Yankees officials plan on meeting with Bryce Harper in Las Vegas
By Sefket Nouri
According to a Yahoo Sports Report, the Yankees will meet with NL slugger Bryce Harper in Nevada, Las Vegas as they are interested in him.
Rumors are heating up the Hot Stove season less than a week away from this year’s Winter Meetings. According to Tim Brown and Jeff Passan of Yahoo Sports, the Yankees will be one of the many teams that plan to meet with NL slugger Bryce Harper in Las Vegas Nevada.
"Officials from the Chicago White Sox, Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees are among upward of a dozen teams that have traveled or plan to travel to Nevada to meet with Harper, league sources familiar with the discussions told Yahoo Sports. Other meetings already are set for a site away from MLB’s winter meetings, which start Sunday at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas."
The Yankees, Dodgers, White Sox and the Phillies are a few of the many teams whom will be meeting with Harper. The six-time All-Star and NL Slugger 26-year-old Bryce Harper, has a career .279 batting average, hitting 184 home runs with 521 RBIs and a .388 OPS. His smooth left-handed stroke is made for Yankee Stadium as he could easily hit well over 40 home runs with the short porch in right field.
Unless Luke Voit’s hot streak production from the 2018 season wears off (14 HRs, 33 RBIs), then the Yanks may need to consider putting Harper to first base which isn’t an issue as they have already internally discussed him being at first base. Harper has already stated he is open to playing first base.
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Yankees general manager Brian Cashman has been quiet about this. Usually, when the Bombers downplay or don’t express their desire about signing a player, chances are, they may swoop in and sign the player out of nowhere. That’s how the Yankees’ play and they do everything behind-the-scenes. That’s just the way I like it.
Harper is seeking at least 10-years and $350 million deal. I’m sorry, but no player, including Harper, is worth that much money. I’m not sure what the Yankees are thinking in this case, especially as they acquired former reigning NL MVP Giancarlo Stanton from the Marlins during the 2017 offseason. Stanton is on a 13-year and $325 million deal through 2027 with a club option at 2028.
The substantial amount of money that the team put towards Stanton may lead to them not wanting to sign Harper. Although if they can trade Stanton to the Dodgers’ who he’d likely accept a trade to, then this may make it a whole lot easier for the Yankees’ to sign Bryce Harper.
Furthermore, Stanton wasn’t exactly as advertised in 2018, striking out 211 times in 158 games. One of the reasons is because he’s in a different league now, batting against different pitchers.
Fatigue and injuries may have contributed to his struggles because he barely took a day off Aaron Judge was placed on the disabled list and ended up missing 49 games. While Judge was out, Stanton carried the team along with Aaron Hicks.
It will be interesting to see how the Winter Meetings unfold next week.