It all comes down to this weekend for the Phillies in the Manny Machado and Bryce Harper sweepstakes. Harper’s agent, Scott Boras, will meet with Phillies brass in Las Vegas and will sell Philly on why Harper deserves his enormous payday from them.
Phillies owner John Middleton will be present and it certainly seems like he will be able to be convinced by Boras’ team.
“We’re going into this expecting to spend money – and maybe even be a little stupid about it,” Middleton told USA Today earlier this offseason of what the Phillies plan to do this offseason. “We just prefer not to be completely stupid.”
Completely stupid would be giving both Harper and Machado giant checks and potentially handcuffing the franchise longterm. Getting both players seems to be out the window. As does not getting either player. It seems to be headed for a “one or the other” scenario.
Machado is clearly the better fit for the current Phillies roster but there’s growing sentiment that the Phillies will indeed be willing to pay Harper’s ungodly price tag. If so, Machado and his agent Dan Lozano will have to look elsewhere and they won’t like what they see from the rest of the market.
Here are the current World Series odds for 2019 with the 10th best FanDuel Sportsbook odds of winning it all at +1700. It will be interesting to see how much these odds skyrocket if and when the Phillies land either Harper or Machado.
Boston Red Sox +550
Houston Astros +600
Los Angeles Dodgers +700
New York Yankees +700
Chicago Cubs +1000
Atlanta Braves +1100
Cleveland Indians +1100
Milwaukee Brewers +1200
St. Louis Cardinals +1600
Philadelphia Phillies +1700
Washington Nationals +2000
Colorado Rockies +2100
New York Mets +2200
Oakland Athletics +2600
Arizona Diamondbacks +4000
