Phillies likely can’t fit Bryce Harper and Manny Machado on payroll
By John Town
Given the Phillies payroll commitments as things stand now, it’s unlikely they would be able to fit both Bryce Harper and Manny Machado under the luxury tax.
The ultimate pipe dream of this offseason is the Phillies somehow signing both Bryce Harper and Manny Machado. There was a non-zero chance of it happening when the offseason started, but the odds of that are looking pretty slim.
Philadelphia is engaged with both star free agents now. They will meet with Harper in Las Vegas on Saturday and are currently negotiating with Machado. They have already submitted one offer to Machado and could soon submit another.
Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia maintains its unlikely the team signs both. While one reason may simply be that one of them will sign with someone else, another reason is the luxury tax threshold.
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Corey Seidman, also of NBC Sports Philadelphia, stated that the team’s payroll for 2019 now stands at $142 million. Once you add in player benefits, they have $157 million counting towards the luxury tax. This is already a significant jump from 2018 when the team’s Opening Day payroll was around $96 million.
While the team was able to trade away Carlos Santana and his $20.33 million total salary, they added plenty of other money.
In 2019, they owe Jean Segura $14.85 million, Andrew McCutchen and David Robertson $10 million each, and $9.25 million to Juan Nicasio.
The luxury tax threshold for 2019 will be $206 million, giving the team about $49 million for any other moves between now and the end of the season. Given this amount of room, there simply won’t be room to sign both Harper and Machado at their current asking prices.
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Harper and Machado are both looking for salaries at least $30 million per year. Adding both of those salaries to the team’s current payroll would push them over the luxury tax threshold for the first time in franchise history. This isn’t a huge deal for a team willing to spend “stupid money” this offseason but remains important for the long-term.
The team could still manage to shed some salary this offseason with various trades. Tommy Hunter is owed $9 million and Pat Neshek is owed $7.75 million. Both could be on the move with the current bullpen logjam. Maikel Franco and Cesar Hernandez will make about $14 million in arbitration according to Seidman, but its less likely that they get moved.
While the team likely won’t be able to fit both Harper and Machado on the roster, they could still add one as well as a quality starter. They would be close to the luxury tax threshold in this situation but should be able to stay under it.
Next. Jake Diekman a low-risk, high-reward option. dark
Even if they don’t make an addition during the offseason, they could still add someone during the season at the trade deadline. So long as they stay under the threshold, it will be fine.