The Nats Shouldn’t Get Applauded for Letting Bryce Harper Walk, They Should be Applauded for Everything Else
Feels like a century ago Bryce Harper blasted a moonshot into a scorn of Phillies fans in the right field bleachers of Citizens Bank South. Our fans drowned out the home team with chants of “We got Harper!” as the Phillies raced out to an early division lead.
Now, we have Harper. And the Nationals have a ring.
The hot take flying through the internet right now is that the Nationals should be applauded for not paying Harper and their fans now treat the superstar like an ex who was holding them back. It’s dumb.
Passing on Bryce Harper shouldn’t be a move that gets revered as courageous or strategic. He was worth the money and they’ll likely be in the same scenario this offseason with Anthony Rendon. What needs to be focused on with the Nationals front office is how impressive it is they were able to let a 26 year old superstar walk, and still have enough elite level talent, especially homegrown talent to win a World Series.
The Phillies sucked for 8 years, all they have to show for it is Aaron Nola. The Nationals sucked for around the same amount of time. They were able to let an All-Star outfielder walk away and still won a World Series.
In the heart of their rebuild (a friendly way of saying sucking) from 2008-2010, which included back to back 59 win seasons, it netted the Nats: Stephen Strasburg, Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon. In consecutive seasons.
In the heart of the Phillies “rebuild” from 2013-15 (stretch this to 2017 if you feel inclined) including a 63 win season it netted the Phillies: JP Crawford, Aaron Nola, and Cornelius Randolph. The following year was Mickey Moniak.
Aside from Nola, Adam Haseley is the only player drafted in the first round by the Phillies this decade to have played and still be playing with the team.
It just goes to show how lacking the Phillies homegrown talent is. According to BleacherReport the Phillies ranked 16th in “Homegrown Talent” (players drafted by the team not including players with significant international experience). The Nationals, after Harper left, were still Top 10.
Nationals fans are morons. If they want to spend their 15 minutes of fame to spurn Harper instead of celebrating their current roster, so be it. It’s hard to be mad at them or The Nationals franchise. Be mad at the front office who couldn’t put the Phillies in the same position.