Robert Murray of FRS wrote yesterday that he had been in contact with an anonymous National League executive, talking about Bryce Harper, and Murray’s contact had some pretty strong words about the upcoming free agent outfielder. These sentiments were communicated to Murray via text message:
Worth noting the “if I was in charge” line, which suggests to me that Murray was not talking to a general manager or ultimate decision maker, so take that all for what it’s worth insofar as it impacts Harper’s free agency prospects.
That aside, I’ll grant that Harper is (a) having a really weird year, good as far as power and patience goes, but not up to his MVP-level potential, particularly in the contact department (he’s batting .228). I’ll also grant that, though his injuries have been somewhat freakish as opposed to predictable and chronic, he has had some issues staying on the field over the course of his career, and that will at least be on the minds of front office folks. The stuff about him being a “losing player” and “selfish,” however, is bizarre.
I’d be curious as to how that executive defines “losing player” and what he means by Harper being “selfish.” The former is not born out in any way I can tell based on how he and his team has performed over the past several years. The latter seems like warmed-over, knee-jerk stuff people were saying about Harper when he was 17. When was the last time you heard about Harper being some sort of distraction or problem in the Nats clubhouse? What incidents, of any kind, has he been involved in that are notable or unusual? None that I can tell.
Given Harper’s odd year so far and given the way the free agent market has gone the past couple of years, I will not be at all surprised if Harper falls short of some of the crazy-high contracts people have predicted he’ll sign, but I have a really hard time believing that the sentiment of Murray’s text correspondent is prevalent in Major League Baseball.
Here’s Dan Patrick talking about that some more earlier today: