Poll

Updated - who does Harper sign with?

Nationals
25 (47.2%)
Phillies
22 (41.5%)
Padres
2 (3.8%)
D'backs
1 (1.9%)
White Sox
3 (5.7%)

Total Members Voted: 53

Author Topic: POLL: UPDATED: Bryce's team in 2019 will be.....  (Read 122860 times)

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Offline nfotiu

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Re: POLL: Bryce's team in 2019 will be.....
« Reply #1000: January 03, 2019, 05:09:28 PM »
Unlike a lot of salary dumps, Eaton is still pretty good value over the next couple of years and could start right away for Cleveland, so I think he could be a component of a deal for something you want.   Cleveland would probably be OK with a straight salary swap. Kluber is due $36MM over the next 3 years, Eaton is about $15MM if his first option in 2020 is not picked up ($25MM if if it is).  OTOH, there's no way the Nats could get a pitcher as good as Kluber for 3 years and only have to pay an incremental $11MM, so I think a deal built around a Kluber for Eaton plus a prospect may make some sense.

Edit - Bauers projects to be more expensive than Kluber at 2 more years of arb and an MLBTR projection of $11.6MM for this year.
Good analysis.   We also need a mlb level 2nd baseman that Eaton's money or asset value should go towards.  I sure hope they deal Eaton if Harper stays.  Harper in CF has to be looked on as a failed experiment not to be repated, and Eaton's contract makes so sense for a backup RF.


Offline imref

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Re: POLL: Bryce's team in 2019 will be.....
« Reply #1002: January 04, 2019, 08:15:56 AM »
Bowden: “#Nationals last offer to Bryce Harper was actually “much more than the $300m being reported by the media” according to a source. Apparently, The 10-year $300m offer was actually just the team’s 1st offer to Harper.”

Offline Expos

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Re: POLL: Bryce's team in 2019 will be.....
« Reply #1003: January 04, 2019, 08:47:57 AM »
Soto-Robles-Harper

Trade Eaton, Ross and a prospect or 2 for Kluber.

Dump Kendricks salary

Sign a 2B like DJ LeMathieu or Marwin Gonzalez.

C- Gomes / Suzuki
1B- Zimmerman / Adams
2B- TBD / Difo
3B- Rendon
SS- Turner
LF- Soto / Stevenson
CF- Robles / Taylor
RF- Harper

Scherzer
Corbin
Kluber
Strasburg
Sanchez

Doolittle
Rosenthal
Barraclough
Miller
Grace
Glover
Rainey / Suero

Championship

Offline Slateman

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Re: POLL: Bryce's team in 2019 will be.....
« Reply #1004: January 04, 2019, 08:49:35 AM »
This team will never get out of the NLDS with Harper on the roster

Offline UMDNats

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Re: POLL: Bryce's team in 2019 will be.....
« Reply #1005: January 04, 2019, 10:11:07 AM »
This team will never get out of the NLDS with Harper on the roster

I was ready to counter with his playoff stats but they really aren't good. .801 postseason OPS with almost all the good stuff coming vs. sf

Offline Slateman

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Re: POLL: Bryce's team in 2019 will be.....
« Reply #1006: January 04, 2019, 10:57:43 AM »
I was ready to counter with his playoff stats but they really aren't good. .801 postseason OPS with almost all the good stuff coming vs. sf
It's what I've been saying all along. You take away Harper's at bats against Strickland and he chokes in the playoffs like everyone else

Offline DCFan

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Re: POLL: Bryce's team in 2019 will be.....
« Reply #1007: January 04, 2019, 11:00:34 AM »
It's what I've been saying all along. You take away Harper's at bats against Strickland and he chokes in the playoffs like everyone else

And you think that’s permanent and will always be that way?

Offline UMDNats

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Re: POLL: Bryce's team in 2019 will be.....
« Reply #1008: January 04, 2019, 11:11:21 AM »
I think it's too early to tell what kind of postseason player he really is. Sample size is really small still and there are a lot of factors that go into it. It's pretty low on my list of Harper concerns.

