Is Bryce Harper really worth the grief and money?
 

His stats are really not consistant with the contract he received IMO...Plus the negatives he brings to the table with teammates....

13 years. I just can't get over that.

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Being discussed here
http://www.net54baseball.com/showthread.php?t=266355

And.....Is he really that good?

Thanks Chase, let's change it up....The Atlanta Braves made the playoffs last year with a very young lineup....They acquired Josh Donaldson in the off season, thoughts??? Are they the team to beat in the NL East?

And how good is Ronald Acuna Jr?

Better than Ronald Acuna Sr. anyhow.

Pretty damn good....He has a legitimate shot at stardom......He reminds me of a young Andruw Jones.....

I don't know, but he's definitely not WWII or older :D

Nope
 

The Braves lack the starting pitching to be considered the team to beat in the NL East. That division is wide open with the Nats, Mets and Phils all improving their rosters over the post season. The top 3 Cy Young finishers (deGrom, Scherzer and Nola) all pitch in the East. Throw in Steven Strasburg, Patrick Corbin, Noah Syndergaard, Jake Arrieta et al and this will be one tough division.

When the heck is someone going to sign Dallas Keuchel? Granted he had a mediocre year, but you are still talking about a guy only 30 with a Cy Young on his resume.

I am a met fan but to be honest why even debate the nl east. The division winner is rarely much better than a 500 ball club. The braves are the only team that has what it takes to build a dynasty. Anyone traded to the mets will start to suck the moment they get on the field. If they have a shot at the wild card they are almost guarenteed to come up 1 game short due to a loss to the phillies who never have a shot in hell of winning.

The nats either blow everyone out of the water or its the same win place show it has always been, braves, mets followed by the only macot who is actually a horse, the phillies.

hmmmm...
 

First off, no one is worth $330 million dollars. But i think his 2015 season along with his upside potential at 26 is hard to ignore. Yes his WAR was paltry at 1.3 last season and so was his .249 BA. However, he was in the top 5 in OBP and near the top in NL homers. I would guess he will not make it 6-7 years before someone will be looking for a change. I thought he might look to the Padres with their top rated minor league system for an Astros type run and look to build for the future.

Good investment for the team owner. Phillies will sell over 1 million more tickets this year, plus jerseys, money spent at the game etc ( at least $ 50 +) per person, that's 50 million + and they are paying him 25 million.

Harper wanted the biggest contract (Giancarlo was $325M) Philly wasn't going to pay him $33M a year for 10 years, so I guess the they stretched it out longer to make it work. I'm surprised there was no opt out.

I can understand the negativity, they've earned it. But if thats the attitude, why bother trying to win at all?

I like what the Mets have done so far and I like Brodies brashness, I hope it rubs off on the players.

You have to try and win. They are not doing that though.

Stop trying to make a 590 club. Enough half assing it. Add more hitting and be a contender. You can not have one guy and survive a hitting drought on pitching. A 500 something club (if they are lucky) that wins the division isn’t taking down the world series.

When you win don’t trade your players away. If you can’t do that save your money until you can.

My Orioles are going to win 100 games......it's just going to take 2 years to do it :)

I used to have to say that about my Astros.

Do you see Correa returning to the form where he was an up and coming elite player?

I think he'll be fine, but I don't expect he's going to stand out as the best player in that infield.

25 hr 80 rbis oh boy

I think a better question would be


Does any player deserve a $330 million contract?


You certainly cannot overlook Pujols with the Angels.

Or what about Braun with the Brewers.

I suspect in ten years Machado and Harper will be pulling the same oars as

Albert and Ryan.

Don’t ya think?

No, just add the two years together.
Should be well over a 100.
170 or so.
🤪

Is Bryce Harper really worth the grief and money?
 

Nope.

No. Very good hitter at times. Average fielder. Lazy runner. Ego of epic proportions. At some point he's going to slump bad and Philly fans are gonna eat him alive. Calling it now that by 2025 he is no longer on the Phillies roster one way or another.

Just as interesting to me is that Harper's actively campaigning for Mike Trout to come to Philly...a guy who's not eligible for free agency until before the 2021 season.

The League Commish's eyes raised, I'm sure. That's borderline tampering, isn't it?

And, I understand what Philly is doing. It seems every other year is a great one for Harper, though his 2017 season was limited by an injury that kept him to 111 games.

Still, think of floor and ceiling. Yeah, he's been a bit of a prick ("that's a clown story, brah". I hear that kind of a thing come out of his mouth, and I want to punch him). But he's only 26, and should be maturing more. Hopefully, for his sake. Philly fans won't put up with crap. Anyway, realistically, his floor? Near .400 OBP or higher. .500 SLG or higher. 30 + home runs a year for the next decade, assuming health.

Ceiling? Oh, my. He might never have another 2015 year, but is it unreasonable for us to think he could hit .290-.310, hit 40 + home runs, walk 125 times, drive in 100 + every year for the next five years, with somewhat similar production in his early 30s?

I say no. And the Phillies are smart to gamble that he's going to hit closer to his ceiling than his floor. Even without that monster season, he's a 143 OPS + player the last two years. That power is going to play in Philly, and if he comes anywhere near his power potential, he could hit 50 out of the park. He's got that potential upside. The ball just flies off his bat.

It will be interesting to see just how good he is. God help the rest of baseball if he and Trout are ever 3-4 in the heart of that lineup. /shudder.

+1

Harper? All I can say is that Philly fans are notoriously tough and when that collides with that large pile of ego it’s gonna get real interesting at some point.

Rob M

I didn’t watch the Phillies closely last season, but I was under the impression that they were a lot more than an outfielder away from being a contender. They were a couple games below .500; Harper might get them over that, but it’s going to take more than that to win the NLE.

They've done a helluva lot more than add an outfielder this off season. Not a fan, but they've certainly made some big moves.

Like what? They didn't sign anyone to start. Rotation is thin behind Nola.

Keuchel is still out there.

don't dismiss
 

Like signing probably the best catcher in MLB, for one thing - and McCutchen, who some people think is washed up, but his WAR has been rock-solid and he plays 140 games every year, plus provides a great clubhouse presence. Arietta and Pivetta (?) are solid too, and Nola is a true ace. I don't actually like Harper much myself, but I think they've put themselves in a strong position this off-season.

And they did get Harper for a yearly salary that's a relative bargain at 26m. I was surprised he wanted the long-term contract above every penny he could extract in the short term.

You didn't even mention signing Segura

Pivetta has a career 5.33 ERA and bad peripherals (HR rate) despite striking guys out. He's probably a bullpen arm long-term. Arrieta has seen his ERA rise every year since his CY.

I don't think outfield is where they needed to improve. The rest of their division is pitching heavy; the Mets and their rotation, the three headed monster of Scherzer / Strasburg / Corbin in Washington, the Braves and their stocked starting pitching prospects; I don't see a right fielder being the problem in Philadelphia.

Yeah what the hell has happened to Arietta, he was unhittable for a while there.

Segura
 

Yes, I forgot about Jean Jean the hit machine. It’s a strong division, but I think the Phillies have definitely improved themselves. Also you’re mistaken about the badness of the Phils outfield last year. Did you see Hoskins out there? It was brutal, and the other two guys didn’t hit. Was one of the majors worst outfields.

Phillies would definitely benefit from the DH, Hoskins is the worst outfielder I've seen since the Mets tried putting Todd Hundley out there.