I've been waiting for the Giants to swoop in and sign Harper all offseason. It's crazy, I know. I was ready to post this a week ago or so but then I got totally swindled into that MLB The Show rumor that had Harper announcing via that platform he was going to be signing last week with the Phillies. So I archived this post seeing that it was no longer going to be relevant or accurate. But the MLB The Show rumors were false. And today we got this:
Oh.
Is this Giancarlo Stanton redux? Potentially. But the Giants pursuing Harper isn't crazy at all. I'm not just a Giants fanatic, I'm a Giants realist. I know how the team likes to operate but I also know when they want to blow smoke up their fans arses just to get some excitement. I don't believe pursuing Harper is the latter. Here's why:
1. He's been on the market too long. If he was interested in signing with the teams that were interested in him, they would have negotiated a deal by now. I truly don't believe he wants to be a Phillie or a White Sox (Sock?)
2. The Giants have ZERO MLB outfielders currently on the roster. None. That's ridiculous. Why do they not have ANY outfielders that are legit, proven MLB starters on the squad? I've thought, as this offseason has dragged on so sluggishly with a Gerber, Ferguson, or Andreoli claiming here and there, that it is because they've been waiting to see where Harper's market was going and may have been in contact with Scott Boras negotiating in secret all this time.
3. The offseason deals so far have been a drop in the bucket for the Giants. 7M for Holland, 1.5M for Pomeranz. They've spent literally 8.5M this offseason. I get not spending on 30+ year old free agents and giving them multiyear deals but signing a 26-year-old Harper for 6-10 years makes sense for the Giants who likely are aiming to truly contend again in 2021 or 2022. Having Harper as the cornerstone to pair with declining vets such as Posey and Crawford with the upcoming (potential) future core of players such as Ramos, Bart, Luciano, and whoever is their top pick this summer makes a lot of sense!
4. The Giants like star players and making a splash. The fact that they had a trade worked out for Stanton last season tells you they have the wherewithal to land Harper. Why would Charles Johnson and ownership pass on Harper when all he costs is money? Especially if his price is similar or potentially even less than Stanton overall?
5. The Giants do not have any stars of their own in the making in the outfield or in their pipeline at all. Ramos is too far away to truly project and I don't think the Giants expect him to be a superstar. I think if everything breaks right for Ramos, he becomes a solid MLB regular. Joey Bart is being crowned as the next Buster Posey that's pretty optimistic. I think the Giants hope Bart will be a very good overall catcher with plus-defense and a power bat. A superstar though? Probably not. So why then wouldn't the Giants be interested in locking up one of THE BEST PLAYERS in the game currently? The only knock on signing Harper from a baseball standpoint I can see is that his defense isn't stellar and 1B will belong to Posey soon enough. Then again, I don't see how the Giants couldn't live with shoddy defense in LF for an offensive stud like Harper. We've put up with an old Bonds there along with Pat Burrell, Mike Morse, and even Aubrey Huff and Travis Ishikawa. Are we to believe Harper would be as bad as those guys? Also, the NL will likely have a DH at some point during Harper's contract anyways, so it's all kind of moot.
6. Bryce Harper likes San Francisco. The three teams he really wants to be interested in his services just don't seem interested (Dodgers, Cubs, Yankees). It is known that Harper loves the city of San Francisco. We can't be sure about his feelings regarding Oracle Park, but he does love SF. He's also made comments in the past about how he loves the atmosphere of the park and the passion of Giants fans. If the Giants made a similar bid for him as the Phillies or White Sox, I believe he would choose SF. Also, the Giants aren't afraid to spend money. I thought the Padres made a lot of sense for Harper but their history of spending isn't there. They have a fantastic farm system with great talent coming up but would Harper take a flier on that talent vs a team that has historically shown they will be big spenders when they have a playoff caliber team?
7. The Giants spent all last offseason maneuvering to get under the luxury tax just for Bryce Harper's free agency. Granted, everything blew up in their face and they kicked out the regime that helped get them below that tax limit but it's the same ownership group. If they had eyes on Harper's free agency last offseason, then no matter who the GM was going to be, they probably wanted to target him when his free agency actually arrived. No doubt this was included in the talks with Farhan Zaidi when he was interviewing and eventually hired. Harper was never NOT going to be a target. Ownership always has a say when it comes to the top 1%'ers of the game and Bryce Harper is a 1%'er.
