Lucky is the wrong word. But the crowded free agent market that Juan Soto is currently experiencing is a reminder of how lucky the Phillies were that most of the usual suspects were only halfway through or completely absent from Bryce Harper’s free agency after the 2018 season.

To be clear, Soto is a better free agent than Harper. Not only did he just lead the New York Yankees to a World Series appearance, but Soto won one in 2019 with the Washington Nationals. His contract year also surpasses Harper’s.

Harper 2018: .249/.393/.496, 34 home runs, 100 RBIs, 130 walks, .889 OPS, -13 defensive runs saved, 3.2 WAR

Soto 2024: .288/.419/.569, 41 home runs, 109 RBIs, 129 walks, .989 OPS, no defensive runs recorded, 8.1 WAR

Nonetheless, Harper was 26 when he hit the open market, just like Soto is today. After being selected No. 1 overall by the Nationals in the 2010 MLB Draft, Harper won NL Rookie of the Year in 2012 and NL MVP in 2015. He was already six All-Star time.

With that type of resume – even if Harper hadn’t yet had a consistent string of excellent seasons like he has since joining the Phillies – it’s kind of crazy how well he There was little market for him.

The Yankees – a year after trading for Giancarlo Stanton – weren’t much of a factor in Harper’s draft pick. Neither did the New York Mets, who had yet to be sold to Steve Cohen. The Boston Red Sox did not play. Neither did the Chicago Cubs, although Harper talked about how much he loved the city.

How much competition did the Phillies have for Harper?

– The outgoing Nationals offered Harper a 10-year, $300 million contract, but the devil was in the details. Barry Svrluga The Washington Post reported that it “included $100 million in deferrals and paid Harper until age 60.” Harper later admitted that he “hurt” by the offer put forward by the Nats.

– The White Sox makes a pitchand Harper said he was intrigued by the Chi Sox. However, it’s fair to wonder if Harper would have trusted much-maligned owner Jerry Reinsdorf to consistently put a rival team around him.

– The Los Angeles Dodgers offered Harper a four-year contract worth $180 million that would have allowed him to return to the open market at age 30. by MLB Networkby Jon Morosi. However, we would later learn that Harper was not looking to return to free agency.

In Bryce Harper discussions, I am told #Dodgers were willing to offer a four-year contract worth around $45 million per season. This would have allowed Harper to break the AAV all-time record and become a free agent at age 30. @MLB @MLBNetwork

– Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) February 28, 2019

– In the first offseason under President of Baseball Operations Farhan Zaidi, the San Francisco Giants were seemingly the runners-up behind Harper, with Alex Pavlovic NBC Sports Bay Area report that the Giants offered him a 12-year contract for $310 million.

Compare that to what’s in front of Soto right now. The Yankees are all in. The Mets are all in. The Toronto Blue Jays – who apparently finished second to Shohei Ohtani last offseason – will at least make their pitch. The Red Sox had a “productive” meeting with Soto that lasted three hours on Thursday, according to Sean McAdam of Live mass.

The other difference between Harper’s free agency is that there’s no doubt that Soto is the best free agent available this offseason. There was a legitimate discussion to be had when Harper was a free agent, whether he or Manny Machado — also a 26-year-old on a Hall of Fame trajectory — would be the better investment. Had Machado not also been a free agent after 2018, it’s possible the San Diego Padres would have used the resources they did to sign the third baseman to a 10-year, $300 million contract and would have been more serious pursuers of Harper.

Keep in mind that while Harper talked about Philadelphia and its fans, it took him a while to warm up to the idea of ​​joining the Phillies. He loved being a bad guy at Citizens Bank Park. Harper told Jared Carrabis and Dallas Braden For Sports bar stool in a May 2020 interview.

“Philly came in. I’ll tell you, they came in and I wasn’t very excited. I was kind of like, ‘I played against you guys,’ and I told them this point blank: ‘We’ve kicked your ass the last two years.’ I flat out told them that.

“I remember leaving that meeting saying, ‘I don’t know. I think they have a lot of good players… I think they have a great team… I love their fans. I mean, walking into that stadium and knowing they hate me, I loved it. I really loved it. They were so blue collar that they wanted you to play hard and I know they respected the way I played because you could feel it. And they could see it…they could feel it…but they hated my guts. And I loved it. And then it was funny because in 2018 we went back and they loved me. They were like, “Harp, come to Philly, man!” Walk down Broad St., be our Nick Foles or whatever.

Would Harper have ended up winning against the Phillies if he had a market like the one Soto is experiencing now, where a bunch of other sports power brokers are at the table? It’s fair to wonder.

As perfect as Soto was with the Yankees last year, Harper always felt like someone who would have been able to make a smooth transition to donning pinstripes. Think about how many home runs he could have hit with the little porch in right field at Yankee Stadium.

Ultimately, it must be considered one of the most inexplicable things in modern baseball history that so many deep-pocketed clubs either only half-heartedly got involved with Harper and/or Machado or stayed away completely. the gap. Maybe Soto isn’t either, but both are headed to Cooperstown and were just 26 when they hit the open market.

So, were the Phillies fortunate not to see the same type of market emerge for Harper that currently appears to be developing for Soto? Yes. Hell, maybe they even got a little lucky.