Dodgers: LA Fans Give Thoughts on Not Offering Bigger Contract to Bryce Harper
The Philadelphia Phillies are heading to the World Series as they knocked out the Dodgers division rivals, the San Diego Padres, four games to one.
Phillies star Bryce Harper carried the Phillies to their first World Series appearance and 8th NL pennant since 2009.
Harper earned NLCS MVP honors after slashing .400/.400/.850 with a 1.250 OPS, two home runs, 5 RBIs, eight total hits, and only one strikeout.
The 30-year-old was a man on a mission and now only needs four more wins to cement his Hall of Fame career.
After the Phillies clinched, our Twitter account posed a question to Dodger fans: “Did Andrew Friedman and the Dodgers make a big mistake by not offering Bryce Harper the contract he wanted in 2018?”
And it was closer than people anticipated.
Did Andrew Friedman and the Dodgers make a big mistake by not offering Bryce Harper the contract he wanted in 2018?
— Dodgers Nation (@DodgersNation) October 23, 2022
On top of that, many people were in the comments with the reasoning behind their answers.
Yes and it’s not close.
What he brings is more than the stats. He brings the emotion you need to win in the playoffs.
The Dodgers have none of that.
— Greg Ortega (@GregOrtega3399) October 23, 2022
HELL YES WE STILL COULDVE GOT MOOKIE
— Trayce Heyward SZN 2023 | TRADE FOR BRYAN REYNOLDS (@TrayceGalloSzn) October 23, 2022
Not at all. You can’t predict the postseason. This happens. Let it go.
— Hector Aguilar Jr (@JrAgui25) October 23, 2022
The Dodgers offered Harper a contract in the 2018 off-season with fewer years but with higher AAV (average annual value) and opt-outs; however, Bryce didn’t want a contract with any opt-outs. He wanted to let the fan base and organization know he was in it for the long haul, through all the good and bad.
He speaks more on his reasoning below at the 13:15 minute mark.
At the end of it, that money went to Mookie Betts, and I don’t think the Dodgers and Andrew Friedman should regret the decision one bit.
Recency bias is going to have people want to trade the whole farm and then some for Harper, but overall, LA made the right decision and will continue to make the right decisions.
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NEXT: Mookie Betts “Barely Showed Up This Season”says LA Times Columnist
I’m afraid that it wouldn’t have mattered if Harper was a Dodger or not. The reason the Dodgers bowed out early in this years playoffs wasn’t because of a lack of talent it was because of the very poor management guiding the team in the playoffs. So long as Dave Roberts is the Dodger manager this team will unlikely ever win a World Series. He just does not make good decisions.
Harper’s attitude and being a client of Scott Boras would have never landed him with the Dodgers.
He said a couple of dumb things when he was 19 and 20. I know I did and you probably did as well. But nobody was interested on running our video clips or quoting us in the papers. People can’t say enough good about him in Philly now after the last few years, he is like Justin Turner there. He’ll start recruiting Trea in a couple of weeks and Trea used to destroy the Phillies
And they used to be teammates in DC. I hate to say this because I love Trea, but if he really does prefer the east coast, then let him go to the Phillies. We have Lux who can move over to SS.
i think the Dodgers want a bomber and will only make a half hearted effor and go cheap. Lux will be fine at SS his replacement at second won’t be.
I agree with you. Lux is a natural SS.
Seriously get over it and stop making excuses on who we signed and who we didn’t sign…lol Talk talk talk talk. Baseball is about peaks and valleys!!! We were on a down swing going into the playoffs. The Phillies are one of the hottest teams in baseball right now!! Where were they during the year 3rd in NL East. Slumps are part of the game every player has them. Mookie was one of our stars all year long…lol Quit making excuses. Betts is just as good as Harper if not better. Where was Harper a year or 2 ago? There are many factors to why we lost. First of all it’s baseball the planets have to align in momentum and pitching period!! We were not hot going into the series with SD. We lost 4 games to the Rockies. We had 5 days off before starting our series. We had no identity in our bullpen. We did not have Buhler, and Dustin May. And probably one the most significant things that I have been saying for years. Is far too much analytics used by the chumps upstairs in there hitting philosophy in the postseason!! You cannot hit the ball out of the ballpark at every at bat and sacrifice at bats, and strikeouts in the postseason. The pitching is that much better in the postseason. You have to play small-ball and situationally hit period especially if you are struggling to score runs, and leaving runners stranded on base. HR’s come from basic hitting techniques. IE…bunting, and level contact hitting. That is the way you manufacture runs. Not the other way around!! If you want to blame someone blame the idiots upstairs because unless you pump the breaks in the postseason with analytics and change your approach and have a more balanced philosophy to hitting this is going to be a disappointing trend!! It’s not a blame game. When your hot your hot and when your not your not period. And as I said too much analytics with hitting in the postseason!!
100 percent right Preston. It’s the nest thing I have heard which is something I have been preaching since 2017. Analytics in postseason won’t work. To add to this though, Not letting your pitchers go at least 1 more inning and testing them like Barbie only 5 innings cuz the 3rd time around the lineup says they will rock the pitchers. When a pitcher is going great you ride him. It’s the postseason. Every loss here gets you closer to elimination. There is no tomorrow. Just like everyone saying the Astros cheated with the sign stealing, they still won 2 games at Dodgers Stadium. Sorry but poor management coaching decisions lost that series. Pulling rich hill in the middle of the 5th Game with like 60 plus pitches. He was dealing and filthy that day and then did it again in Game 6. Just means more use of the bullpen and more looks. So unless they go away from this method this always be the same 95 to 100 plus wins a yr great season but early exit in the postseason. Doesn’t matter who we sign and or trade for.