Bryce Harper will return to Nationals Park Tuesday as a member of the Philadelphia Phillies. It will be his first time in the visitor’s clubhouse after signing a 13-year deal worth $330 million with the Phillies. While many may want to blame Harper for leaving, according to his accounts and a reported second offer by the Nationals, it was apparent Washington did not want the 26-year old.
In September towards the end of the 2018 season, Harper was initially offered $300 million over 10 years but with an estimated $100 million deferred through 2052. He rejected the offer as he felt it was a starting point. In December he met with Nats owner Ted Lerner and Harper came away from the meeting believing he was returning to the Nationals, according to Barry Svrluga of the Washington Post.
“I’m sitting there like, ‘I’m gonna be a National. I’m gonna be a National,'” [Harper] said. “‘They’re going to make me an offer this week. We’re going to build off of that, and it’s gonna happen.’ I told Kayla, ‘Be ready to go back.’ I flat-out told her. I was psyched. I was like, ‘Be ready to go back, because if we can, we’re going back.’ I was pumped.”
However the Nationals continued to build their roster and their spending money dwindled. When Washington came back with a second offer in January the deal was for $250 million over 12 years — less money and two added years.
What makes the deal worse was the deferred payments were through 2072. At that point, Harper and his agent Scott Boras understood the reality that he was going to have to sign elsewhere to get their desired price.
“I got that offer, and I kind of was like, ‘Dang,'” he said. “But for me, it was like, ‘OK, I understand they’re building a team there. I understand they’re going to be really, really good. I understand they have Juan Soto. I understand they have [Victor] Robles.’ So my thing was . . . I don’t want to take something that’s way, far less than I’d get elsewhere, and less than the first offer, with high deferrals. I don’t want to be a guy that gets paid till I’m 65. That doesn’t do it for me. . . .
“So after I got that offer, it hit me like, ‘Damn. I could be going somewhere else.’ So I turned it. I was like, ‘I really need to start focusing on my meetings.'”
Harper ultimately signed within the National League East with the Phillies, bolstering the two club’s rivalry. If the accounts are true, there is no blaming Harper for ultimately leaving. The Nationals snoozing on the opportunity to keep on of the league’s best players left the door open for any team to sign him and unfortunately that team was the Phillies.
Harper got more money and the year total he was more so looking for with no opt-out clauses, and more importantly no deferred money. Now, the next 13 years will write what tale will last for two rivals for generations. Only time will tell if this is the modern-day Babe Ruth story or will the Nationals’ brass come out as genius for not breaking the bank for Harper.
