The news Tuesday that Manny Machado has agreed to sign with the Padres -- reportedly for 10 years and $300 million -- sends a ripple effect through baseball. The most obvious storyline sits with how he impacts the Padres, but other fallout includes the team(s) that missed out on Machado. The biggest loser here to me is the Philadelphia Phillies.
However!
The Phillies can still make this right. They have to get Bryce Harper. Anything less would be a disappointing offseason.
Remember, owner John Middleton said the following back at the start of the offseason: "We're going into this expecting to spend money, and maybe even be a little bit stupid about it.''
The Phillies have definitely added. They signed Andrew McCutchen to a three-year, $50 million deal. They signed David Robertson for two years and $20 million. In a trade with the Marlins they landed J.T. Realmuto and his $5.9 million salary. They grabbed Jean Segura along with relievers Juan Nicasio and James Pazos in a trade, though they sent out Carlos Santana and his deal.
These are all moves that improved the ballclub, yes, but nothing in there indicates spending "stupid" money. Realmuto is probably the biggest splash and while he's the best offensive catcher in baseball, he's not a "face of the franchise" type player.
After landing Realmuto, I went through some scenarios with the Phillies offense and here's how it would look with Harper:
- Andrew McCutchen, LF
- Jean Segura, SS
- Bryce Harper, RF
- Rhys Hoskins, 1B
- J.T. Realmuto, C
- Maikel Franco, 3B
- Odubel Herrera, CF
- Cesar Hernandez, 2B
Without him and you're talking about Nick Williams in right field and a much weaker lineup overall. Harper, like Machado, changes the complexion of a lineup.
If the Phillies don't land Harper, they could try to grab both Dallas Keuchel to shore up the rotation and Craig Kimbrel to round out what's potentially a great bullpen, but the offense would still feel incomplete.
Sometimes part of the problem with raising expectations is now they have to be met. With the team's owner saying they are going to get stupid this offseason, not landing one of the Machado-Harper duo would be tantamount to a failure.
Time for the Phillies to complete the job. Sign Harper and all is well. Miss out and having cleared all that money out for these past two seasons will appear to have been for naught.
