Phillies rumor: Front office returns from Bryce Harper meeting sounding positive

The latest Phillies rumor regarding Bryce Harper comes straight from the horse’s mouth

6ABC’s Jeff Skyversky beat out Johnny Airport Clark of NBC Sports Philadelphia to catch Phillies owner John Middleton and general manager Matt Klentak returning from their brief trip to Las Vegas to meet with Bryce Harper, sparking a new Phillies rumor.

Both Klentak and Middleton stopped to talk (in the snow, I might add) and sounded positive about their meeting.

Watch the interview below, courtesy of Skversky, and we’ll break it down like the Zapruder film.

The first bit is that both thought the meeting was positive, and Klentak had a big smirk on his face. That could be him hoping Middleton doesn’t mess up his negotiations by saying something or he knows Harper is a realistic addition for the Phillies.

Middleton seemed happy after getting to know Harper the person, not just the ballplayer who wants to take his stupid money. There’s a feeling that Harper is kind of a jerk, but he appeared to have softened the Phillies’ view on him in a good way.

Klentak briefly reiterated what Middleton said, possibly just to get out of the snow. He said they learned a bit more about “what the other party is looking for,” which I look at in a couple of ways. One is seeing how much stupid money Scott Boras wants, and the other is to find out what Harper is thinking about for his next team.

It’s interesting the club went out of their way to meet Harper after being in Vegas last month for the winter meetings. It sounds like the kind of meeting they had could have happened a long time ago.

This meeting only seemed to come about after Manny Machado visited Philadelphia. Now that the Machado race appears to be down to two teams, it’s all hands on deck. Machado is believed to be the first domino to fall between the two while Harper waits for the most money. Both will dramatically change the face of the Phillies not just this year but potentially for the next decade.