So, you heard it here. The Giants are definitely going to sign Bryce Harper. Unless they don't. Here's hoping Zaidi will have better luck getting roses than Bobby Evans.
Sources: Giants executives met with Bryce Harper this week https://t.co/Xf4TZHQKx3— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) February 6, 2019
Is this Giancarlo Stanton redux? Potentially. But the Giants pursuing Harper isn't crazy at all. I'm not just a Giants fanatic, I'm a Giants realist. I know how the team likes to operate but I also know when they want to blow smoke up their fans arses just to get some excitement. I don't believe pursuing Harper is the latter. Here's why:
1. He's been on the market too long. If he was interested in signing with the teams that were interested in him, they would have negotiated a deal by now. I truly don't believe he wants to be a Phillie or a White Sox (Sock?)
2. The Giants have ZERO MLB outfielders currently on the roster. None. That's ridiculous. Why do they not have ANY outfielders that are legit, proven MLB starters on the squad? I've thought, as this offseason has dragged on so sluggishly with a Gerber, Ferguson, or Andreoli claiming here and there, that it is because they've been waiting to see where Harper's market was going and may have been in contact with Scott Boras negotiating in secret all this time.
3. The offseason deals so far have been a drop in the bucket for the Giants. 7M for Holland, 1.5M for Pomeranz. They've spent literally 8.5M this offseason. I get not spending on 30+ year old free agents and giving them multiyear deals but signing a 26-year-old Harper for 6-10 years makes sense for the Giants who likely are aiming to truly contend again in 2021 or 2022. Having Harper as the cornerstone to pair with declining vets such as Posey and Crawford with the upcoming (potential) future core of players such as Ramos, Bart, Luciano, and whoever is their top pick this summer makes a lot of sense!
4. The Giants like star players and making a splash. The fact that they had a trade worked out for Stanton last season tells you they have the wherewithal to land Harper. Why would Charles Johnson and ownership pass on Harper when all he costs is money? Especially if his price is similar or potentially even less than Stanton overall?
5. The Giants do not have any stars of their own in the making in the outfield or in their pipeline at all. Ramos is too far away to truly project and I don't think the Giants expect him to be a superstar. I think if everything breaks right for Ramos, he becomes a solid MLB regular. Joey Bart is being crowned as the next Buster Posey that's pretty optimistic. I think the Giants hope Bart will be a very good overall catcher with plus-defense and a power bat. A superstar though? Probably not. So why then wouldn't the Giants be interested in locking up one of THE BEST PLAYERS in the game currently? The only knock on signing Harper from a baseball standpoint I can see is that his defense isn't stellar and 1B will belong to Posey soon enough. Then again, I don't see how the Giants couldn't live with shoddy defense in LF for an offensive stud like Harper. We've put up with an old Bonds there along with Pat Burrell, Mike Morse, and even Aubrey Huff and Travis Ishikawa. Are we to believe Harper would be as bad as those guys? Also, the NL will likely have a DH at some point during Harper's contract anyways, so it's all kind of moot.
6. Bryce Harper likes San Francisco. The three teams he really wants to be interested in his services just don't seem interested (Dodgers, Cubs, Yankees). It is known that Harper loves the city of San Francisco. We can't be sure about his feelings regarding Oracle Park, but he does love SF. He's also made comments in the past about how he loves the atmosphere of the park and the passion of Giants fans. If the Giants made a similar bid for him as the Phillies or White Sox, I believe he would choose SF. Also, the Giants aren't afraid to spend money. I thought the Padres made a lot of sense for Harper but their history of spending isn't there. They have a fantastic farm system with great talent coming up but would Harper take a flier on that talent vs a team that has historically shown they will be big spenders when they have a playoff caliber team?
7. The Giants spent all last offseason maneuvering to get under the luxury tax just for Bryce Harper's free agency. Granted, everything blew up in their face and they kicked out the regime that helped get them below that tax limit but it's the same ownership group. If they had eyes on Harper's free agency last offseason, then no matter who the GM was going to be, they probably wanted to target him when his free agency actually arrived. No doubt this was included in the talks with Farhan Zaidi when he was interviewing and eventually hired. Harper was never NOT going to be a target. Ownership always has a say when it comes to the top 1%'ers of the game and Bryce Harper is a 1%'er.
So, you heard it here. The Giants are definitely going to sign Bryce Harper. Unless they don't. Here's hoping Zaidi will have better luck getting roses than Bobby Evans.
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