How Bryce Harper went from 'I’m gonna be a National' to 'We’re going to Philly'
Bryce Harper will play his first game as a visitor in Nationals Park on Tuesday. By Barry Svrluga Barry Svrluga Sports columnist with beat writing experience on baseball, golf, the NFL, college basketball and college football Email Bio Follow April 1 at 3:14 PM Two days before Christmas, Bryce Harper and his wife, Kayla, chartered a private plane. There are no direct flights between the Harpers’ hometown of Las Vegas and Palm Springs, Calif.
Harper, of course, did not go back. Tuesday night, he will walk into Nationals Park and instead of taking a right turn toward the home clubhouse and his former locker, he’ll turn left and find his way to the visitors’ dressing room, where he’ll pull on the road grays of the Philadelphia Phillies. “I walked away from that meeting like, ‘I want to go back, so let’s get the friggin’ deal done,’ ” Harper said. “I told Scott: ‘If we can get the thing done with them, like, now, let’s go. Because I want to get it done, be back in D.C., and be done with it.’”
Harper was still in his uniform. The game hadn’t yet been called, but he was about to have a business meeting. At that time, the Nationals were the only team that could offer him a contract. The Lerners said they loved Harper, that they wanted him to be part of the future. They handed him an envelope. Harper was stunned.Harper said no, not yet. There might be more baseball still to play. They shook hands, thanks all around.
Regardless of his ultimate destination, Harper’s desires were specific, and contradictory to what the public thought: He wanted as many years as were possible. He wanted a no-trade clause. He did not want opt-outs, giving him a path back to free agency, even if that might be more lucrative.
“I’m sitting there like, ‘I’m going to be a National. I’m going to be a National,’” he said. “‘They’re going to make me an offer this week. We’re going to build off of that, and it’s going to happen.’ I told Kayla, ‘Be ready to go back.’ I flat-out told her. I was psyched. I was like, ‘Be ready to go back, because if we can, we’re going back.’ I was pumped.”
“So after I got that offer, it hit me like, ‘Damn. I could be going somewhere else.’ So I turned it. I was like, ‘I really need to start focusing on my meetings.’ ”“He said, ‘Okay, now I understand you can’t keep your good players if you have a good team. What you have to do then is go to a team that’s not so good and build your way through,’ ” Boras said.
The Phillies, though, seemed different. For the first meeting on Jan. 12 at the Aria, Philadelphia sent a large contingent that included not only owner John Middleton, but General Manager Matt Klentak, Manager Gabe Kapler and others. Like other teams, they showed Harper spray charts of Harper’s hitting that displayed how well he would perform at Citizens Bank Park. The talks were productive, but not initially distinctive.
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