The Manny Machado and Bryce Harper sweepstakes have always been intertwined.
The Phillies and White Sox have pursued both of the top free agents and remain potential landing spots. With Machado already having very public meetings with those two teams and the Yankees, who have downplayed any interest in Harper, it’s been believed that Machado would be the first to sign.
However, reports have surfaced that the Nationals have remained in the Harper sweepstakes, even though it was reported that they had made their final offer — 10 years, $300 million — at the end of the regular season. ESPN reported that Harper’s representatives had met with Nationals executives several times this offseason, while the Washington Post said that Harper and agent Scott Boras met for five hours with Nationals owner Ted Lerner before Christmas.
Boras and Lerner have struck big deals before and could do so again here. The Athletic’s Jim Bowden — a former Nationals GM — reported that the team has now offered Harper “much more than the $300m being reported by the media.” The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal points out it could be beneficial for Machado to wait for Harper if he does re-sign with the Nationals. That would allow a bidding war to play out with that high-level market now Machado’s alone. He may have to wait awhile as Boras has never been shy about taking his time to get his client the richest contract possible.
The Athletic reported that at this point Machado’s agent, Dan Lozano, “is barely engaging clubs at the moment, seemingly taking his time and waiting for a team to jump, according to team executives involved in the negotiations.”
Who will sign first? Who will get more? The wait goes on.
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