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The Phillies broke the bank on Bryce Harper, but why?


Details are slowly coming out about Bryce Harper's new contract and several of the failed negotiations that took place between Harper, his agent (Scott Boras), and other teams that were interested in signing him.  Bryce will officially be introduced as a Philadelphia Phillie today and he's already announced that he's wearing #3 (maybe because of all of the 3s in his contract?).

 Bryce ultimately signed a staggering 13-year, $330 million dollar deal with the Philadelphia Phillies.  This contract now represents the largest contract in North American sports history.  Of the 10 richest contracts in history, 9 belong to baseball and 1 to boxing.  Regarding that boxing contract, Canelo Alvarez has the largest contract (a contract that calls for about $33 million per fight).  His contract now exceeds Giancarlo Stanton's previous record of $325 million over 13 years and Manny Machado's contract of ten years for $330 million.  Bryce's contract also exceeded Alex Rodriguez's deal by a decent margin.  

 Regardless of what Bryce decided, he was going to shatter one record or another; he could have taken the longer deal with the Phillies (for the most overall in history) or he could have taken a shorter deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers (for the highest annual amount in history).  In that deal, the Dodgers were offering $43 million per year, although only for about 3 years.  

 This amount of money begs a few questions: who is this guy, why did someone give him all of that money, and is he worth it?

 On the first question, who exactly is Bryce Harper and why is he deserving of all this money?  Bryce was selected in 2010 by the Washington Nationals as the number one overall selection.  He had incredible promise and now 6 years into his career, he is regarded as one of the best baseball players on the planet.  In 2015, he had arguably one of the best seasons of all time.  On his way to winning the Most Valuable Player award, Bryce played in 153 games, scored 118 runs, hit 42 home runs, with a batting average of .330.  Those are ridiculous, video game-type numbers.  What has he done besides that?  Well, not nearly as much.  He has been productive, but not the most productive.  By comparison, he played in 159 games, scored 103 runs, hit 34 home runs, and hit for a .248 average.  Again, productive, but not the most productive.  So what, then are the Phillies paying for?  It would appear to driven entirely on potential.  Yes, Harper had a brilliant year in 2015, but he hasn't had many other brilliant years.  He also hasn't come up particularly clutch in any playoffs games of importance.  

 And so that begs the second question, which is a good one: why did the Phillies sign him to this contract?  To win, that's why.  And to create a culture of winning.  Several years ago, the Washington Nationals were an up-and-coming franchise but they had no "oompf" or star power.  The Nationals, desperate to create a culture for winning and to show its fans that its committed to winning, signed Jayson Werth to a 7-year, $126 million contract.  There was no looking back for the Nationals, who have since proven that not only do they want to win, but they know how to build a roster capable of sustained success.  Here, with the Phillies, this situation feels no different.  The Phillies have spent the past few years rebuilding.  They've watched their neighbors down south, the Nationals, not just win the division, but have the excitement of star power.  What do the Phillies do?  They wait for the right moment and then decided to drive down I-95 and take that player.   

 Is the gamble going to work?  We'll find out pretty quickly if he was worth it.  The team that sacrificed him, the Washington Nationals, plays in the same division as the Phillies.  These two teams will not only face off quite a bit but they'll have to compete for the same playoff spot.  This will represent quite the experiment between the two teams:  were the Phillies justified in paying for the superstar or were the Nationals smart to use that money and address a variety of needs?  It's a story not yet written that will be played out during the warm summer nights to come. 

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