The Harper

Bryce Harper and the Nationals reach a deal for 2018, finishing the two-year deal they tried to negotiate during the 2017 arbitration process:

The Washington Nationals and Bryce Harper agreed to terms on a salary of $21.625 million for the 2018 season, eliminating the need for arbitration and promising Harper the highest salary for an arbitration-eligible player in major league history. The deal, announced on a sleepy Saturday afternoon at Nationals Park, eliminates the need for what both sides expected to be a complex negotiation this winter, and therefore reduces the risk of hostility between the former MVP and the team that drafted him as he hits the open market after next season.

“I think it’s huge,” Harper said. “We’re able to go into the offseason and worry about different things. We’re able, as a team and this organization, to just go out and not have to worry about me going into arbitration for another year or anything like that.”

If Harper gets $21.6 million with little leverage, what is he going to get on the open market? If he post two 8.0 WAR seasons, I’m thinking 10 years, $600 million. Mike Trout, a year older and a better, more consistent player, got an average of $24 million a year for six years with no leverage. Harper will have his prime years for sale. If he goes to free agency rather than sign a long-term deal with the Nationals, he will do what Alex Rodriguez did, and move the highest contract into ridiculous territory.

The Harper!

from baseballmusings.com http://ift.tt/2qEvnWR