Yankees Rumors: What’s going on with Bryce Harper?

The New York Yankees were, for a variety of different reasons, suggested as a natural landing spot for Bryce Harper – so why haven’t we heard Yankees rumors about the two sides negotiating?

Bryce Harper is one of the most exciting free agents baseball has seen in a long time. While not a terribly controversial figure like his fellow free-agent Manny Machado, nor as well bearded as Dallas Keuchel, it is widely predicted that Harper will end up with the largest contract of the winter.

There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that he’ll sign for a massive deal with the highest bidder, but who will that bidder be? Most have suggested the New York Yankees as the most logical landing spot, but it doesn’t appear that they have a ton of interest in bringing Harper to the Bronx.

As Andy Martino of Sportsnet New York, who has been on the Harper/Yankees discussions since the start of the offseason, wrote on Twitter Sunday, Harper isn’t close to signing, though he has had somewhat productive conversations with teams. In a separate tweet, Martino notes that as of mid-day Sunday, the Yankees were “not pursuing Bryce Harper”.

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Elsewhere, Jon Heyman of Fancred and MLB Network reported that the Yankees do plan to meet with Harper, though he notes they’re being publicly cautious about making their (potential) pursuit for him known. Conversely, Logan Mullen of NESN wrote earlier this week that the Yankees have “little interest” in signing Harper.

In perhaps the most extensive recent column assessing the state of the Yankees/Harper rumour situation, Martino wrote that the Yankees are, as of this point, “not planning to pursue” Harper. Martino confirmed that the Yankees front office is travelling to Las Vegas to meet with agents, with Harper’s representative Scott Boras likely among them.

He concludes by saying that while the Yankees aren’t done after acquiring James Paxton from the Mariners, they will most likely not be signing Bryce Harper, evidently to the chagrin of many, many Yankees fans. Notably, this column was published earlier this week, before the winter meetings in Las Vegas began.

Harper’s market is of course not barren just because the Yankees are not necessarily at the forefront of the negotiations. Martino wrote in the above column that “upwards of 12 teams” that plan on meeting with Boras (and Harper himself, if he’s present that is) in his hometown of Vegas. Of course, meeting with an agent doesn’t automatically denote serious interest.

At this point, it appears as though it’s far too early to start naming early suitors for the services of Bryce Harper. It’s also too early to completely discount the Yankees as a legitimate landing spot for him, though it’s not looking good. Regardless, the winter meetings will unfold and undoubtedly provide the baseball world with much more insight as to where Bryce Harper will eventually sign. For now, Yankees fans should probably hold off on getting custom made jerseys.