Offline imref

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Re: POLL: Bryce's team in 2019 will be.....
« Reply #1009: January 04, 2019, 11:12:30 AM »
I think it's too early to tell what kind of postseason player he really is. Sample size is really small still and there are a lot of factors that go into it. It's pretty low on my list of Harper concerns.

especially since he was playing on one ankle the last time around.

Offline aBaltoNat

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Re: POLL: Bryce's team in 2019 will be.....
« Reply #1010: January 04, 2019, 11:36:21 AM »
mLBTR saying that our latest offer much higher than the $300M originally reported at the end of the season.

Offline Mattionals

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Re: POLL: Bryce's team in 2019 will be.....
« Reply #1011: January 04, 2019, 11:36:32 AM »
Are we all going to believe anything that Bowden actually says? If what Bowden said is true, then Harper would have already signed here.

Offline Slateman

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Re: POLL: Bryce's team in 2019 will be.....
« Reply #1012: January 04, 2019, 11:59:58 AM »
And you think that’s permanent and will always be that way?

In DC? Yes.

Are we all going to believe anything that Bowden actually says? If what Bowden said is true, then Harper would have already signed here.
Exactly

Offline Squab

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Re: POLL: Bryce's team in 2019 will be.....
« Reply #1013: January 04, 2019, 12:17:45 PM »
was just rereading this https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/nationals-journal/wp/2018/07/17/at-the-home-run-derby-bryce-harper-and-d-c-fell-back-in-love-at-least-for-one-night/?utm_term=.c25f747ece22
linked from Chelsea Janes' goodbye column.
Quote
Three days ago, Bryce Harper sat facing his locker, hood up, hat pulled low, headphones in, so engrossed in his own little corner of the Washington Nationals clubhouse that it took a tap on the shoulder to extricate him. This, in some ways, is who Harper had become over the last year and a half — a man around whom contract talk and critiques by way of pundits and constant analysis swirled so relentlessly that he pulled his hat lower and lower and his hood tighter and tighter to shut out all the noise.

He hardly smiled, at least on camera. Every word became businesslike, every answer cliched, particularly as his performance led to question after question about what might be going wrong — and never seemed to mention what went right. Three days ago, he pulled those ear buds out to answer a question about a groundball he didn’t run out, and his answer (“what, after I hit the ball 108 miles per hour?”) earned ire from most who read it. Being a superstar means answering for all of that, and he is not the first to have to deal with the discomfort. But Harper seemed to slide into that discomfort and never climb back out of it, never rediscovering the freewheeling, fast-talking kid that sometimes got himself into trouble early but always let you know how he was feeling.

Then came Monday night. Then came home run after home run. Then came Harper jumping up and down, stomping around home plate as if some switch had flipped that allowed him to be Bryce Harper again. The Home Run Derby doesn’t matter. That he won it says nothing about his swing, about what numbers he might put up in the second half, about how much money he will get in free agency, about any of that stuff everyone has talked about for months.

But that he enjoyed it — truly, legitimately, no-holds-barred enjoyed it — meant something to everyone who watched him. In four years, Harper has not looked as genuinely joyful as he did Monday night. In four years, Harper has not spoken with as much emotion as he did Monday night, when he teared up during the news conference afterward.

It made me wonder if a post-contract Harper could get some of that swagger back, once he's paid, his life doesn't have to be so curated and clipped anymore. He doesn't have to be afraid of making waves, or making baseball fun again.

The luxury tax (salary cap) collusion thing that's going on right now is so stupid, every team in baseball can afford to sign Bryce Harper, we shouldn't worry about how much it costs. He's going to be good, the value he'll bring to the team will far exceed any contract, and if/when he does unlock his true potential I sure would be said if he didn't do it in a Nationals uniform.

Offline Baseball is Life

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Re: POLL: Bryce's team in 2019 will be.....
« Reply #1014: January 04, 2019, 12:55:12 PM »
It’s not crazy to think that he will have less pressure after the contract. It’s also not crazy to think he will have more pressure after the contract. 😏

Offline imref

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Re: POLL: Bryce's team in 2019 will be.....
« Reply #1015: January 04, 2019, 12:58:40 PM »
It’s not crazy to think that he will have less pressure after the contract. It’s also not crazy to think he will have more pressure after the contract. 😏

or, he could have the same amount of pressure. :)

Offline Squab

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Re: POLL: Bryce's team in 2019 will be.....
« Reply #1016: January 04, 2019, 01:02:14 PM »
It’s not crazy to think that he will have less pressure after the contract. It’s also not crazy to think he will have more pressure after the contract. 😏

pressure to perform I'm not actually worried about, he seemed to thrive under pressure at times.

it's definitely a thin argument but I wonder how much the mental toll of sanding the edges of his personality so as not to ruffle the feathers of the baseball establishment before he could get his big contract had on him.

