Should I be worried or excited about the Phillies signing Bryce Harper to a $400 million contract?

[Omar 382]

(...potentially signing Bryce Harper to a $400 million contract)

I want to win as bad as anyone else. After beginning to watch the Phillies in '06, I was quickly treated to the high life and ultimately baseball vindication and ultimate triumph in 2008. Since then, I have had to experience various forms of seeming my team sucking ass, sucking balls, sucking dick, and (this last season was a new one) shitting the bed/choking in an epic fashion.

Along the way with all that sucking, various horrendous contracts were given out like Percocets from Dr. Feelgood Hollywood. Off the top of my head:

Ryan Howard: 5 years/$125 million
45+ year old Jamie Moyer: 2 (!) years/$16 million
Jonathan Papelbon: 4 years/$60 million

Not to mention horrendously trading Cliff Lee to the Mariners in 2010 to "restock the farm system." If we had kept Lee, we may have had a shot at the 2010 WS.

All this is to say that I have seen some bad decisions go down that have cost me significant happiness for 6+ years of my life.

Of course, Matt Klentak and especially Gabe Kapler are no Ruben Amaro and Charlie Manuel. But I am still on the fence about Harper for two reasons: 1.) I don't know that he's talented enough to spend $400 million on, and 2.) I don't know that the Phillies are talented enough to win with just him in 2019 (I won't speculate on any further seasons).

Since becoming a full time MLB player in 2012, Harper has had two monster years (2015 and 2017), though 2017 was limited due to injuries. He has had three pretty great seasons (2012, 2013, and 2018) and he's had two slightly above average seasons (2014 and 2016). Is that body of work justifiable to give him $400 dollars?

Even assuming it is, are the Phillies good enough to compete with the addition of Harper (assuming no other big moves are made, which I actually doubt would be the case). If you sign Harper and Harper alone, I don't think he's enough to make us legitimate contenders in the National League; I don't even know if it makes us favorites in the NL East necessarily.

But if you sign him, and decide to go all in, then we're talking signing Machado or trading for Trout, trading for Kimbrel, signing SP, etc. That's going to take a fuck-ton of money and prospects, so you better be sure that you splurge enough that you feel you have a very good chance to win the WS in 2019.

What do you guys think?

 

[huskers1217]

I think Bryce is really sad right now watching the Nats celebrate

 

[packerzrule]

Worried

That contract is capable of hamstringing that organization for years to come.

 

[Sparhawk]

Harper delivered 4.1 WAR this past season.
Roughly $7-8M per WAR gives you roughly $28-32M worth of production.
He made $28M, so he's performing as expected.

The offense underperformed. There was a noticeable change when Manuel took over as hitting coach.
Maybe Kapler was too focused on analytics and increasing swing arc/path.
He's fired now, so let's see what they do.

Still need Klentak/MacPhail to get us pitching.
I doubt they get fired after they sneakily signed extensions.

We're not going to go anywhere until that gets addressed, regardless of how Harper performs.

 

[Cedrique]

We might regret it at some point down the road, but for now I'm happy about having Harper for 28 mil. next year.

 

[redseat]

 

[fightinfunbags]

Maybe a good time to revisit this. Based on current salaries, the Harper contract doesn't look too bad outside of some stints on the DL.

 

[Cedrique]

RIP Omar382. I miss having someone willing to rate the breakfast burritos at some Cumberland Farms in Wilmington DE.

 

[DJ]

Maybe a good time to revisit this. Based on current salaries, the Harper contract doesn't look too bad outside of some stints on the DL.

The last few years will suck but he is playing well

 

[DJ]

RIP Omar382. I miss having someone willing to rate the breakfast burritos at some Cumberland Farms in Wilmington DE.

He died?

 

[fightinfunbags]

The last few years will suck but he is playing well

Salaries will be exorbitant by then so $25 million won’t be difficult to swallow especially with the DH in the NL now.

 

[DJ]

Salaries will be exorbitant by then so $25 million won’t be difficult to swallow especially with the DH in the NL now.

True.

 

[fightinfunbags]

Since signing with the Phillies Harper has one regular season MVP and one NLCS MVP

 

[Cedrique]

He died?

metaphorically. He hasn't been on here in years. Maybe he got some great job that he likes so much he doesn't have time to post nonsense on here.

 

[Cedrique]

Since signing with the Phillies Harper has one regular season MVP and one NLCS MVP

They have actually done pretty well with most of their big acquisitions lately. Who would have thought they would get as much out of Wheeler as they have gotten? Not me.....

Just need little Nicky to bounce back with so pop this year.

 

[Sparhawk]

Harper delivered 4.1 WAR this past season.
Roughly $7-8M per WAR gives you roughly $28-32M worth of production.
He made $28M, so he's performing as expected.

Still need Klentak/MacPhail to get us pitching.
I doubt they get fired after they sneakily signed extensions.

We're not going to go anywhere until that gets addressed, regardless of how Harper performs.

Not exactly a freezing cold take.
But, getting rid of Klentak/MacPhail was just the beginning of this team going anywhere.

 

[fightinfunbags]

They have actually done pretty well with most of their big acquisitions lately. Who would have thought they would get as much out of Wheeler as they have gotten? Not me.....

Just need little Nicky to bounce back with so pop this year.

Yep. Castellanos will not likely to be the 30 HR 100 RBI guy from 2021. But he can definitely be better than what we saw last year. I’m encouraged because when he went to the Reds, his first year was subpar and then he improved in year 2.

 

[Sparhawk]

Yep. Castellanos will not likely to be the 30 HR 100 RBI guy from 2021. But he can definitely be better than what we saw last year. I’m encouraged because when he went to the Reds, his first year was subpar and then he improved in year 2.

His career OPS is just over .800.
If he hits that (basically more than 100 points higher than 2022), he'll be fine.