Baseball megastar, Bryce Harper, signs with Philly
- Thread starter 57stratdawg
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Megastar my ***. Bryce Harper hit .240 last year. He's a prima donna and a clubhouse problem. He will be an anvil around Philly's neck for the life of that contract.
Good news for Philly, the numbers are stretched out enough that he will be fairly easy to trade seven/eight years from now (if he agrees - I'm not sure if the deal has a no trade clause or not, but big ones like this usually do).
The happiest teams in baseball are the rest of the teams playing in the NL East.
He also had a .393 OBP, 34 HRs and 100 RBIs in a down year. I'd much rather have Harper than Machado. Harper is a phenomenal talent.
We will revisit how monumentally wrong you are in five years. Hell, in three years.
Machado plays gold glove defense and doesn't have a gaping hole in his swing. Harper was the second worst defender among everyday position players in the majors last year, with a whopping -26 DRS rating. With him in RF and Rhys Hoskins at first base, they'd better score a whole bunch of runs, because defense is going to be sketchy on the right side.
Harper didn't finish in the top ten of any significant offensive category other than walks and OBP (he finished 10th, because of the walks). In the most important offensive categories - WAR, OPS, OPS+, Harper doesn't make the cut. Yeah, I know, off year, blah, blah, blah. 2016 was a similarly terrible season, so last year wasn't totally out of the blue.
At his best, he struggles to hit good right handed sinkerballers and lefties with good breaking stuff. He looks to me to be a guy that the league is starting to figure out.
I'd expect the guy with the richest contract in baseball history to actually be among the league leaders in OPS, OPS+, or WAR.
Machado has never gotten his *** whipped in the dugout by a teammate for being a douchebag, either.
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He ain't that. Hell, somebody named Brandon Nimmo had a better adjusted OPS last year.
Not arguing Machado didn't have the better year last year. I'm arguing Harper will be the better ROI over the next 10-13 years than Machado. Machado plays GG defense at 3rd not SS and Harper sells a lot more tickets and jerseys than Machado. It is still a business after all.
My point is that Machado projects better. Five/ten years from now Machado will be the better player. Harper is now in a city with a notoriously fickle fanbase, so if you are using jersey sales to justify your position, you will be wrong there, also. Let him put up another year or two like he did last year and watch how quickly they turn on him.
I edited my original post to also point out that Harper was the second worst defender among everyday position players in baseball last year. That matters, too.
The MLB is basically Trout / Harper for the next 10 years. Going to be so fun to watch it play out.
Acuna will pass Harper for good this season.
ETA... on second though, Acuna was better last year
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While what you say about Harper’s defense is true. He was last or second to last in pretty much every defensive metric available. But it was also the first time he strayed more than a little bit from a definsevely neutral 0. It is possible that he will be the worst defender in baseball but I would be willing to bet that number regresses to the mean a little bit.
I disagree with your assessment of at his best though. We have seen at his best. And it’s truly elite. Obviously he hasn’t been able to sustain a Troutian pace but very few in the history of the game are. But I’m not trying to compare him to Mike Trout. But his 140 wRC+ since entering the league ranks tenth in that time frame. That’s from age 19-25. He’s been an elite hitter since his rookie year. He’a 12th in fWAR in that time period with 30.7 wins above replacement. 2nd is Donaldson with a 36 war. So even with his horrible defense from 18 neutralizing his WAR for the season, he’s still in the 99th percentile for production during his pre-peak years.
Harper definitely fits into the easily identifiable mold of the baseball douche aesthetic and I think that is held against him. I’m also keenly aware that there’s plenty of Atlanta fans who hate him for his on the field play too. (wRC+ of 234, 99, 179 and 150 vs the Braves in the last four years) But all of the bluster around him seems like leftovers from when he was a super young player.
It will definitely be interesting to see how it plays out and if health is a factor in his long term success.
I disagree with your assessment of at his best though. We have seen at his best. And it’s truly elite. Obviously he hasn’t been able to sustain a Troutian pace but very few in the history of the game are. But I’m not trying to compare him to Mike Trout. But his 140 wRC+ since entering the league ranks tenth in that time frame. That’s from age 19-25. He’s been an elite hitter since his rookie year. He’a 12th in fWAR in that time period with 30.7 wins above replacement. 2nd is Donaldson with a 36 war. So even with his horrible defense from 18 neutralizing his WAR for the season, he’s still in the 99th percentile for production during his pre-peak years.
Harper definitely fits into the easily identifiable mold of the baseball douche aesthetic and I think that is held against him. I’m also keenly aware that there’s plenty of Atlanta fans who hate him for his on the field play too. (wRC+ of 234, 99, 179 and 150 vs the Braves in the last four years) But all of the bluster around him seems like leftovers from when he was a super young player.
It will definitely be interesting to see how it plays out and if health is a factor in his long term success.
I agree that Machado will likely be the better player over the next 10 years, but I find it amusing that you talk about Harper’s clubhouse issues while ignoring that Machado is sarcastically referred to as “Johnny hustle” due to frequent lack of hustle and has a long history of injuring opposing players (seemingly intentionally) on the basepaths. Harper and Machado were both recently listed as two of the most hated players, with Machado being number 1. It was also reported that the Yankees were not a big player on Machado due to his antics and dirty play.
Harper hasn’t been elite since 2015. He was very good but up and down in 17. He was terrible in 16 and 18. There is a trend with him that’s not good.
He’s also been terrible in the playoffs.
If this were 2016 and he was coming off the sustained elite success of his first few years, I’d agree with everyone. But he’s not that player anymore. He needed to get out of the NL east because they’ve figured him out. The Mets have truly elite pitching and the Nats and Braves are no slouches either, and he’s going to face each of those teams 19 times.
He will put up good numbers playing in that band box, particularly against mediocre pitching. But he just got the richest contract in MLB, and he’s not that guy, nor will he be.
He’s also been terrible in the playoffs.
If this were 2016 and he was coming off the sustained elite success of his first few years, I’d agree with everyone. But he’s not that player anymore. He needed to get out of the NL east because they’ve figured him out. The Mets have truly elite pitching and the Nats and Braves are no slouches either, and he’s going to face each of those teams 19 times.
He will put up good numbers playing in that band box, particularly against mediocre pitching. But he just got the richest contract in MLB, and he’s not that guy, nor will he be.
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If the players didn't rake in the millions that they do then the owners would just pocket all that money. I agree these are ungodly sums of money, esp when you look at what say teachers and nurses make, but life isn't fair and ppl shouldn't look at it that way. It's these players talents that bring folks to the ballparks or to tune in to broadcasts. So it's only right that the players take home a big chunk of the money brought in. Beats most of it going to fatcat owners who most of which inherited their shares from their daddys or inherited the wealth with which they purchase a team.
its been 10-12 years since I played fantasy baseball but back then it hardly moved the needle. Games like Draft Kings and the likes probably move it a little but I'd bet it's still negligible.
The TV contracts are what the real drivers are. MLB baseball isn't very popular nationally, but it is very popular regionally.
There are still some older fans and baseball lifers that'll watch almost any game on, but most folks these days will watch THEIR team play most every night and the playoffs but that's about all the baseball they watch.
its been 10-12 years since I played fantasy baseball but back then it hardly moved the needle. Games like Draft Kings and the likes probably move it a little but I'd bet it's still negligible.
The TV contracts are what the real drivers are. MLB baseball isn't very popular nationally, but it is very popular regionally.
There are still some older fans and baseball lifers that'll watch almost any game on, but most folks these days will watch THEIR team play most every night and the playoffs but that's about all the baseball they watch.
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