Philadelphia Phillies: Bryce Harper’s Deal Shows His Competitiveness

Bryce Harper’s 13 year, $330 million deal with the Philadelphia Phillies shows what he wants more than anything else. He wants to win.

The wait is finally over! Bryce Harper has finally signed with a team and it was the long assumed, Philadelphia Phillies. For $330 million over 13 seasons, the Phillies were able to land one of the best young hitters in the game. It’s an interesting contract though and quite different than what most people expected.

The length of the contract immediately stands out. I understand that Bryce Harper is young for a free agent but committing to anyone for 13 years other than my wife would be a scary proposition. After all, he is already a poor defensive right fielder. It seems as though the Phillies must be banking on the idea that the designated hitter will be coming to the National League sooner rather than later. Sure the Phillies ought to get several good seasons out of Harper, but they are also going to get what should be some crummy ones on the back-end as well.

The massive length of this deal coupled with the full no-trade clause and the absence of any opt outs or options means that this in all likelihood will be the last baseball contract that Harper ever signs. It also likely means that Harper will be a Philly for the rest of his career.

It’s interesting to think about now in the year 2019, but at the end of his career we will most likely only think of him as a Philly and fail to remember much of his Washington days. I know that he was often inconsistent throughout his Washington tenure, but it sure does seem like they wasted their opportunities while having a prodigy on their hands.

More from Call to the Pen

• Philadelphia Phillies, ready for a stretch run, bomb St. Louis Cardinals
• Philadelphia Phillies: The 4 players on the franchise’s Mount Rushmore
• Boston Red Sox fans should be upset over Mookie Betts’ comment
• Analyzing the Boston Red Sox trade for Dave Henderson and Spike Owen
• 2023 MLB postseason likely to have a strange look without Yankees, Red Sox, Cardinals

The $330 million number is probably the least surprising part of the deal. Giancarlo Stanton‘s record contract that he signed with the Marlins back in the winter of 2014 was for $325 million over thirteen years. This number always seemed like the goal that Harper had to beat.

However, it seemed much more likely that he was going to try to get that money but on a shorter, 10 year deal. After waiting out Manny Machado‘s signing as well as Nolan Arenado‘s extension, all the record numbers were there in front of Harper and his super agent, Scott Boras. Perhaps $330 million over ten years just wasn’t available, or maybe there were some other factors at play here.

I don’t know Bryce Harper personally and I don’t have any inside information on how he thinks or what his goals are. However, based on watching him over his career and the contract that he just signed I believe that Harper cared about two things when it came to his free agent negotiations. First, he had to break Giancarlo Stanton’s record. I think that was the sticking point that held things up all winter. I think he wasn’t going to sign for any number less than $326 million. It also seems like he wants to be on a winning club and compete for championships.

He was more willing to get his number over a longer period of time, thus devaluing the contract than to get more money up front over a shorter time frame, hamstringing his club from competing. With the length of his contract, Harper will never make more than $26 million in any season. Of course this is still a lot of money, but it certainly won’t prohibit a club like the Phillies from going out and making another big signing if they need to. People are already discussing the possibility of the Phillies signing Mike Trout in two years and this deal definitely makes that a possibility.

This deal really just shows how much Bryce Harper wants to win. He wanted to beat Stanton and he wasn’t going to sign without doing so. He wants to win championships and it seems like he took less money per year to accomplish that goal. They are in a tough division with three other teams that are equally talented, but this signing gives them the Philadelphia Phillies the best opportunity they have had in years to get back to the playoffs and contend for another World Series.