After the 2018 season, Bryce Harper will become a free agent. He will be one of the best players in recent memory to hit the open market, and he will be only 26 years old.
For those reasons, he will become a very, very rich man.
How rich? Well ESPN’s Eddie Matz interviewed an anonymous American League general manager, who said Harper will blow away all records for largest MLB contracts.
“Four hundred million is light,” the GM said. “It’s going to be more than that. If you could sign him to a 15-year contract, you do it. I would say something in the range of $35 million a year, maybe closer to the high 30s. It could approach 40 million dollars a year.”
Currently, Giancarlo Stanton holds the distinction of having the largest overall contract in baseball history ($13 years, $325 million with an opt-out), while Zack Greinke leads the league in average annual value ($34 million this season). Harper seems poised to smash both marks. He’s off to a huge start in 2017 (.324/.441/.648) and recently set the record for biggest contract for an arbitration-eligible player.
Harper’s impending contract has been a discussion topic around baseball since his MVP season in 2015, though speculation quieted last year when he slumped to an .814 OPS. The general manager quoted in the ESPN story said the league had already disregarded Harper’s down year.
“Forgotten,” an American League general manager said of Harper’s 2016 tumble. “Last year, he still had the classic walk rate, so you know things were happening positively for him, and you know there was something happening on the injury front. For two of the last three years, if he hasn’t been the best player in the National League, he’s certainly on the short list. He’s one of the best players in the world. He’s one of the youngest players in baseball, and he’s one of the most accomplished.”
Before long, he’ll be one of the wealthiest. Said the GM: “He is going to get paid. Like, paid paid.”
Last month, another GM told John Heyman of FanRag that Harper’s contract could even approach $500 million. Now he just needs to find a team that will actually pay him that.
[ESPN]
