It s Not All About Bryce Harper
Have you ever been to an auction where one party was hell-bent-for-leather to win whatever the auction target was. The guy who wants to win at all costs is not called a winner where I am from. He usually overpays and regrets it later. My wife has won auctions costing thousands of dollars, only to regret it later. The winner of an auction is often really The Loser. Winning an
Have you ever been to an auction where one party was “hell-bent-for-leather” to win whatever the auction target was. The guy who wants to win at all costs is not called a “winner” where I am from. He usually overpays and regrets it later. My wife has won auctions costing thousands of dollars, only to regret it later. The winner of an auction is often really “The Loser.” Winning an auction is often a “dope-fiend” move.
Do Dodger fans really want Andrew Friedman to win the Bryce Harper Auction at all costs? This fan doesn’t! At the right price, I would want Bryce Harper… but to win an auction? Let Zaidi win that boat-anchor contract. Zaidi really doesn’t want to win that auction either, but Giants ownership may force him.
Andrew Friedman will not make a dope-fiend move… that I am sure of. “But he signed Anderson, McCarthy, Olivera, Kazmir and Sierra.” … and your point is? Those were bad moves… not Dope-Fiend moves! Dope fiend moves hamstring you for years. Speaking of ham…
How much ham
could a ham chuck chuck
if a ham chuck could chuck ham?
However, I digress. The Dodgers do not need Bryce Harper, but Bryce Harper needs the Dodgers… if he wants to win. He’s not winning in SF and Friedman may very well give Farhan enough rope to hang himself. Harper doesn’t want to go to Philly or SF and the Dodgers do not want a boat anchor contract.
If the Dodgers can get Harper at a bargain, then I am all for it, but an overpay? Forget about it! The Dodgers are fine… Bryce, it’s your call! Me? I really don’t care. What will be, will be!
I have been in LA all week and it has been crazy. I did get to have dinner with 2demeter2 on Tuesday. In fact, he bought drinks and dinner for me, my son and my VP of Sales. He almost fought me when I tried to pay, but I had to give up because he is bigger than me! What a great time and thank you! Then, on Wednesday, we met up with Bobby for some tequila. That was nice too. We have some awesome people on LA DODGER TALK!
While We Wait…
- Alex Verdugo is making a case to be on the roster and maybe the leadoff hitter.
- Garlick does not stink.
- Julio Urias might slide into Kershaw’s spot rather easily!
- I continue to believe Kershaw is hurt!
- Corey Seager is still on the path to start the season at SS. He has taken live BP and may play in minor league games next week.
- MLB.COM rates the Dodgers farm systems #7, which is nothing short of amazing consider their winning ways the past 6 years. YIKES!
- Brad Miller is a nice signing. To me, it means that Friedman is building some more depth in preparation for a possible trade.
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Discussion (132)
Disagree, not disagreeable
Completely agree with your comments on Harper, Mark. Sometimes the winner is the loser. At the right price/years, fine, otherwise pass.
I had the same feeling as you when I saw the Brad Miller signing. Are we setting up for a trade? I think the most logical thought would be that we would be sending out Kike, CT3 or Muncy if that were the case. Needless to say, Miller would be a poor replacement for any of them, but they would only be sent out in a major deal so we’d have to see what we got back before deciding how happy we were with the deal. On the other hand, Miller could just be AAA filler. Boring, but maybe the most desirable option.
From the Washington post:
That brings us to Harper. His contribution in 2019 is estimated to be 3.6 fWAR which may sound low to some but consider that’s in line with his production over the past few years. Using that 2019 estimate as our starting point, Harper’s 10-year value is 26.7 fWAR over the next decade, which should carry a price tag of $239.8 million.
Main point of the article was that Harper is no where near worth 300 million. In addition, of the teams currently in pursuit of Harper, Dodger stadium is the best for left handed power hitters (with the Giants park being the worst).
No, I don’t go to auctions and I’ve never bid on anything on Ebay.
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When are you actually going to LA? Irvine, Temecula, Valencia? At least drive up to the Stadium, maybe have a meal in China Town. Go see a freaking beach and gaze out into the Pacific for God’s sake! It’s good for your soul. If you come down to Surf City, I’ll buy you and your crew a round.
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I was wondering what the hell happened this morning. After reading this I understand. Too much Tequila and you phoned it in.
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Have fun on the rest of your trip. Bummer that you chose to visit in our coldest February ever. This will be the first time in 140 years that we didn’t reach 70 degrees in February.
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How much fun are you having driving our glorious freeways? For some real fun, drive on the 405 between LA and Irvine at 4PM.
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Fun fact, if you start at midnight, you can drive from Orange County airport, to Long Beach, to LAX, to Burbank to Ontario hitting 5 airports in less than 2 hours. If you start at 4PM you can’t get from SNA to LAX.
