Is giving 26-year-old Bryce Harper a 13-year, $330m contract a terrible idea?

The Philadelphia Phillies will be paying the slugger $22m when he’s 39. But it’s unlikely he will be the same player he is now in a decade’s time

For some, 13 is an unlucky number. For Bryce Harper, originally from Las Vegas, 13 is anything but unlucky. That’s because the Philadelphia Phillies will be paying the slugger – who has been an All-Star in six of his seven seasons in Major League Baseball – $330m over the next 13 years, the richest contract in the history of baseball. With a full no-trade clause and no opt-outs, Harper isn’t going anywhere – and the Phillies will still need to pay him $22m in the final year of his contract, when he’s 39 and far from his prime.

It’s not really surprising that the Phillies were the team to land the 26-year old Harper. In a move surely regretted in later negotiations, Phillies owner John Middleton clearly stated the team’s intent to acquire top level talent in the offseason, no matter the cost. “We’re going into this expecting to spend money,’’ Middleton told USA Today Sports in November, “and maybe even be a little bit stupid about it.”

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from US news | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2J6YzzR