Let’s just go into fantasy land for a quick second. Imagine the Chicago Cubs signing Bryce Harper, stealing him away from the New York Yankees. If you thought people hated the Cubs now, you better get ready to see the amount of hate directed at the Cubs when that free agent signing occurs.
OK, back to reality.
As much as I want to believe in that fantasy land, there’s maybe a 0.1% chance of it happening, maybe? Here’s how this talk began. Peter Gammons, you know him, longtime MLB reporter, went on The Mully And Hanley Show on 670 The Score on Friday and he eventually said the following, “I have people telling me that Bryce Harper really would prefer to play for the Cubs.”
Oh really now? GET IT DONE THEO!
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Although I’m putting the chances of the Cubs signing Harper at 0.1% it doesn’t mean the Cubs won’t pursue him. We all know that Harper and Kris Bryant have been friends since they were in little league together in Las Vegas. Tom Ricketts made a solid investment buying the Cubs and is basically buying the area surrounding Wrigley Field, so maybe he’ll be willing to throw down some serious cash to get Harper. That new TV money is coming for the Cubs too. The Cubs would be dumb not to at least kick the tires on Harper when he becomes a free agent.
But why was it brought up in the first place? Well, Gammons was asked about a possible contract extension for Bryant, as Jon Heyman reported that the 2016 NL MVP said no to a long-term deal this past offseason. Gammons talked about what happiness could represent for a player and maybe it’s not always about money. He discussed how the Albert Pujols deal is basically a train wreck, but that the basis for what a Kris Bryant contract could look like would be determined by looking at what Bryce Harper will receive after 2018.
And that’s when Gammons dropped that little nugget about Harper wanting to play for the Cubs. However, Gammons immediately says he doesn’t see that ever happening because it would be difficult to have two ridiculous contracts with Harper and Bryant. However, Bryant isn’t a free agent until 2021.
Peter Gammons said Bryce Harper wants to play for the #Cubs pic.twitter.com/ZoN53s4lax
— Aldo Soto (@AldoSoto21) June 3, 2017
Let’s dream again. Harper doesn’t win with the Washington Nationals, he sees the success his good friend is having with the Cubs and wants some of the action because it turns out that deep inside happiness for Bryce Harper is being around people he likes and winning.
Let me dream, OK! Hey, people thought, even some Cubs fans, that the Cubs would never win a World Series and they did. They had a ring ceremony and Anthony Rizzo brought out the World Series trophy like a badass. It was awesome. So, why not Bryce Harper to the Cubs?
Anyway, I don’t think Gammons is lying. He probably has heard that Harper wants to play for the Cubs, but a lot of things have to fall into place for that to happen. We can always dream though.
