Aug 15, 2019; Philadelphia, PA, USA; Philadelphia Phillies right fielder Bryce Harper (3) reacts after hitting a walk-off grand slam home run in the ninth inning against the Chicago Cubs at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports Bill Streicher
There was a question on the Citizens Bank Park scoreboard last season where Phillies players were asked about their favorite opposing cities to visit. Bryce Harper said Chicago, which makes it even more perplexing that the Cubs weren't players for his services when he became a free agent after the 2018 season.
When Juan Soto was a free agent earlier this offseason and getting serious pursuits from a ton of major-market clubs — namely the New York Mets and Yankees — we pointed out that the Phillies were lucky to a degree that there wasn't a similar appetite for Harper when he was available. None of the Yankees, Mets, Cubs or Boston Red Sox were serious contenders for Harper. The Dodgers, by all accounts, preferred a short-term deal, which was a non-starter for Harper.
Ultimately, the Phillies edged out the San Francisco Giants for Harper's services with a 13-year, $330 million deal. Harper has since talked about how he also considered the White Sox, another sign of how fond he is of Chicago.
Of course, a ton of the league has lived to regret not making more serious pursuits of both Harper and Manny Machado when they had the chance. Since joining the Phillies, Harper has hit 152 home runs, while winning three Silver Slugger Awards, the 2021 NL MVP and 2022 NLCS MVP.
Among those who seem to have some regret about not making a run at Harper is Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts:
Every owner is probably kicking themselves for not being more aggressive with Bryce and Manny that offseason. https://t.co/Dj9ZhLHcPy
Ricketts didn't delve too far into this, probably because he could have gotten himself into trouble if he talked too much more about a player currently under contract with another team. You'll notice, CNBC's Alex Sherman even framed the question to be more about players who are no longer active, likely to keep Ricketts from getting in trouble. You can almost see the wheels turning in Ricketts' head thinking about what could have been as he answered the question.
What's ironic is even though the Phillies and Cubs aren't division rivals, two of Harper's most memorable home runs have come against the Cubs.
On Aug. 6, 2019, Harper hit a walk-off grand slam against the Cubs, which is probably the most notable regular-season home run he's ever hit:
Then on Sept. 16, 2021, Harper hit a three-run home run into the second deck against the Cubs. It was the defining moment of a comeback from a 7-0 deficit in a 17-8 win, and probably the biggest home run during Harper's second NL MVP season:
Ricketts and the Cubs now find themselves in a position where they've been accused by many both in their fanbase and outside of it of being cheap relative to how big of a market Chicago is. One way to change that perception would be to re-sign Kyle Tucker, whom they acquired from the Houston Astros this winter. But it will cost a lot more than the $330 million it took to sign Harper to retain Tucker beyond 2025.
In today’s episode of Phillies Stoplight 🚦, I talked about Ranger Suárez, Garrett Stubbs and the DTC Era @OnPattison
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