Boras spotted in Houston airport.....Harper??!!! Signed with Phils.

It would be interesting if someone from fangraphs put together #s like these on all of the largest contracts given out in the past 2 decades. Would we find that the vast majority were good investments or not?

 

Maybe he was here for marwin

 

Glad he’s not going to the Dodgers. Phillies are going to overpay. Also probably lessens the odds of Realmuto going to LA (since they’d likely have to give up Verdugo, creating a hole in their OF.

 

"Two slide show presentations..." Quick Jeff call Daryl and get the keys to the iPad demo, we can blow them away!

 

Astros have been named as one of the possible mystery teams by a writer speculating.

 

I feel like if they were a legit threat to sign Harper they would have traded Reddick already; I suppose they could play Brantley at DH and Harper/Reddick in the corners. But it would be pretty shocking to see them sign Harper to begin with, but to add Harper’s salary without shedding Reddicks $13M would be even more surprising. What a lineup tho:

CF Springer
DH Brantley
3B Bregman
2B Altuve
LF Harper
C Realmuto
SS Correa
1B Gurriel
RF Reddick
Bench: Diaz, Marisnick, Chirinos

I believe Gurriel is the only player listed in that lineup who hasn’t made an all-star team or put up at least 1 3+ fWAR season.

 

Eh, Richard Justice is more than just a writer speculating. He's pretty plugged in nationally on what's happening, and he generally doesn't throw around wild assertions without some evidence. I'd say it's a trustworthy source.

 

His headline say 5 potential mystery teams. His article reads like it is his opinion that these are the mystery teams based on deductive reasoning. I don't think Justice is making wild assertions as he keeps using words like "could" and "I believe". He's speculating, and it does not seem like he's trying to hide it (i.e., I don't think he's making wild assertions as I don't think he's making an assertion other than this is his best guess). His speculations are based on evidence, but I would not take it to be like he's presenting breaking news.

 

Right. Justice is making an informed guess based on what he is observing. It’s not that we have a known offer on the table. That said, there are many times when we have had offers on the table in the past and we did not know about it until after the fact.

 

If Harper comes he will play his natural position of RF more often than not.

CF Springer
LF Brantley
2B Altuve
RF Harper
3B Bregman
SS Correa
1B Gurriel
DH Reddick/White
C Chirinos
Bench: Diaz, Marisnick, Stassi

 

Considering he doesn't really care about defense these days, wouldn't DH be his natural position if DH was a natural position. Curse you Selig!

 

I highly doubt they are really trying to get Harper, but if they are willing to make that kind of a 7-10 year commitment, Reddick shouldn't be a deciding factor. It's a long-term franchise-altering decision and the idea that they can't do unless they move a fairly irrelevant short-term contract seems insane to me.

 

I believe with the snake is referring to is that we are approximately 26 million below the salary cap luxury tax projections. In order to pay Harper his roughly 30,000,000 a year, we would need to create some room.

 

It’s only a factor because of the luxury tax implications. I agree that a $26M existing commitment shouldn’t have much of any influence over a potential $330M+ commitment. But without offloading Reddick I don’t think there’s any way they could sign Harper and stay below the luxury tax threshold in 2019. That means lost draft picks, lost international signing pool, and even more money spent. With Verlander and Cole coming off the books after this season they would really only be in danger of exceeding the tax in 2019, hence the need to move Reddick. But in the end, I suppose if Harper wants to be an Astro bad enough he will probably be willing to structure his deal in a way that allows Houston to be under the tax without having to dump salary.

 

Sorry! To clarify, I agree they'd need to move Reddick. I'm just thinking they can do that eventually one way or another - they might have to give up a middling prospect or eat some salary or whatnot, but it shouldn't be hard to do if they really need to. Ultimately, if they want Harper and come to terms with him, I think they sign him and figure out Reddick later - I don't think having Reddick on the roster would stop the deal.

 

If Harper is truly in the mix then the Stros most definately are in it to win and will be willing to shed Tucker for Realmuto.

That said, I hope we would see a lineup more like

1. Altuve
2. Springer
3. Bregs
4. Harper
5. Correa/Brantley
6. Brantley/Correa
7. Realmuto
8. White
9. Reddick

 

Altuve is coming off of surgery, soon to be 29, he was lead-off only 6 times last season: He will most likely be in the 3 spot most of the season again if his stroke continues.

AJ has stated many times everything changed once they moved Springer in the lead-off. He loves his aggressive approach.

Don't be surprised to see Brantley in the 2 spot in some matchups that Bregman struggles with against right handers.. Brantley is very difficult to strike out. Bregman will most like be in at 2 spot the majority of the season though.