Philadelphia Phillies emerge as favorites for Bryce Harper

The Philadelphia Phillies have emerged as the frontrunners for Bryce Harper’s services, but they are not his only suitor.

The talk of Bryce Harper’s free agency has been going on for ages. Here is a Washington Post article from 2015 that practically laments Harper leaving the Washington Nationals more than three years before he even hit the open market.

Now that Harper’s free agency is actually here, it almost feels anti-climactic. It’s reminiscent of the alleged Doomsday once the Mayan calendar ended on December 21, 2012. There was so much discussion (and even a major motion picture!) about the “apocalypse” that once the day actually came, the end of the world had been so talked about so much that it really wasn’t a big a deal when it, well, didn’t happen.

When the Washington Post published that article in 2015, Harper was in the midst of an MVP season, and those in the national media were talking about Harper’s upcoming departure from Washington as if it were the end of the world for the Nationals. While Harper has been an elite player practically his entire young career, he hasn’t posted a season anywhere near his incredible 2015, when he posted a ludicrous .330/.460/.649 line, good for a 9.3 WAR according to Fangraphs.

In 2018, Harper posted a 3.5 fWAR, due to decreased (but still great) offensive numbers and very poor defensive ratings. 3.5 WAR is nothing to scoff at, but it certainly doesn’t scream “superstar.” Harper’s inability to maintain his truly elite performance and the fact that owners seem much more hesitant to spend on free agents suggest that the talk of a $500 million contract for Harper seems out of the question, and his list of suitors seems smaller than one might have expected.

But even so, Harper is just 26, a very good player, and he’s going to end up with a large sum of money. Let’s take a look at the current favorites to sign Bryce Harper.