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I hope you’re having a great trip. With a little luck, Harper will have signed with the good guys before you leave!
Good time last night Mark. Great to meet the guys and thanks again for that tequila! I”ll return the favor when we meet up at the Ravine (and that offer is extended to everyone else on this board!)
Now let’s get Bryce signed today and get things going .
Anyone know what happened to Bobbie17?
I’m tired of all the “Harper talk!” Sign him… don’t sign him, it doesn’t matter, the Dodgers are loaded. But I do find the Miller signing curious. Does this mean the Dodgers are not comfortable with CT3 at 2B? Could Muncy be their best option at 2B? If the Dodgers sign Harper, do they let Verdugo play right field and move Bellinger back to 1B? I think Bellinger is an All Star 1B, even better than Adrian Gonzales was in his prime!
Another inch and a half yesterday so it is official 40 inches of show this month ranking February 2019 4th for the most snow in February since 1898,but baseball is being played. Verdugo and Garlick are looking very good at this point.
Yes, the Dodgers are loaded. They should easily win the NL West and probably make it to a third World Series. Do they need Harper? Absolutely. Arenado is off the board now and who else is available in 2020 or 2021? When you look at the Dodger farm system, where is the big outfield bat? Some pretty good catchers, some infielders and a bunch of pitchers. Will there be a better bat available in trade or free agency than Harper in the next few years? The Dodgers spend something like 34 percent of their revenue on player payroll, while most teams spend around 44 percent. So what are they going to spend the money on? Every year ticket prices go up and next year the payroll drops dramatically. Does anybody believe they won’t raise prices again next year? They’ve done it five or six years in a row. Harper is fun to watch, an exciting player made for the LA market. Hey, it has been 30 years since they’ve won a World Series. Having a player with Harper’s skill set can only help. Again, with Arenado off the board and a boatload of money coming off the books in 2020, it just makes too much sense to sign Harper.
HARPER 2018 Season WAR was 1.3 Lets assume its an aberration and we go with his avg. season WAR of 3.9
JOC’s 2018 Season WAR was 2.3 . He will make $5M. Are you going to pay an extra $35M for 2 WAR??
How can it make sense? The math does not add up. The team would be financially constrained and would be hobbled in its ability to make other moves as needed. Let the Giants pay him $350 for 10 yrs.
I know it’s early, but MJRod nailed it and yes we are blessed with our depth…
I too don’t care about all the Harper rumors…
Continued success in ST and stay healthy… Booyah…
Just hearing about Brad Miller signing for the first time. Great news. I’ve been worried about our IF depth, especially up the middle. While we can rattle off names to back up OF spots, IF is harder to do. I expect we’ll see him suited up in blue at some point this season. If not, good depth to have.
Chris Camello of rebel sports tweeted that his sources have told him that the Dodgers have offered 10 years to Harper. Camello broke JT and Kenley’s signing 24 hrs before the talking heads.
I totally agree with Mark, if we can get Harper for the deal Friedman wants, he will help this team win.
But this is all on Harper, not the Dodgers.
After your making that much money, I would think you would go where you think you would be the most happiest to play.
Harper makes a lot of money off promotions alone, and he could make even more money in LA.
The Giants will soon have to start rebuilding, and Harper’s offensive numbers, will be somewhat diminished, in that big park in SF.
And it is obvious that Harper doesn’t want to go to the Phillies or he would already be at the Phillies spring training facility.
We will be ok either way, but the Giants certainly won’t, because either way, they are not going anywhere.
I’m looking forward to my annual trip north to AT&T park. Hope to watch Harper while there. Doubt he’ll be as much fun to watch as Hunter was.
Minor aggravation: I wish Verdugo would lose those red sliding gloves and put on some Dodger Blue ones.
Zach Willeman is ranked #20 in the Baseball America handbook. That’s a surprisingly aggressive ranking. Must be that fastball.
Also, starting to feel Cartaya could be top ten easy by the end of the year. One of the highest upside guys we have, although very young.
And Urias . . . trying to stay calm but he could be the story of the whole season if healthy.
And in other exciting news. Clayton Kershaw is scheduled to throw a baseball today to see if his arm remains attached at the shoulder.
Phillies got him
Welp
Yeah, he got over $325mil. It’s ok now we can move on
Anchors Away, music to my ears
Urgh! I feel jilted.
Just breaking Harper to Phillies
Wow phillies are idiot’s hahahaha 13 years no way
I for one am relieved he went elsewhere. I warned all of you about Harper the man not the player. Boras played us to get higher offers, maybe he returns a favor when it’s time to extend Cory, Cody and Urias…..Nahh!
To channel my inner Mark T. -“this is a dope fiend move!!!”
For BH it’s good. His statistics should take a bump up in Philadelphia. Balls fly out of that yard.