Off-Topic: The WORLD CHAMPION Washington Nationals Thread

[MikeT14]

Can't wait to fire Davey still.

[lavar703]

I hope the fans have the guts to boo Harper mercifully. Do exactly what Islanders fans did to Tavares. He’s the enemy now. 

[Woz]

12 minutes ago, lavar703 said:

I hope the fans have the guts to boo Harper mercifully. Do exactly what Islanders fans did to Tavares. He’s the enemy now. 

Did you mean "mercilessly?"

[lavar703]

37 minutes ago, Woz said:

Did you mean "mercilessly?"

Yes I did. Typing while angry is not good for me lol. 

[Woz]

3 hours ago, lavar703 said:

Yes I did. Typing while angry is not good for me lol. 

[lavar703]

If this story that Barry Svlurga wrote is true it surely makes the Lerners look bad. Real bad. Sheesh what a horrible offer lol. Payments deferred to 2052 and the last one deferred to 2072 lmao. 

[Woz]

42 minutes ago, lavar703 said:

If this story that Barry Svlurga wrote is true it surely makes the Lerners look bad. Real bad. Sheesh what a horrible offer lol. Payments deferred to 2052 and the last one deferred to 2072 lmao. 

Link?

And payment deferrals aren't the worst thing in the world for the player (see: Bobby Bonilla Day).

[lavar703]

16 minutes ago, Woz said:

Link?

And payment deferrals aren't the worst thing in the world for the player (see: Bobby Bonilla Day).

I can’t link it Woz, it’s washing post and it’s behidn a paywall. If you go to WNFF they have most the excerpts posted there in the out of town scoreboard section. Their last offer was 12 years $250M with deferrals til 2072. That’s bad. Real bad. 

[turtle28]

8 minutes ago, lavar703 said:

I can’t link it Woz, it’s washing post and it’s behidn a paywall. If you go to WNFF they have most the excerpts posted there in the out of town scoreboard section. Their last offer was 12 years $250M with deferrals til 2072. That’s bad. Real bad. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/how-bryce-harper-went-from-im-gonna-be-a-national-to-were-going-to-philly/2019/04/01/8727f018-5495-11e9-9136-f8e636f1f6df_story.html

[Woz]

4 minutes ago, lavar703 said:

I can’t link it Woz, it’s washing post and it’s behidn a paywall. If you go to WNFF they have most the excerpts posted there in the out of town scoreboard section. Their last offer was 12 years $250M with deferrals til 2072. That’s bad. Real bad. 

That isn't behind a paywall per se. You just read all of the free articles for the month and would need to pay for more.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/how-bryce-harper-went-from-im-gonna-be-a-national-to-were-going-to-philly/2019/04/01/8727f018-5495-11e9-9136-f8e636f1f6df_story.html

I want to read the thing in depth, but a quick scan by makes me think this is a bit one-sided.

[lavar703]

19 minutes ago, Woz said:

That isn't behind a paywall per se. You just read all of the free articles for the month and would need to pay for more.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/nationals/how-bryce-harper-went-from-im-gonna-be-a-national-to-were-going-to-philly/2019/04/01/8727f018-5495-11e9-9136-f8e636f1f6df_story.html

I want to read the thing in depth, but a quick scan by makes me think this is a bit one-sided.

It’s not hard to believe. They love deferred money. It’s unfortunate if true and very much scares me with Rendon coming up. 

[Woz]

21 hours ago, lavar703 said:

It’s not hard to believe. They love deferred money. It’s unfortunate if true and very much scares me with Rendon coming up. 

Okay, gotten a chance to read this.

Timeline as follows:

