MLB Free Agency: Where Will Bryce Harper Land?

Where Bryce Harper will land is still one of the biggest questions in MLB free agency this offseason.

Bryce Harper has been the biggest storyline in MLB free agency, and with a recent free agent outfielder signing with one of Harper’s suitors, what are the options?

On Thursday, the Los Angeles Dodgers signed outfielder A.J. Pollock to a 4 year, $55 million dollar deal with an opt out after the third year.

The Dodgers seemed to be one of Harper’s suitors after the team traded outfielders Yasiel Puig and Matt Kemp to the Reds, but they opted for a shorter term deal with a smaller AAV.

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With the Pollock signing, there is now only three teams that seem to have high interest in Harper: Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago White Sox, and Harper’s former employer, the Washington Nationals.

The Nationals have made at least one offer to Harper, which was a 10-year offer worth around $300 million.

The White Sox are interested in Harper, but there has been no formal offer made.

The Phillies have met with Harper in Las Vegas, and manager Gabe Kapler and Harper “hit it off” during the meeting, and seem to be the favorite to land the free agent outfielder.

Now let’s look at the best and worse case scenarios for Harper in MLB free agency.

Best Case Scenario: Although Harper has lost another team in his free agent chase, he ends up getting a huge deal worth north of $300 million, but the Nationals really want him so they offer him a 13 year deal worth at least $330 million.

Worst Case Scenario: The White Sox are more interested in Manny Machado than Harper, so they don’t even offer him a deal at all, and sign Machado. Although they had a great meeting, the Phillies are more interested in saving their money for when Eagles season ticket holder and the best player of this century, Mike Trout, hits the market as a free agent. The Nationals are the only team that has interest in him, so he ends up taking a 10 year $300 million deal that he originally was offered before the 2018 regular season concluded.

Bryce Harper should get better options than the worst case scenario, but if that is his only option, I think he would take $300 million to play for a young Nationals team in the Nation’s Capital.