A week ago at this time it seemed as though the Phillies had all but locked up prized free agent Bryce Harper. But the longer this thing drags out the more it seems as though Philadelphia GM Matt Klentak could come up empty-handed.
We have heard of “mystery teams” entering the Harper fray throughout the offseason and those rumors should generally be taken with a grain of salt as they’re typically agent-induced in order to drive up the price tag. Nonetheless, there was noise that the Cubs’ Theo Epstein had been talking to Scott Boras as late as last Friday and that the Yankees are still in play. New York’s Aaron Judge said on Tuesday that he’d go so far as to change positions to make Harper a Yankee.
This type of delay tactic is nothing new for Boras. In fact, the super-agent is making it a routine event at this point. Last winter the Red Sox looked as though they had locked up Boras client JD Martinez in December. But December turned into January and January turned into February. Boston awkwardly went to spring training without Martinez signed but on Feb. 19 of last year the deal finally went down. Boras is currently hoping for another team to swoop in for a last second deal, but most of it seems to be hot air. No doubt, most of that hot air is being created by Boras himself.
