Lou, can you find those old Trout- Harper comparisons?

[yk9001]

 

[Blarg]

Harper's career is a roller coaster.

[T.G.]

Since you're taking requests (apparently)... Lou - can you make me a sandwich?

[Ohtaniland]

10 pages of .... 

incoming.

 

[m0nkey]

Matt Moore was ranked #1/2 as well pre-2012.

 

Oops

[Ohtaniland]

May as well bring out the Puig comps also. GOAT for about 2 weeks. 

[Second Base]

I want to say one publication actually rated Matt Moore over Trout, which I thought was interesting.

[T.G.]

1 minute ago, Scotty@AW said:

I want to say one publication actually rated Matt Moore over Trout, which I thought was interesting.

National Enquirer?

[m0nkey]

3 minutes ago, Scotty@AW said:

I want to say one publication actually rated Matt Moore over Trout, which I thought was interesting.

Baseball America, Baseball Prospectus, and MLB all had him over trout

[Second Base]

https://www.google.com/amp/amp.thecomeback.com/freezingcoldtakes/mlb/a-whole-bunch-of-mlb-prospect-experts-thought-matt-moore-was-better-than-mike-trout-or-bryce-harper.html

Yup, I'll just leave this here.

[T.G.]

3 hours ago, True Grich said:

Since you're taking requests (apparently)... Lou - can you make me a sandwich?

@Lou I'm waiting... it's lunch time.

[Angel Oracle]

Harper is like one of those Magic Mountain roller coasters.   Up one year (1.000+ OPS), down the next (low .800s OPS)

Is that truly worth 10 years/$350 million??????????????

[Dick B Back]

2 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

Harper is like one of those Magic Mountain roller coasters.   Up one year (1.000+ OPS), down the next (low .800s OPS)

Is that truly worth 10 years/$350 million??????????????

He is to a team with a short rightfield porch.

[Angel Oracle]

Just now, Dick B Back said:

He is to a team with a short rightfield porch.

This is a solid point.    Still needs to address those up and down seasons though, although New Skankee Stadium's short RF porch can only help him.

[Stradling]

Well if it gets down to him wanting to sign a 1 year deal to improve his stock, put me in the Angels should sign him column.  I don't want him if his contract overlaps Trout, thus making it harder to sign Trout.  One year $30 million, sure.  

[Second Base]

5 minutes ago, Angel Oracle said:

Harper is like one of those Magic Mountain roller coasters.   Up one year (1.000+ OPS), down the next (low .800s OPS)

Is that truly worth 10 years/$350 million??????????????

Harper will likely be worth whatever he gets paid.  I mean just scratch his 19 and 20 year old seasons off because he was just getting his feet wet and learning the ropes.  From age 21 on, we see who he is as a player. 

21 - He was hurt, so the numbers were muted.  We still hadn't seen who he truly is. 

22 - He's healthy and absolutely erupts.  Easily an MVP season. 

23 - Just a down year by his standards, and still an all-star. 

24 - Another injured season, but before getting hurt, he was well on his way to yet another MVP season. 

25 - Bryce is in a weird spot.  For the first time in his career, he has no protection.  Murphy and Rendon are either hurt or ineffective, so pitchers are throwing him a lot of balls.  Bryce is feeling the pressure to perform to carry his team, but also is cognizant that this is a free agent year.  So he's expanding, chasing a lot of pitches he otherwise would never swing at.  IF he would just sit back and act like a statue he'd challenge Trout for the most walks in MLB.  But I think it's pride too.  Harper's an impatient dude and wants to be known and be paid as the best ever, so he's forcing the issue. 

Bryce needs to be in the right spot to succeed really.  He needs to be in a lineup that offers a ton of protection, but also emotionally needs to be coddled to as the undisputed star.  He also needs to be in a large market so that he can be paid accordingly,  There aren't a lot of teams that can offer that. 

Angels - No.  He's be compared to Trout and that would wreck him psychologically when he fails to measure up.  Plus Shohei would get more attention than him. 

Astros - Maybe.  He'd be the star and they have the money, but the Astros may prefer to hold onto their money and instead re-up all the young stars that are destined for FA. 

Yankees - Definitely a fit, but do they have an opening?

Boston - No openings, but he fits. 

Washington - A great fit.  There's an opening, a need, and they can afford him. 

