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At this point, Phillies fans are like teenagers with a case of New Star Fever. They are sooo tired of the navigation and the test drive of their parents. They have enough. They want the hottest model on the floor and they want it now.
They want Bryce Harper. It does not matter what it costs.
Playing the sneaky bait-n-switch seller: Scott Boras. And he works on dad and mom, using them, using them.
Mom and dad: Matt Klentak and John Middleton.
I hope that they go away. But without Harper.
I do not like him. I do not want it. And I do not think it's wise to pay him $ 350 million or more under a long-term contract of the kind that has erupted in the face of an MLB club over the last ten years.
I am not opposed to saving the truck. But it must be the good guy.
Like Mike Trout. After next year.
The Phillies have a lot of room and money, you say. Then spend it in smaller pieces on the puzzle. Use secondary and tertiary players who can make this team a competitive team or even a champion. Wait to shoot someone who really wants to be here for a reason other than obscene money.
Bryce Harper is not Philadelphia. He will not feel any attachment to this place. He is hired to sign the contract of his career and that's it.
I know the Phillies need a left-handed bat to stay in the middle of this rights-dominated formation. I know the Phillies could probably use a little ass to give this club an edge. I know Harper is able to separate 45 RH from the comfortable bank, especially with this inviting porch.
I also know this: The glory years of the Phillies collapsed when they stopped training local players and began hiring fast-moving mercenaries in the free agent market. The era of the "Four Aces" did not even produce a pennant, they were all gone and what Philadelphia had to show for that? They were jobbers unrelated to the uniform except the paycheck.
Is this what we want for 8 or 10 years and the bulk of a half billion dollars? Did not the club learn from Ryan Howard's debacle? Not to mention all the long-term agreements with Albert Pujols and Joey Votto and Robinson Cano and Miguel Cabrera around baseball. How are those who work?
You know why nobody moves in this chicken part between Boras and all the potential contenders of Harper? Are you sick of waiting? Some GMs and homeowners may have finally realized that long-term deals with big profits are not the answer.
This includes one for Manny Machado. Even though he probably responds a little better to the defensive needs of the club at third base than Harper, do you really think that Manny is Manny, playing when he feels like it, jogging in the playoffs as he had did last fall with the Dodgers, will it bring in Philadelphia well? Not an adjustment.
If Middleton spends this money, I think the Phillies should spend it for one man and one man only. Wait for Mike Trout in November 2020. And if the Phillies can spend as much money for another star, spread it out between two or three more modest, self-employed agents in the short term at the moment. A single player is worth a lot of money for this city.
Trout is a guy from Millville, N.J. He has attended more sporting events in Philadelphia than most people who live there all year. He loves this city. You know that he wants to be here because he's is here when he does not break for aimless angels in the apathetic Anaheim. He even went to Sixers games during the process. That, friends, is the love.
Trout's non-engagement comment yesterday, as he arrived at spring training, shouted: Yes! Yes, I would like to be Phillie for the rest of my life !:
"I do not think I spent a day out of season without anyone asking me," When are you coming to Philly? I can not predict the future. I do not know."
Harper's or Machado's argument is that the Phillies have so little commitment to wages in the future that they could handle super offers for one or the other. and Trout. And that they need Harper or Machado now to show fans that they are serious in their fight for the NL East.
I would simply agree to be competitive without mortgaging the future of one of the pampered divas who were caught red-handed.
The only thing I've ever liked about Jonathan Papelbon (another indie agent of the Phillies in bad shape), is when he was with the Nationals and had challenged Harper to have launched a Pop fly during the 2016 hot days and confronted him while he was returning to the dugout. . Then, the reliever tried to smother him when the superstar protested. It took Bryce Harper to make Papelbon a heroic figure. And, if you remember, their Nationals teammates have all supported Papelbon!
This is a man who will be kissed after signing what will surely be the richest contract in Philadelphia's sporting history?
I understand that the current range is not a draw. And I know that Middleton and the club are worried about the sale of tickets and the number of places available now, which with the anemia of 2.3 million spectators last season.
I just think hiring a thorny bastard like Harper and forcing him to Philadelphia with piles of money could lead to a very ugly divorce.
It will take patience. But the Phillies have to build their home and then welcome the one who really loves them. Money can not buy them love.
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DAVID JONES:
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