San Diego Padres can still sign Bryce Harper even with Manny Machado
By Ben Fadden
The San Diego Padres just signed Manny Machado to a ten year deal, but can the Padres still sign Bryce Harper?
The San Diego Padres have been known as a team that does not like to spend a lot of money, but make trades and develop their prospects from within. That was until they signed Eric Hosmer last off season, and Manny Machado on Tuesday.
Machado signed the largest free agent contract in North American Sports history, which means the Padres may be restricted from signing any other free agents to big deals.
The only remaining big free agent contract remaining will be the one of Bryce Harper. Now, we all know that there have been reports that have said that Harper is leaning towards the Philadelphia Phillies, but he has met with Padres brass in his hometown of Las Vegas this offseason.
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This morning there was a report as well from SNY’s Andy Martino that said the star free agent is “unsure” about signing with the Phillies.
Now potentially here comes the Padres.
I know Harper still wants that $300 million deal that Machado got because he believes that he is a better player, and he will tell teams “Hey, Machado got $300 million, and I am a better player than he is so I need to get a bigger contract”.
But Harper may want to sign with the Padres over the Phillies or Giants because of the opportunity to win for a longer period of time.
The Phillies may have more big league talent right now like Andrew McCutchen, Rhys Hoskins, Jean Segura, and Aaron Nola. But the Padres have the top farm system in the league with guys like Fernando Tatis Jr. coming up, and then they will have one of the best rotations in the league in a few seasons. They have prospects like Chris Paddack, Logan Allen, Ryan Weathers, and McKenzie Gore who are coming up to solidify the rotation.
There is still a possibility for Bryce Harper to come to the San Diego Padres on a short term deal with a high AAV.