The message from the Phillies front office about the offseason took a major shift, going from spending “stupid money” to “exceed our valuation.”
The first of the two star free agents available this offseason finally signed as Manny Machado will join the Padres for 10 years for $300 million. This will set the bar for the Phillies and other teams looking to sign Bryce Harper.
When general manager Matt Klentak was asked about the details of the contract, he offered a response that was the polar opposite of owner John Middleton’s “stupid money” comment from the beginning of the offseason:
Matt Klentak: “If the reports are true, this contract will exceed our valuation. Sometimes you have to walk away.”
— Matt Gelb (@MattGelb) February 19, 2019
Phillies, of course, are still in on Bryce Harper.
Jim Salisbury of NBC Sports Philadelphia reported that Machado’s agent, Dan Lozano, offered the club the chance to outbid the Padres, which they obviously declined.
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For a team posturing that they will top any offer, this showed that they truly do have a cap on how much they are willing to spend. As Salisbury tweeted, once the bidding surpassed the team’s value of Machado, they walked away.
This understandably causes some unease in the fanbase as it becomes Harper or bust. Just how high are they willing to go for Harper?
Harper’s deal will definitely be larger than Machado’s and may even eclipse Giancarlo Stanton’s. Is there valuation of Harper $350 million? More? Less?
Klentak was asked if he would walk away from Harper if the price reached $300 million (which it certainly will). Klentak did not give a definite answer but implied that their valuations for Harper and Machado may indeed be different:
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"“I won’t comment on that,” Matt Klentak said. “I’ll say this, every player is different. They bring different strengths, weaknesses, risks, rewards, etc.”"
Thankfully, it looks like Philadelphia is willing to spend more money on Harper than they are Machado, as most people are. They will have to offer him a record-breaking contract to get him, but he should be worth it.
Still, Klentak should have found something better to say than Machado exceeded their “valuation” of him. Once Middleton said “stupid money”, it drove the fanbase and the baseball world into a frenzy thinking they were ready to blow the doors off this offseason.
In the event Harper signs somewhere else, the “stupid money” comment will go down as one of the most infamous quotes in Philadelphia sports history. They already struck out once; they cannot afford to do so again.