Just in case you want to relive the pain! On Monday, Bryce Harper joined the Pat McAfee show on ESPN and says that he nearly signed with the SF Giants, but Bruce Bochy’s retirement is what convinced him to sign with the Philadelphia Phillies instead.
There might have been a financial incentive as well. As Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area notes, the Giants’ offer was not nearly as strong as the one he eventually received from the Phillies.
The Giants put up a 12-year, $310 million offer to Harper. However, that fell short of the 13-year, $330 million deal he signed with Philadelphia.
The Giants had an extremely quiet offseason that year. While they never used the term “rebuild,” it was hard to justify their moves as anything but rebuild moves after two straight losing seasons. The notable moves included re-signing Derek Holland and adding Drew Pomeranz. They also signed Cameron Maybin, Gerardo Parra, and Yangervis Solarte to minor league deals.
None of those players finished the season with the club. In the case of Maybin, he did not make the team out of spring training.
Given this, it was a surprise to see the Giants as late entrants into the Harper sweepstakes. Being late to the party did not help their chances at landing the star player, as they were frequently trying to catch up with the latest offer by the Phillies.
In the end, Harper signed with the Phillies. It has become one of the bigger what-ifs in recent memory, especially considering all of the misses the Giants have had in free agency before and since Harper signed. Giants history, and their success in free agency, might be a little different.
Bruce Bochy’s retirement is evidently what tipped the scales for Harper. Bochy announced that the 2019 season would be his final one with the Giants as soon as spring training opened up. In the months leading up to that decision, Farhan Zaidi took over as president of baseball operations. Bochy decided to gracefully step aside to allow Zaidi to select a new manager.
A couple of weeks after Bochy made his announcement, Harper signed a long-term deal to join the Phillies. At the time, that team was managed by Gabe Kapler, who eventually was picked to be Bochy’s successor.
