Harper in Washington

Bryce Harper would like to stay with the Nationals:

Looking forward to free agency? Doesn’t sound like it.

“I’ve always said: If I’m in those plans, I’d absolutely love to be here,” Harper said. “But if I’m not, there’s nothing I can do about it. There’s nothing I can do. I would love to play next to Robles or Soto or [Adam] Eaton. I’d love to. But am I in those plans? I have no idea.”

To the Nationals advantage, Harper averaged a bit under four WAR a season the last three years. That makes him worth closer to $30 million a year than the $50 million a year one might have expected after his 2015 season. Also, with both Soto and Robles in the mix, the Nationals could argue they don’t need Harper, so if he wants to stay, he’ll need to take less money. If I ran the Nats I would be tempted to bet on his upside and offer $180 million for five years. If the upside happens, he walks at age 31 and gets a bigger payday. Or maybe offer him $400 million lifetime contract spread out over the next 20 or 30 years. It seems there’s something that could be done here.

from baseballmusings.com https://ift.tt/2NIoobm