The Phillies will have a couple of options to play at the hot corner in 2020.
After landing marquee free agents Bryce Harper, Andrew McCutchen, and David Robertson last offseason, a new era seemingly begun for Philadelphia baseball. John Middleton and his “stupid money” were planning to buy this team back into the playoffs.
With that notion of free-willed spending understood, one of the prize jewels of this upcoming offseason will be current World Champion Anthony Rendon. Similar to Harper, Rendon is represented by Scott Boras and will no doubt attempt to land what could be the largest contracts for a third baseman in baseball history. Manny Machado got $300 million over 10 years and Nolan Arenado got $260 million over eight years.
Rendon was absurdly good for the Nationals in 2019; he slashed .319/.412/.598 and set a career high in almost every single major batting category. Rendon also led MLB in doubles, led the National League in RBIs with 126, was selected to his first All-Star Game, and came in second in the 3B NL Gold Glove voting.
Rendon’s dominance didn’t stop there either. He continued his hot hitting right into October as he hit .400+ in both the NLDS and the NLCS, and drove in an impressive eight runs during the World Series.
If it wasn’t for Nats’ ace Stephen Strasburg, we’d probably be talking about Rendon as the WS MVP as well.
Rendon is without a doubt the best offensive player on the market this offseason. Considering that he has reportedly already turned down an offer worth $210 million over seven years from DC, his price tag is going to be quite hefty.
Rendon and Harper have a strong relationship and Boras and Middleton have done business in the past. The potential for landing one of the best players in all of baseball is there for the taking.