Yankees Rumors: Not chasing Bryce Harper is smart baseball

With Clint Frazier, Billy McKinney and Esteval Florial in the stable, the Yankees signing Bryce Harper as a free agent could be the worst possible move by the club.

Bryce Harper will never be worth the money and the commitment the Yankees would need to sign him as a free agent because his six years worth of performances with the Nats are choppy at best.

Lets face it. Forget the hype and look at the facts. Bam-Bam had two very good seasons in D.C.; the first was his MVP season in 2015. That year he hit .330 with 42 homers, 99 RBI, scored 118 runs, 124 walks and had an OPS of 1.109.

The second was 2017: Harper raked to a .319 BA, 29 HR, 89 RBI, an OPS of 1.008 and 95 runs. Keep in mind Harper played in just 111 games. His plate appearances have steadily declined each year since 2015.

His rookie numbers in 2012 season were good but would not overly excite anybody in the Bronx except maybe his agent. Harper hit .270, with 22 HR, 59 RBI and an OPS 817 with 98 runs scored.

Basically, that has been about an average year for Brett Gardner over the last five years.

Harper is good, just not consistently good enough to be considered great.

The 2013 and 2014 seasons were more or less mirror images of his 2012 but with fewer and declining starts due to one injury. He was a very good outfielder, with very good defensive skills, while being a very good hitter, but he had great press.

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The 2016 season saw a scary regression from Harper’s previous MVP campaign. Something to consider for clubs shopping the free agent market: he played in 147 games and saw his average drop 76 points to a sub-par .243, and a power drop to 24 long balls from the 42 he walloped in ’15.

As for his postseason contributions, in his four years of playoff experience, Harper has compiled a .211 BA, five HR and 10 RBI in 89 AB. The Yankees are built for postseason play for the next seven-to-eight years; does anybody really want to see those putrid numbers in playoff games in the Bronx?

The Yankees can get far more for their money by developing talented prospects they have and utilizing them on the field. General manager Brian Cashman can always organize a trade for another good outfielder that can hit .280 with 25-30 home runs without paying $400 million over the span of 10-12 years.

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The Bronx Bombers are well-built and should never repeat the long-term mistakes of the past. They are already heavily invested in Giancarlo Stanton. Bryce Harper is a classic example of an avoidable error the Yanks should not make again.