Harper to Phillies for 13 years, 330M, no opt-outs

Max Power

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Jul 20, 2005
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Have seen several recent stories that pegged the state & local tax hit for Harper's $330M deal with the Phillies at about $17 million, while the tax hit on instead taking SF's offer of $310M would have resulted in state and local taxes of $28M. Given that after taxes (fed, state & local) and payment to his agent he will see less than $180M of that $330M, actually $11M seems like a "real" number that might as least factor into your decision.... For most other players though that get more "modest" contracts, yeah, the amount of their offers are not going to bring taxes much into play...
"It's not about the money."

None of these guys give a shit about their net income. There's very little practical difference between taking home $50 million and $150 million. They only care that the number they sign for is bigger than the other guys. These are very competitive people and that extends to the business side of the game, too. As long as the news stories talk about how Bryce Harper is the $330 million man, he's happy no matter what the state of Pennsylvania takes.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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Dec 4, 2005
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I agree with your last point, he’s probably not worried about taxes; but there is certainly a not-very little practical difference between 50 and 150 million when you want to live the way the superstars do and if you want generational wealth. Sure, he can still buy his fancy house and car, he’s still rich either way, but come on.
 

tims4wins

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Jul 15, 2005
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Interesting - the Phillies basically admitted that their fans preference played a part in Harper over Manny:

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/26144073/philly-fans-influenced-harper-machado

Honestly I think this is smart - as we have seen in Boston, when fans aren't behind a move it can have a negative influence on a player's performance. Will be interesting to see if this has the opposite effect. I could see Harper just exploding in that park.
 

Papelbon's Poutine

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Dec 4, 2005
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He’s got a 930 OPS in that park, I’m guessing he’ll be ok. And Philly fans turned on Santa, I’m not sure this isn’t just saving face for settling. Sure, but I’m not sure how one would actually show evidence of it. The fans in DC loved him, it was injuries that mostly held him down. If he stays healthy he’ll perform. If not and he tries to play thru it and sucks, he’ll get ad batteries thrown at him.
 

dcmissle

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Aug 4, 2005
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What struck me is when he said (paraphrasing) that from the minute he was drafted he had been asked about where he’d play next and he really didn’t like that endless speculation. This contract eliminates that for a long while.
Events conspired to make this FA experience something he never wanted to experience again.

1. Outlandish speculation of $400 MM and north a couple years back, which however extreme probably set baseline expectations.

2. Last couple of seasons, performance good not great.

3. Market re-set across the industry.

4. Usual suspects — Boston, NY — wanted no part of this.

5. Nationals make essentially a take or leave it offer, then bail.

6. Little activity Oct, Nov, Dec and Jan.

7. Boras has to break a sweat to whip up a market at the end.

8. Everybody says you don’t want to go where you end up.

You’re not going to feel sorry for him, but it was humbling.
 

Dewey'sCannon

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Jul 18, 2005
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I think Harper was disappointed that the Nationals didn't make more of an effort. As am I. The "$300M" offer with so much of it deferred was rather lame. I know there were rumors that they subsequently improved their offer, but I don't think that was ever confirmed. And the various comments from Lerner and Rizzo, it seems unlikely that they did.
 

Soxfan in Fla

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Jul 30, 2001
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I think Harper was disappointed that the Nationals didn't make more of an effort. As am I. The "$300M" offer with so much of it deferred was rather lame. I know there were rumors that they subsequently improved their offer, but I don't think that was ever confirmed. And the various comments from Lerner and Rizzo, it seems unlikely that they did.
That offer with the amount of deferred money was an offer they knew would get rejected. It was most likely done to save face with the fanbase. I don’t think they wanted him at that cost for that many years.
 

Average Reds

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Sep 24, 2007
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That offer with the amount of deferred money was an offer they knew would get rejected. It was most likely done to save face with the fanbase. I don’t think they wanted him at that cost for that many years.
I think it’s more likely that they knew that Harper wanted a long-term deal and assumed that no one would beat their offer.
 

soxhop411

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Dec 4, 2009
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Harper already has already struck out 70 times this season, which is 41% of the strikeouts he had all of last season. (169) which was also his career high in SO’s

There is also this stat from Corey Seidman


Given that this is Philly and his deal has no opt outs, PHI fans might turn on him pretty quickly.