Much of the optimism coming from Cubs fans who still hope the Cubs can sign Bryce Harper this offseason has mainly been trying to connect dots. And I guess you can say that beat writers are also just speculating, but pretty much all the reports since October have pointed to the front office facing financial constraints, which make a pursuit of Bryce Harper pretty much impossible.
Basically the Cubs reportedly don’t want to exceed the last tier of the competitive balance tax. Signing Harper to a contract would obviously get the Cubs above the threshold unless they’re also able to unload some other salary.
There’s also the thinking that if you’re the Cubs you can’t just sit on your hands and hope all the players who struggled in 2018, all of a sudden turn it around. Plus, a player like Harper doesn’t just hit free agency in his mid-20s all the time and not pursuing him in the middle of your window would be a terrible look for ownership.
And yes, the Cubs signed Jason Heyward, but he was a good player who they signed as a great player.
Bryce Harper is a great player.
Again, fans have tried to be positive, pointing out that Harper still hasn’t signed and there have been rumors that he possibly prefers to play for the Cubs and is willing to wait for them to do whatever it is they need to do in order to sign him.
But the narrative from the media has remained the same, giving the Cubs no shot at signing Harper because of the perceived financial restrictions. That is until today.
When I, or any other blogger, says that you can’t count out Theo Epstein in a pursuit of Harper you probably shrug it off as blind optimism. Fine. However, when Sahadev Sharma from The Athletic says it and also says the door isn’t quite shut on the Cubs signing Harper, then you listen.
Via The Athletic.
The Cubs have held high-level discussions about a Harper pursuit, sketched out trade possibilities in an attempt to clear salary and maintained a dialogue with super-agent Scott Boras. At least one team involved in the Harper talks has believed the Cubs are a factor. Epstein’s legendary reputation as a dealmaker persists to the point where we won’t totally rule out the Cubs as a possibility until Harper is at the podium at Dodger Stadium or putting on a White Sox hat at the press conference or saying how much he always wanted to play for whatever mystery team.
Yes, Sharma goes on to say that the Cubs don’t appear to be heavily involved for Harper at this moment, but as long as Theo stays in contact with Scott Boras Cubs fans should hold on to some hope.
There have already been reports in the past week that the White Sox, Phillies and Dodgers may not be willing to give Harper the record-breaking contract he wants. So, who knows, maybe the price comes back down and Theo makes his move.
You’d think that Harper will sign after Manny Machado and if that’s true, then it won’t happen for another couple weeks.
Manny Machado has conveyed to the three known interested teams — White Sox, Yankees and Phillies — that his decision will come after the new year.
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) December 21, 2018
So, join the Pinwheels and Ivy Podcast, as we try not to go crazy over Harper and Machado.
UPDATE
Fuck.
The Los Angeles Dodgers and Cincinnati Reds are finalizing a significant trade, league sources tell Yahoo Sports. Multiple major league pieces expected to change sides.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 21, 2018
The upshot for the Dodgers is clearing money under the luxury-tax threshold. Matt Kemp is a $20M hit this year and Yasiel Puig and Alex Wood somewhere from $20M-$22M. Even though Homer Bailey and his buyout will cost $28M, the tax hit is just $17.5M.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 21, 2018
So, this was reported literally as I was ready to publish this about the Cubs and Harper. The same narrative about the Cubs needing to clear salary has been surrounding the Dodgers if they want to sign Harper. Well, we’ll see what the result of that trade is, but certainly puts a damper on the whole Cubs still being in on Harper because they haven’t been in any serious trade talks to shed salary.
Fuck.
