Dodgers Quick Hits: JT Realmuto, Free Agents, Bryce Harper

Boy is the water muddy with Bryce Harper. You have heard so much information from so many reporters and sources that you do not know where to look yet the answer, at least for Dodger fans, is right in front of you: this situation is far less promising than it ever was.

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Bryce Harper was assumed to be target number one for Los Angeles. His superstar bat in the middle of the order in a Dodger uniform was the dream but it was to come at a cost. Harper wants ten years and $300 million. He wants so much money that the Dodgers, a financially conservative team when it comes to total length and size of the contract, were forced to offer alternative solutions.

They wanted Harper on a shorter deal.

For a moment, that felt like it was working. The Dodgers made a huge trade to clear more space both positionally and financially but what followed was not a press conference with Harper putting on his new uniform. What followed was nothing.

The Dodgers have not made a move or made the headlines for Harper. The Phillies are meeting with him and the White Sox are too. The Nationals submitted an offer worth ‘much more than the $300 million they originally offered’ (The Athletic).

If that is the case, not only do the Dodgers have an extremely slim chance, you can more or less count them out. If Harper is in this for money, he is already an afterthought in the Dodgers’ front office. If he is looking to stay close to home, the Dodgers and the superstar may meet in the middle on a deal.