Phillies Need To Give Ultimatum

[thegodfather]

Tell Harper or Machado which ever or both shit or get off the pot, reports are the Phillies offered the most money to both and these 2 just keep stringing them along. They need to be in camp not just for the practice but team continuity.

[Ground_Meat]

Hawk already made a guarantee. We are good...

[JuTMSY4]

that's not really how this works.

[dev_32]

LOL!

[Anthony]

The only ultimatum they can do is if their offer is clearly more than everyone else to give a deadline of which to sign or pull the offer and tell the agent they are going in another direction on either another player(s) now or wait for Trout in 2 years.

[JuTMSY4]

or Arenado and Rendon. The Phillies have the monetary pull to attract FAs (to FA) unless and until the system changes.

[McCarthy12]

It will be a little embarrassing (deflating?) if they don't land at least one of Harper and Machado.

I know this is how it has been the last two offseasons, but it does seem odd that neither have signed yet. If the Phils' money is most attractive, what's the holdup? I heard the other day that Harper was visiting San Diego. Seems like neither are dying to come to Philly.

[JuTMSY4]

It will be a little embarrassing (deflating?) if they don't land at least one of Harper and Machado.

Unquestionably, yes. this off-season will be viewed as (fairly or unfairly) a failure and the shift in mentality makes that even more clear. Either Klentak has failed or Middleton is full of shit.

I know this is how it has been the last two offseasons, but it does seem odd that neither have signed yet. If the Phils' money is most attractive, what's the holdup? I heard the other day that Harper was visiting San Diego. Seems like neither are dying to come to Philly.

I'm not sure if either one wants to be here, but like many FAs, most if not all are happy to be paid a fucking ton of cash, so I think much of that is overblown.

I think the Phillies are willing to godfather any player in if they can prove they have a good offer elsewhere. However, the Phillies positioning suggests they're playing each off each other. The first to sign might be the loser of the deal, or maybe not? That, we don't know.

Rumor has it Harper is going to sign by Thursday. Of course, there's been lots of rumors.

[McCarthy12]

Yeah, that makes sense. I'm mostly talking out of my rear end on this. I just know that for someone like me, who isn't super passionate about baseball, the difference in excitement level between having Harper/Machado and not having either will be significant.

[JuTMSY4]

it will be

Yeah, that makes sense. I'm mostly talking out of my rear end on this. I just know that for someone like me, who isn't super passionate about baseball, the difference in excitement level between having Harper/Machado and not having either will be significant.

and it should. Phillies will be fun w/o them, but they won't be a serious title contender.

[Anthony]

For me I'm not a big Harper fan at 10 years $300M+. He has big slumps, hits for bad Avg at times and has been on a team for 6 years that has been loaded at the plate and on the mound and hasn't won a playoff series yet and only had one real great playoff series at the plate himself.

Machado on the other hand fits better if he's in the $250M range. He hits for a higher Avg has almost as much power and can play 3B at gold glove caliber and is a clutch hitter. Even though his Johnny Hustle comments kind of suck, Rollins was the same way. He called Phils fans front Runners and said practically the same thing. So did AI and both are beloved here.

[SOS Crunchy]

I think there's pros and cons to both but I don't totally disagree with your thought process. Harper seems to be more expensive and equally as much of a dickhead as Machado and if your argument against Machado is centered around the 'Johnny Hustle' comments, that could easily be as overblown as the 'Harper doesn't have his heart in Philly' rhetoric.

At the end of the day, I think it's pretty clear that Klentak wants Machado for a number of reasons (Orioles connection, cost-efficient, he sees him as a better fit/player) and Middleton wants Harper from a marketing standpoint. Middleton wins that battle 10 times out of 10, but I honestly don't believe they need Harper to be the face of the team. They already have Nola, Hoskins and now Realmuto and need a solid middle of the order bat, which Machado provides arguably as much as Harper (albeit Harper is LH and has a superior OBP).

[thegodfather]

For me I'm not a big Harper fan at 10 years $300M+. He has big slumps, hits for bad Avg at times and has been on a team for 6 years that has been loaded at the plate and on the mound and hasn't won a playoff series yet and only had one real great playoff series at the plate himself.

Machado on the other hand fits better if he's in the $250M range. He hits for a higher Avg has almost as much power and can play 3B at gold glove caliber and is a clutch hitter. Even though his Johnny Hustle comments kind of suck, Rollins was the same way. He called Phils fans front Runners and said practically the same thing. So did AI and both are beloved here.

I'd rather have Machado, he fits this team more than Harper

[thegodfather]

that's not really how this works.

It works however your team wants it to work, tell them we need an answer or we pull our offer publicly. Then other teams will low ball them when the front runner is out.

[Snakebitten]

It works however your team wants it to work, tell them we need an answer or we pull our offer publicly. Then other teams will low ball them when the front runner is out.

This isn't Shark Tank.