Well, that took long enough. On the last day of February and with spring training games already under way, the Philadelphia Phillies have finally landed Bryce Harper to the tune of $330 million over 13 years. The contract contains no opt out clause and no deferred payments.
The Phillies are making a big investment in Harper. But as Rian Watt put it, "When Bryce Harper gets his final paycheck from the Phillies in 2031, Bobby Bonilla will still be four years away from his final paycheck from the Mets." The question is how many World Series titles will the Phillies win with Harper. In his seven seasons with the Washington Nationals, Harper never reached the NLCS.
Yet Harper has not been without triumphs. He joins the Phillies having made the NL All-Star Team six times in seven seasons, earned the NL MVP in 2015 and in 2018 drove in 100 RBIs for the first time in his career and led the NL in walks with 130. At 26, the best is very probably yet to come. But what happens come 2025, never mind 2030? Both Harper and the Phillies are taking an enormous risk here.
But there will be plenty of excitement in Philly in 2019. The Phillies have had a busy off-season. In addition to Harper, the Phillies have added J.T. Realmuto, Andrew McCutchen, David Robertson and Jean Segura with the very real possibility of adding Dallas Keuchel and Craig Kimbrel. If doesn't make them the favorite to win the NL East then nothing will. If nothing else this will put a lot of people in Citizen's Bank Park and Harper will be lustily booed when he returns to D.C. on April 2nd. Those feelings will probably only intensify when the Phillies play the Nats during the last week of September and are fighting for the NL East and/or a NL Wild Card spot.
Of course, things could easily go south. Harper could get hurt or he could bat .220 in April. In which case, Harper will find out how intense Phillie boo-birds can be. In which case, Harper might not be so Phanatical to be in Philadelphia.
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