The Philadelphia Phillies just signed Bryce Harper for $330 million. However, the Philliles will have to pay him for 13 years w/ absolutely NO-OPT OUT! There is a lot that can happen over the course of 13 years. Is it worth it?
Harper will be 39 years old when his contract ends. Here is a list of players over the age of 36 who are active MLB players.
There will be 32 players over the age of 36 this season.
16 of those 32 players are position players. Meaning the other half of the MLBers over 36 years old are pitchers.
Only 3 of those 16 were All-Stars in 2018 (Shin -Soo Choo, Nelson Cruz, Yadier Molina) However, Choo had a DUI a few years back, Cruz has been busted for PEDs, and Yadier got hit in the nuts so hard last year he had to sit out 40% of the season.
4 others of the 16 are good players and have a career WAR over 45 (Cano, Kinsler, Zobrist, Granderson) However, most believe Kinsler and Granderson are cooked, Cano has been busted for steroids, and Zobrist is not going to Cooperstown.
2 playing-hall-of-famers of those 16 who are absolute class acts who have avoided catastrohpic injury. (Ichiro, Pujols) Ichiro is doing his thing at the age of 45! Pujols is 39, the age Harper will be at the end of his contract. Pujols slipped into the abyss known as the LA Angels. Who knows what his popularity would be if he were to stay in St. Louis. Who knows where the Cardinals franchise would be if they had paid him. Niether has won the World Series since they parted ways.
Hopefully this Harper/Phillies deal will work out where a playing-hall-of-famer actually wins multiple titles. It is rare, but at least the Phils are rolling the dice.