Everyone can’t stop talking about Bryce Harper. He is the big fish on the free agent market. I’m not sure why, he’s not a top 100 active player in the sport but obviously a lot of people disagree with me. Harper’s agent, Scott Boras, is trying to land his client a mega paycheck. Part of his efforts include giving teams a 118-page handbook to provide information about Harper.
Bob Nightengale of USA Today provided us with the article about Boras:
LAS VEGAS —
“The meetings have lasted anywhere from five to 10 hours, with teams presented a parting gift in the way of agent Scott Boras’ 118-page handbook, telling you everything you want to know about Harper and more. You want the numbers assuring you that he’s a future Hall of Famer, a modern-day Mickey Mantle, and on a collision course with greatness? (Via Nightengale)
You want to see comparisons of Harper to NBA icon LeBron James?
You want to see if Harper can really be worth $1 billion to your franchise?It’s all right here, cover to cover, with research starting two years ago when Boras was already preparing to make him the highest-paid athlete in North American team sports history.”
Boras to Nightengale:
“My goal in this thing is to let teams know what they’re getting,” Boras tells USA TODAY Sports, “that’s why we brought in the LeBron comparisons. A lot of people don’t know what he’s done by the age of 25, and how that compares to what LeBron James did at 25. You get a very clear path on how hard it is to achieve a standard of excellence in an arena where you’re both No. 1 picks, both rookies of
year , both MVPs, and set a standard that no one can meet.
This is ridiculous. I’ll admit, I have terrible reading comprehension. My brain goes off into space if I read for too long. I have to go look at something else or re-read the same thing over. I’ll even read something and interpret it a totally different way because I have a weird brain. I’ll read something but I’m not reading 118 pages about Bryce Harper. I’m sick of hearing about him just on media reports from Twitter. I can’t take it anymore.
If Boras gave me this handbook, I would set it on fire. Here’s what my handbook on Harper would say. Let’s start with negative 23 defensive runs saved. How about a .249 average in a contract year? His strikeout numbers in 2018 were a career high (169). How about a mediocre 1.3 WAR in 2018? Harper is overrated. There’s my scouting report. $400 million? I wouldn’t give this guy anything more than a minor league contract with an invite to spring training. Final offer.
