First part is false, second part true. Harper was not going to sign for $300 mililon when the Phillies were offering $330 million, his agent would never allow that. But the deferrals were the big problem, and they had already deferred Rafael Soriano, Scherzer, both Strasburg contracts, and some of Werth's contract after he signed. This is why I have to laugh when I hear about "plans", nothing was getting done without deferrals, and those had nothing to do with trying to field a winning team.
to be honest, the Philly money was a "team friendly" deal. Harper was going to place he felt comfortable at, that could contend, a lefty friendly place, for good money, but was willing to trade AAV for years and total dollars. The Nats did not get a chance to match Philly, nor should Harper have given them the chance, but had we offered a similar deal (similar total $, minimal deferrals), he would have taken it.
At the time, the call to say, "FU, we have Robles and Soto on the way and already have a 3rd OF on board in Eaton," wasn't a bad call. The deal offered to Harper was the opposite of a Godfather deal: they made him an offer he had to refuse. It was all a show. As it turns out, 2 of those 3 outfirelders didn't have value beyond 2019, and the 3rd was better than anyone could have imagined (and unaffordable). Soto to Harper is like Ted Williams to Reggie Jackson. They had a very good rookie season from Soto when Harper played out his contract (dogging it on D, going for homers to fluff his contract - probably his worst full year, but hey, homerun derby), they made the call to spend elsewhere. Reasonable, that OF and Corbin helped get us a world series, but probably not the right call in terms of affordable talent if all you are thinking of is perpetual contention.
