Fans of the Philadelphia Phillies want the team to sign Bryce Harper. Will the Phillies front office make that desire come true?
As many know by now, the Philadelphia Phillies are seen by many as one of the cash-rich MLB teams more likely than not to land either Manny Machado or Bryce Harper. These guys are baseball’s two premiere free agents of the century thus far. Much discussion about them and their suitors has arisen, but no actual signing action.
It is assumed that “negotiations” are on-going (read, the players’ agents are attempting to jack up their clients’ cost). Either player may sign at any time. Or not. Who knows?
The Phillies have a “measly” $60 million committed to their payroll for next season, $46 million for 2020, and a microscopic $8 million out in 2023. Their fans are frustrated after seven straight seasons at the .500 mark or below, and they are mulling over what the team should do with their owners’ money since it’s not theirs.
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Philadelphia experienced an NFL championship season in 2017, and their baseball fans, basically, would appreciate it if the Phillies owners would, please, return the team to the glory of 2007-11 and five division championships, two NL championships, a World series championship, and a team record for wins in a season.
Moreover, there is a seemingly clear distinction between the two available superstars, and assuming the Phillies won’t sign both, Philly fans are expressing their opinions with their usual gusto.
Everyone who even casually follows baseball knows that Manny Machado is now about to be a very rich persona non grata despite his ill-considered remarks during the MLB postseason about not really liking to hustle and certain actions, ironically, showing hustle, but arguably “dirty hustle.” It’s not as though Machado won’t be signed by some team because – Manny Machado!
The question is just: Who will do that? Philadelphia fans would prefer the Phillies go after Harper.
A recent Philly talk radio poll on Twitter was trending seriously in favor of Harper – 91% to 9% with 5000-plus votes in and some 15 hours to go as this is typed. Now, you may go on here about “self-selection,” “non-scientific polling,” and so forth, but the station posting this poll is listened to by tens of thousands, and they will anoint Harper the city’s choice, and even more people are then going to jump on the Harper bandwagon.
Is Harper the right choice? Maybe not.
First, Harper is slowing down defensively while Machado is finally playing at the position he actually wants to play (or at least he did for Baltimore and Los Angeles this year) after winning Gold Gloves and a Platinum Glove at a position he’d rather not have played. Second, in terms of hitting, a quick look at these two great young players’ numbers is sort of a toss-up.
Which offensive stats a fan likes is personal. Runs batted in are often ignored, and seven years into their careers, Harper has a slight edge, 521 to 513 (or 91 a season to 90). He also drove in 32 in a shortened season, and drove in 100 in 2018, his only year in triple digits. Weirdly, Machado’s low mark for RBI was also 32, in an even shorter season than Harper’s short season. However, last season, bounced from the Orioles to the Dodgers, he posted his best total, 107.
Harper has an edge in home runs as well, 184 to 175, but Harper hit balls 500 feet in high school. You may recall the videos.
As time goes on, their respective doubles figures may become more important as their big flies don’t always have capital letters anymore. Thus far, Machado has 211 doubles to Harper’s 183.
Among Phillies followers, however, every player must be Chase Utley, a guy who hustled so much he broke an opponent’s leg and made MLB change the rules about sliding.
The question is whether or not Phillies management will follow their fans’ view about these two young stars, or what they will do if they wring their hands too long and lose both.