Offline Greg_SRT

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Re: POLL: Bryce's team in 2019 will be.....
« Reply #1017: January 04, 2019, 01:04:25 PM »
It’s not crazy to think that he will have less pressure after the contract. It’s also not crazy to think he will have more pressure after the contract. 😏

He will have more pressure signing a large contract for a team thats not the Nationals. 100%

You think Philly or Chicago fans will react on par with Nationals fans if Harper is .220 mid season at 35 million?

At the same time, he already has pressure in being the "guy" who will get players in baseball more money. That's been talked about by other players.

Bryce has pressure from every direction right now.

Offline rileyn

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Re: POLL: Bryce's team in 2019 will be.....
« Reply #1018: January 04, 2019, 01:23:25 PM »
He put the pressure on himself a few years ago when he opened his mouth and said, "Don't sell me short," when asked about a potential $400M contract.  Ever since that day, people have obsessed over his pending FA deal.  He knows he can't accept anything less than a face-saving contract.  And there is Boras.....

Offline fla nat

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Re: POLL: Bryce's team in 2019 will be.....
« Reply #1019: January 04, 2019, 01:54:48 PM »
If the Nats resign Harper, it will be another case of John Wall and Alex Smith. They suck all the money and oxygen out of the room and assure mediocrity forever.

Offline bluestreak

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Re: POLL: Bryce's team in 2019 will be.....
« Reply #1020: January 04, 2019, 01:56:37 PM »
If the Nats resign Harper, it will be another case of John Wall and Alex Smith. They suck all the money and oxygen out of the room and assure mediocrity forever.

Difference is hard cap vs luxury tax, which despite what owners want you to believe, isn’t a cap at all.

I’ve come around to the thought that the Nats should sign Harper and Rendon.

Offline CoryTheFormerExposFan

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Re: POLL: Bryce's team in 2019 will be.....
« Reply #1021: January 04, 2019, 02:06:03 PM »
I keep seeing reasons why he won't sign with all these other teams...

Makes me think at the end of the day something is going to be worked out with the Nats.  I know nobody is predicting that, but I don't think he's going to quite get what he hopes for elsewhere and he'll go back to what is familar.

Doesn't seem so crazy now with recent reports.

Offline Slateman

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Re: POLL: Bryce's team in 2019 will be.....
« Reply #1022: January 04, 2019, 02:22:44 PM »
Difference is hard cap vs luxury tax, which despite what owners want you to believe, isn’t a cap at all.

I’ve come around to the thought that the Nats should sign Harper and Rendon.

It's a cap if the owners say they dont want to pay it.

Offline imref

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Re: POLL: Bryce's team in 2019 will be.....
« Reply #1023: January 04, 2019, 02:24:02 PM »
Quote
Dan Federico @danjfederico
1h
Interesting tidbit: I heard from someone close to the discussions that there’s a “70% chance [Bryce] Harper goes back to the Nationals.” Nats owner Ted Lerner “wants a ring and doesn’t care about spending money.”

Quote
Andy Martino  @martinonyc
1h
Industry speculation -- and that's all this is, chatter from other teams -- continues to be that Bryce Harper returns to Washington. Still ZERO sign Yanks are on him at all.

Offline Ali the Baseball Cat

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Re: POLL: Bryce's team in 2019 will be.....
« Reply #1024: January 04, 2019, 02:25:43 PM »
A dollar Bryce surcharge on every beer and order of dipping dots.  It is the ideological imperative of ownership to externalise costs.       
Difference is hard cap vs luxury tax, which despite what owners want you to believe, isn’t a cap at all.

I’ve come around to the thought that the Nats should sign Harper and Rendon.