• September 26, 2018: during an 8th inning rain delay, Lerner Enterprises COO asks Harper to come to Davey Martinez's office. When he comes in, Martinez isn't there. Instead Ted Lerner and his son Mark are there. They hand him an envelope with their contract offer. He doesn't open it, because the game is on-going. He contacts his wife and she meets him (after the game is finally cancelled). In it, he finds the 10 year, $300M offer. $100M is deferred with the last payment in 2052.
• September 27, 2018: Scott Boras calls Ted Lerner to discuss the offer. The Nats treated this as their BAFO (best and final offer) and that it wasn't going to last forever. However, Boras and Harper wanted to test free agency.
• October 28, 2018: Boston wins game five of the World Series, ending the 2018 season.
• October 29, 2018: Free agency essentially begins. At this point, Boras and Harper have not contacted the Nationals since September 27.
• December 4, 2018: Nationals sign Patrick Corbin to six year, $140M contract. Boras and Harper have still not contacted the Nationals.
• December 9-13, 2018: Winter Meetings happen in Las Vegas. Harper does not meet with any teams during the Meetings.
• Between Dec 13-23, 2018: Harper meets with the Chicago White Sox (when exactly, not sure).
• December 23, 2018: Harper and his wife charter a private plane to fly from Las Vegas to Palm Springs, CA (there are no direct flights; it's good to be the king (*)). This is the only meeting that Harper plans to take outside of Vegas due to the close relationship between him and the Lerners (not just as employee/employer, but apparently the Lerner's and Harper's were close before Harper even declared for the draft). Most importantly, this is Harper's (and his team's) first contact with anyone from the Nationals since September 27. Apparently, at this point, Harper's mindset was that he wanted to return to DC. Annette Lerner (Ted's wife) told her husband to get it done. Harper was thrilled. He contacted his wife and said they were returning.
• January 3, 2019: The Nats send a new deal to Harper: 12 years for $250M with money deferred (this is where the all the way to 2072 comes in). Boras and his team used a 6% discount rate to calculate that the new contract offer was effectively for $107M.
• After January 3rd: Harper starts meeting with other teams.
• January 12, 2019: Harper meets with Philadelphia for the first time. At the meeting was the owner (John Middleton), GM Matt Klentak, Manager Gabe Kepler, amongst others.
• February 22, 2019: Middleton and his wife fly out to Las Vegas to meet and have lunch with Harper and his wife.
• February 23, 2019: Middleton contacts Boras and tells him he isn't leaving Vegas until they can work something out.
• February 28, 2019: Boras sends him the Phillies offer of the 13 years, $330M

 

So, yes, the Nationals went cheap on him ... on the second offer. Harper and Boras kind of screwed the pooch by not going radio silent for essentially three months. The Nats gave him what they felt was a BAFO, he didn't respond to it (beyond essentially "well, that's nice"), and they moved on. He then decided he wanted to come back, but by then, it was effectively too late.

 

Also, from the article:

Quote

Regardless of his ultimate ­destination, Harper’s desires were specific and contradictory to what the public thought: He wanted as many years as possible. He wanted a no-trade clause. He did not want opt-outs — which would have given him a path back to free agency — even if that might be more lucrative. He wanted, basically, to never again answer the question that to that point had defined his career: Where are you going next?

“Scott told me and Kayla, ‘This is going to be a fight,’ ” Harper said. “He goes: ‘The [average annual value] might not be there, but we’ll get you the years. If the years are the biggest thing, we’ll get there.’ I said: ‘That’s fine. That’s what’s most important.’ ”
...
He met with the Padres and was tempted by playing in San Diego. He met with the Giants, who started with an eight-year offer. He met with the Dodgers, who were interested in a shorter-term deal but with a record-setting average annual value: four years, with the opportunity for Harper to opt out after each season.

“But then I would have been right back like it was in D.C., with everyone saying, ‘What’s he going to do next?’ ” Harper said. “I didn’t want that.”

So, he wanted the longest deal possible. Money wasn't the main driver ... but he never effectively communicated that to the Nats until 3 months later.

 

 

(*) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGCjqzB2jPA (NSFW)

 

[lavar703]

Ultimately it’s all on Boras. He was the driving factor in all of this and he’s the reason Harper isn’t in DC. Not responding to the initial offer probably pissed the Lerners off and they just decided “let’s move on”. There’s nothing wrong with that but them continuing to insist on deferred money contracts is going to start pushing more and more players away. 

[Woz]

58 minutes ago, lavar703 said:

Ultimately it’s all on Boras. He was the driving factor in all of this and he’s the reason Harper isn’t in DC. Not responding to the initial offer probably pissed the Lerners off and they just decided “let’s move on”. There’s nothing wrong with that but them continuing to insist on deferred money contracts is going to start pushing more and more players away. 

We'll see.

Again, keep in mind that those deferred payments aren't the worst thing for players. Corbin's getting $10M until 2025 (when he's 36). Chances are he isn't seeing that coin while still playing. Scherzer's got deferred money for 2022-2028 at $15M a pop (ages 37-43). Again, as good as Max is, he's not getting that in the MLB.

Now, 2052? That's somewhat ridiculous. And 2072 is insanity. But getting some cushion at the end of your career? That's not a bad thing. Again, I refer you to "Bobby Bonilla Day":

http://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/16650867/why-mets-pay-bobby-bonilla-119-million-today-every-july-1-2035

[lavar703]

The Philly fans whining about Nats fans booing Harper, just shut up. This isn’t about you nor does it have anything to do with you. This is about Nats fans and a guy who claimed this is where he wanted to be. Stay out of it.