The thing that really makes me sad about this is the way the team did him dirty at the end. I know most people won't agree with me on this and that's fine. But I don't think they ever made him a real offer, and then they engaged in a well orchestrated campaign to make the fans ok with that.
1. The leaked 10/300 "offer" with 100 mil deferred for 30 years that was off the table before he even tested free agency.
2. The Lerner radio spot that planted animosity.
3. The Scherzer quote, the Boswell article about what a crappy teammate he supposedly was, and FP talking about how "everyone I've talked to can't believe he turned down the Nats geeenerous offer".
It helped that it stretched this far into February, but everyone just got tired of it and the Nats made it really easy for their fans to hate him. But it just feels to me like a cover for the fact that they were never going to pay one of the most interesting and dynamic players in baseball.
He probably wanted to stay, but it doesn't really seem like he was ever given that chance and that sucks.
Come on. He had plenty of chances to stay and if he valued staying more than anything he would have worked it out. Since Day 1 he's had his eyes on a big free agent payday, sure he probably would have liked a legacy of staying with us forever but we coddled him every second of his Nats tenure and gave him literally everything he wanted every step of the way. Loyalty is a two-way street and the team, and fans, have done nothing but worship his existence since 2009.
And I call BS on "100 million" deferred. Don't believe everything reported around stuff like this. Both sides have had huge information campaigns to make the other look bad. You don't think Scott is telling reporters that Bryce "never wanted an opt-out"? Of course the team fed Boswell stuff but that's the business. Boras and Bryce have to go out here and try to win the PR battle and telling reporters that Bryce wanted to commit forever gets him an easy narrative change immediately. I would bet the Phillies just didn't want an opt-out and Bryce had to settle for this deal.
Also, there were 28 other teams that didn't want to spend $300 million on Bryce Harper. The Dodgers wanted a short-term. The Giants probably flirted with it but only at the end, and I suspect they were not a real contender. The Phillies had to sign him as soon as they talked a big game and everyone knew it. 28 other teams decided not to pay him, either, you know, and we knew him best and STILL decided he wasn't worth it.