If the owner’s words are to be believed, it would seem the Washington Nationals may have already given up on the hope of possibly re-signing superstar free-agent outfielder Bryce Harper.
In an interview with Washington D.C.-based radio station 106.7 the FAN, Nationals owner Mark Lerner said the team did all they could by laying out their best offer for the star free agent.
“When we met with them and we gave them the offer, we told them, ‘This is the best we can do.’ We went right to the finish line very quickly,” Lerner told hosts Grant Paulsen and Danny Rouhier. “And we said, ‘If this is of interest to you, please come back to us and we’ll see whether we can finish it up.’
“But we just couldn’t afford to put more than that in and still be able to put a team together that had a chance to win the NL East or go farther than that. … If he chooses to go some place else, I totally understand it, but we put one heck of an offer out there.”
The offer Lerner is referring to is the reported 10-year, $300-million offer Washington put in front of Harper at the end of the season, something that may not be viable within the Nationals’ budget anymore given the six-year, $140-million contract Lerner just gave to left-hander Patrick Corbin.
As such, even if Harper and his agent, Scott Boras, do decide to meet with the Nationals at next week’s upcoming Winter Meetings in Las Vegas, Lerner says a deal is unlikely to happen because he believes that ship has sailed for both parties.
“If he comes back, it’s a strong possibility that we won’t be able to make it work,” said Lerner. “But I really don’t expect him to come back at this point. I think they’ve decided to move on.”
Harper was taken with the first-overall pick in the 2010 draft by the Nationals and has spent his entire seven-year big-league career in Washington. An all-star in all but one of those seasons, the 26-year-old was the 2015 NL MVP and is among the most desirable free agents on the open market at the moment.
Of the teams vying for his services, the Philadelphia Phillies and New York Yankees have been the clubs most rumoured to be connected to him.
Last season he hit .249/.393/.496 with 34 home runs and 100 RBI in 695 plate appearances.
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