Bryce Harper reaches out to former MLB pitcher about playing overseas

Bryce Harper reaches out to former MLB pitcher about playing in Taiwan

Another day, another photoshopped Bryce Harper photo making the rounds.

On Saturday morning, the Philadelphia Phillies star posted a photo doctored to make it look like he’s wearing a CTBC Brothers uniform. He tagged former MLB pitcher Chien-Ming Wang, who spent nine years in the majors from 2005-16, and is currently a pitching coach with the Brothers.

https://twitter.com/FS_TBOH/status/1500172332396068866?s=20&t=ICLUftcSAf8fuejbnITzrw

While Harper hasn’t been as explicit about his lockout frustrations as fellow superstar Mike Trout, he has made his feelings on the situation clear in various ways.

Wang signed with the Yankees in 2000 and finally made his MLB debut with them on April 30, 2005. In 2006, he led the MLB with 19 wins and was the AL Cy Young runner-up behind Minnesota Twins star Johan Santana.

Wang’s final season with the Yankees in 2009, when they bested the Phillies in the World Series, however, he did not participate in most of the season or the postseason, as he’d had shoulder surgery in July.

After five years with the Yankees, Wang spent the remaining seasons of his career with the Washington Nationals, Toronto Blue Jays, and Kansas City Royals, but injuries kept him from staying as dominant as he had been in the first few seasons of his career.

Will Bryce Harper leave the Phillies?

The Brothers are part of the Chinese Professional Baseball League and play in Taichung, Taiwan. Like the Yomiuri Giants of Japan’s Nippon League, whom Harper tagged in a post last week, and the Toros Del Este, the Dominican team also ‘courting’ Harper, the Brothers are a more winning team than the Phillies. Since their inception in 1989, the Brothers have won 12 league championships and eight Taiwan Series championships.

The Phillies, of course, have two World Series trophies to their name and have not been back to the postseason since 2011.

While it’s unlikely that Harper will end up playing for any of these teams, it’s both comical and frustrating to see him reaching out to them in what should be the prime of his Phillies career. Every day of the lockout is a day of his youth that he will never get back, and another day of great baseball lost for him and the fans.