Phillies news and rumors 6/16: Bryce Harper discusses possibility of playing for Las Vegas

Bryce Harper is a Las Vegas native. (Dustin Bradford/Icon Sportswire)

The Philadelphia Phillies will travel to Oakland for a three-game series this weekend, perhaps the final time they’ll face the Athletics in the Bay Area. The next time the Phillies play a road game against the A’s, it may come in Bryce Harper’s home town of Las Vegas.

Thanks to the Nevada legislature and Gov. Joe Lombardo, the A’s moved significantly closer to being able to relocate to Las Vegas this week. In theory, the A’s could remain in Oakland for the 2024 season before relocating, given that they currently have a lease to play at the Coliseum for one more season.

But while key officials — including mayor Sheng Thao — continue to insist that Oakland has made a real effort to build a new ballpark, if MLB owners do approve a move to Las Vegas, who would benefit from a lame-duck year in Oakland in 2024? Even if officials in Oakland believe MLB has worked backwards from their conclusion to justify a move to Las Vegas, if it’s just a matter of when the team moves, all parties involved may be inclined to reach an agreement to allow the A’s to move next season.

Harper is the most notable current MLB player connected to Las Vegas, as the two-time NL MVP attended Las Vegas High School and played JUCO baseball at the College of Southern Nevada in 2010. Harper spoke extensively and openly to Matt Gelb of The Athletic earlier this week about the possibility of the A’s moving to his home town, a conversation that’s well worth your time.

Without spoiling the whole piece, one note stuck out, as Harper squashed the idea that a team in Las Vegas would mean he would have a burning desire to play for his hometown team.

“If I ever play there, then something really bad happened here,” Harper said to Gelb. “I hope I die in a Phillies jersey.”

Of course, Harper signed a 13-year/$330 million deal with the Phillies prior to the 2019 season, a pact that will take him through his age-38 season. 2031, the final season of the contract, will be Harper’s 20th MLB season. But if his body allows him, Harper said in Spring Training that he hopes to play ‘well into’ his 40s.

The natural conclusion then, is that Harper hopes to play more than 13 seasons with the Phillies. It would be a Barry Bonds-esque career route. Bonds spent the first seven years of his career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, before joining the San Francisco Giants in free agency ahead of the 1993 season and ultimately spending 15 years with the team.

It would be interesting to know where both sides stand on the possibility of extending Harper’s current contract. Harper chose not to seek an opt-out clause in his contract, which prevented him from holding the Phillies over a barrel half a decade into the contract like Manny Machado did with the San Diego Padres.

But based off of his popularity and the fact that he has won both an NL MVP and NLCS MVP as a Phillie, you do wonder if ownership would be willing to tack on a few years to Harper’s deal if he and agent Scott Boras pushed for it. After all, it was managing partner John Middleton who joked that he may have underpaid Harper after he hit one of the greatest home runs in franchise history last October:

Would it be a wise baseball move for the Phillies to add onto the eight years that Harper, 30, has remaining on his deal after the 2023 season? Realistically, probably not. Maybe Harper will remain an elite player into his 40s, but the declines that superstars like Albert Pujols, Miguel Cabrera and Robinson Canó experienced as they reached their mid-to-late 30s are a reminder of how quickly things can go south for Hall of Fame-caliber players.

With that said, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski gave Cabrera an eight-year/$248 million deal in March of 2014 — despite the two-time AL MVP still having two current years remaining on his contract — when he still was leading the front office of the Detroit Tigers.

That deal — which Cabrera is currently playing on the final guaranteed year of — seemingly came because the late Mike Illitch, Detroit’s owner, wanted it done. It assured Cabrera would finish his career in Detroit, with guarantees running through his age-40 season. If Harper’s representation asked Middleton to add a few years onto his deal to at least take him through his early-40s, would ownership be inclined to assure the seven-time All-Star finishes his career as a Phillie even if there are some lean years?

It’s an interesting discussion. History tells us such a deal wouldn’t age well. But it would help prevent something “really bad” from happening, like Harper finishing his career in a Las Vegas uniform, as opposed to red pinstripes.

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