Bryce Harper, a National League MVP at 23, is a free agent at 26, peddling his services in an industry that’s grown to nearly $11 billion in annual revenues. His combination of skills, age and marketing cachet make him an excellent fit for any major league franchise.
Even the Tampa Bay Rays.
Harper, who has 184 career home runs and a lifetime .900 OPS, rejected a 10-year, $300 million contract offer from the Washington Nationals in September, and is a good bet to set a new standard for the most lucrative contract in North American sports history.
It may take weeks for that process to play out. In the meantime, USA TODAY Sports will examine why every team could use Harper’s services – some more than others, certainly some better-equipped to procure them.
A case for Harper and the Rays joining forces:
On the field
After a decade of unlikely success in the face of hyper-efficient, cost-containing management, the Rays will carry into 2019 what can only be described as the front office’s Mona Lisa.
Tampa Bay turned baseball convention on its ear last season, unveiling a pitching model that captured 90 wins while, at times, employing just one traditional pitcher. By September, playoff teams were mimicking their maneuvers, and after a calendar year of turning over their 40-man roster with a dizzying array of transactions, the Rays may yet have their greatest combo of cost efficiency and talent ever.
Their books are cleaner than Mitt Romney’s bedside reading material: They have just one fully guaranteed contract next season, that the $8 million due center fielder Kevin Kiermaier.
They have just four arbitration-eligible players -– Mike Zunino, Tommy Pham, Matt Duffy and Chaz Roe – who by MLB Trade Rumors’ projections will earn about $12 million.
That leaves a whopping 20 roster spots that can be ably filled by players making at or just above the league minimum. Sure, maybe they offer a goodwill gesture to Cy Young Award-winning lefty Blake Snell and give him $1 million in his final season before arbitration eligibility.
The other 19? They’ll combine to earn about $11 million. Throw in around $2 million still owed the traded Evan Longoria and that brings the payroll to a whopping…$34 million!
And here’s the thing: The Rays are getting themselves a squad for that kind of cash. Sure, they could add depth pieces for the bench, or a veteran innings-eater to ensure their “bullpenning” gambit remains sustainable.
But the emergence or continued development of a gaggle of young players – infielder Joey Wendle, for one, easily could’ve won AL Rookie of the Year in another season – means this group could assemble next February in Port Charlotte as is and reasonably expect to duplicate last year’s success.
So after general manager Erik Neander and fellow senior VP Chaim Bloom worked so exhaustively to construct this gloriously fungible baseball machine, why overturn it all with perhaps the most inefficient acquisition possible?
Well, every ship needs its beacon. And Harper would give the Rays a bedrock of production and a superstar in his prime to build around, filling a void created when Evan Longoria aged out of his prime and was eventually traded.
The beauty of it is, Harper would fit snugly right now into both the club’s payroll and lineup. An outfield of Harper, Kiermaier and Pham would be perhaps the most charismatic alignment in the big leagues – a Platinum Glove winner bracketed by a pair of bashers. One could make the case Harper would block recently-acquired Austin Meadows, but the Rays could use the DH spot to cycle their starting trio through while giving the still-unproven Meadows at-bats.
Meanwhile, the cost to acquire Harper – say, 12 years and $420 million – would bump the Rays’ opening-day payroll to around $69 million.
Their opening day payroll last season – $76 million.
Crazy, huh?
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