  The Nationals drafted Harper when he was just 18 years-old.  Harper and the Nationals have won 4 N.L. East pennants together but have never made a World Series appearance.  The Nationals did not just crawl up in a ball and let Harper go out on the free-agent market without offering him a deal with a substantial amount of money.  At the end of last season, the Nationals offered Harper a deal that was reportedly worth 300 million dollars.  Bryce turned down that deal from that Nationals hoping for bigger and better deals to come his way.  Which they eventually did.                                

This mega deal will have Harper stay in the “City of Brotherly Love” all the way up until his age 39 season. Harper will share a clubhouse with some other superstars as well.  The first being veteran outfielder Andrew McCutchen, who was most known for his time in the other city in the keystone state Pittsburgh.  The other superstar that will be rubbing shoulders with Bryce Harper in the Phillies clubhouse is J.T. Realmuto.  Last season Realmuto was thought to be one of the best offensive catchers in the game.   

The Phillies also have some homegrown talent that will be helping their ball club out this season. The first will be the highly thought of first baseman Rhys Hoskins. This year Hoskins will be coming into his age 26 season.  Last year Hoskins hit .246/34 HR/ 96 RBIs in 153 games played last year.  With those stats, the Phillies will be looking at Hoskins to be a big threat in the middle of their batting order this coming season. 

The only big question for Harper and the Phillies this season will be their starting pitching.  The Phillies rotation will for sure have two solid arms in Aaron Nola and Jake Arrieta securing the top.  However, the rest of the 3 spots are up for grabs for now.  It was said that the Phillies were looking to go after some of the “big fish” in the starting pitchers free-agent market like Dallas Keuchel who is one of few top starters on this year’s market. 

Even though the Phillies still have some questions in the rotation this year, the Harper signing should give Philadelphia a big boost coming into this season.  Also, this signing does give the Phillies the upper hand by most baseball experts when it comes to the N.L. east.  None the less, there will be lots of love to go around for Bryce Harper in Philadelphia for this year and beyond.   

*If he produces.             

Photo From: https://sports.yahoo.com/phillies-brand-bryce-harper-era-around-wholesomeness-stability-215139327.html