Philadelphia - A great fit. They're on the up and up and his numbers would jump up in that HR happy park.  They have more money to spend than pretty much anyone. 

Dodgers - Perfect Fit.  It's near his home in LV, he gets to go Hollywood, play for a storied franchise, get paid insane amounts of money and would be the undisputed star. 

 

- My guess is Harper will be a Dodger. 

[Angel Oracle]

Especially with the money cleared from the Dogs payroll over the past few seasons 

[red321]

5 minutes ago, Scotty@AW said:

Harper will likely be worth whatever he gets paid.  I mean just scratch his 19 and 20 year old seasons off because he was just getting his feet wet and learning the ropes.  From age 21 on, we see who he is as a player. 

21 - He was hurt, so the numbers were muted.  We still hadn't seen who he truly is. 

22 - He's healthy and absolutely erupts.  Easily an MVP season. 

23 - Just a down year by his standards, and still an all-star. 

24 - Another injured season, but before getting hurt, he was well on his way to yet another MVP season. 

25 - Bryce is in a weird spot.  For the first time in his career, he has no protection.  Murphy and Rendon are either hurt or ineffective, so pitchers are throwing him a lot of balls.  Bryce is feeling the pressure to perform to carry his team, but also is cognizant that this is a free agent year.  So he's expanding, chasing a lot of pitches he otherwise would never swing at.  IF he would just sit back and act like a statue he'd challenge Trout for the most walks in MLB.  But I think it's pride too.  Harper's an impatient dude and wants to be known and be paid as the best ever, so he's forcing the issue. 

Bryce needs to be in the right spot to succeed really.  He needs to be in a lineup that offers a ton of protection, but also emotionally needs to be coddled to as the undisputed star.  He also needs to be in a large market so that he can be paid accordingly,  There aren't a lot of teams that can offer that. 

Angels - No.  He's be compared to Trout and that would wreck him psychologically when he fails to measure up.  Plus Shohei would get more attention than him. 

Astros - Maybe.  He'd be the star and they have the money, but the Astros may prefer to hold onto their money and instead re-up all the young stars that are destined for FA. 

Yankees - Definitely a fit, but do they have an opening?

Boston - No openings, but he fits. 

Washington - A great fit.  There's an opening, a need, and they can afford him. 

Philadelphia - A great fit. They're on the up and up and his numbers would jump up in that HR happy park.  They have more money to spend than pretty much anyone. 

Dodgers - Perfect Fit.  It's near his home in LV, he gets to go Hollywood, play for a storied franchise, get paid insane amounts of money and would be the undisputed star. 

 

- My guess is Harper will be a Dodger. 

Philadelphia or Dodgers. Astros wouldn't need him over the core group they have. Would love to see Philadelphia break the bank for him.

[Second Base]

1 minute ago, red321 said:

Philadelphia or Dodgers. Astros wouldn't need him over the core group they have. Would love to see Philadelphia break the bank for him.

I really think it's a three team race between the Nats, Dodgers and Phillies.  

The Nats have an advantage in that he's familiar, they can pay him (to an extent), he's the star and they have the talent surrounding him to make them contenders for a long time.  But a disadvantage, they have an aging roster, and after spending all that money to keep Harper, they may not have the necessary funds to surround him with more bats unless they're homegrown, and the pitching will need to be supplemented at some point. 

The Dodgers advantage is simple.  It's as close to home as he can get, it's a storied franchise where he can really make a name for himself.  They're in a position to win immediately.  They have the money to sign him, they have an opening and he'd be the clear cut star and face of the franchise.  Small disadvantage is his numbers would decrease playing in a series of pitcher friendly parks like Dodger Stadium, Petco Park and At&T Park.  He may worry about that because it could play a role in his legacy. 

The Phillies are a young team that figures to be very good in a couple years.  They have a ton of money to spend and would love to have Harper lead them.  Another storied franchise, and his numbers would inflate there.  The Phils would also spend to surround him with talent.  That's a great fit too.  A disadvantage, they probably aren't a winner immediately and the farm system doesn't look like it's produce stars as much as decent role players.  So they may end up spending a lot to stay competitive, which could make their competitive window smaller. 

[T.G.]

15 minutes ago, Scotty@AW said:

 My guess is Harper will be a Dodger. 

I think that's likely too...  The whole Trout vs. Harper thing will explode.  Of course it will explode in the face of those in the Harper camp... but it will blow up.