MLB Bullets would rather be in Philadelphia

For $330 million, even W.C. Fields would move to Philadelphia.

• The Phillies and free agent Bryce Harper have reached agreement on a 13-year, $330 million deal. Harper gets a no-trade clause but no opt-outs, reportedly because Harper didn’t want one.
• Tim Brown has the inside story of how Harper decided on the Phillies.
• Todd Zolecki has what you need to know about the deal.
• Phillies fans are very happy.
• Phillies manager Gabe Kapler found out about the signing from fans with smartphones sitting behind the Phillies dugout during a Spring Training game.
• We have our cover art for the video game MLB: The Show 19.
• Jesse Yomtov outlines why the Phillies were the best destination for Harper.
• Anthony Castrovince explains how Harper fits into the Phillies plans and how Philadelphia’s patience paid off.
• Gabe Lacques has winners and losers from Harper’s decision.
• R.J. Anderson has winners and losers from Harper’s decision.
• ESPN.com’s baseball staff discusses the winners and losers from Harper’s decision. What is this? The winter meetings?
• But at what cost? At $330 million, Craig Calcaterra writes that the Phillies got a bargain.
• Chris Cwik thinks the Phillies got a bargain in this deal.
• Michael Baumann argues that the “stupid money” that the Phillies are giving Harper is really smart. Baumann does expressly refuse to call it a “bargain” however and does admit that the Phillies are taking on some risk.
• Craig Edwards outlines what the Phillies can expect out of Harper and calls the deal “reasonable.”
• Matt Kelly projects the best and worst possible outcomes for Harper.
• Mike Axisa notes that the National League adopting the designated hitter would help the value of Harper’s contract in the years ahead.
• Eric Stephen writes that signing Harper was the final piece of the Phillies successful offseason.
• Bill Baer is a bit more negative on the Phillies, but he does say that signing Harper “salvages” their winter.
• Emma Baccellieri estimates how much better Harper makes the Phillies.
• Ben Lindbergh looks at where the Phillies signing Harper leaves the NL East race. Pretty darn fun, according to Lindbergh.
• Zach Kram has the ripple effects of Harper’s decision to sign with the Phillies.
• Eddie Matz explains why the Nationals will be just fine without Harper.
• The Giants reportedly made a ten-year, $310 million offer to Harper, but apparently California’s taxes lowered the value of that deal considerably. The current quality of the Giants also probably lowered the value of that deal considerably.
• The White Sox are upset that people are calling them too cheap to land one of the two big free agents. So what do you call a team that has never given out a contract of over $68 million and has a payroll in the bottom five of MLB, despite being in the third-largest market in the US?
• Craig Calcaterra notes that the Braves have released their financial statements for 2018 as a publicly-traded company and they made $94 million in profit. So why are they spending it on real estate and not players? Basically, they’re as cheap as the White Sox—or whatever the White Sox are.
• Harper got more guaranteed money than anyone else in history, but his per-season contract is less than what Nolan Arenado got from the Rockies earlier this week. Arenado said he decided to re-sign with the Rockies because his “heart was here” in Colorado. He was born in the winter of his 27th year, coming home to a place he’d never been before . . .Rocky Mountain high (Colorado)
• Jayson Stark talks to those who knew the late Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez about what never happened—his free agency this winter. (The Athletic sub. req.) Mostly, they all talk about how much they loved Fernandez and how great he would be right now had he lived.
• David Adler looks at what you can expect in the next five offseason free agent classes.
• The Blue Jays have signed free agent pitcher Clay Buchholz.
• Last time we talked about the independent Atlantic League being used by MLB as a test laboratory for rules changes. The players of the Atlantic League are not happy about this. If the mound gets moved back, then they’re not playing under the same conditions as organized baseball, which is where every one of them wants to be.
• JJ Cooper talks to Kyle Boddy of Driveline Baseline about what would happen if the distance of the mound is moved back. Boddy is not convinced that moving back the mound would help hitters. He says that while hitters would have an easier time with fastballs, breaking pitches would have more time to move.
• Switch-pitcher Pat Venditte is all in favor of pitchers having to face at least three batters.
• Sheryl Ring explains why the city of Long Beach might want to lure the Angels into moving there. It all has to do with the 2028 Olympics.
• Tim Brown profiles Bruce Meyer, the man who is now the lead negotiator for the MLB Players Association. This is the man who will be doing all the dealing when the new collective bargaining agreement comes around. Or during the upcoming strike.
• Do you want a job in baseball? The Nationals are hiring someone to drive the new bullpen cart and Eddie Matz has a look at the some of the candidates.
• In what can only be categorized under “That so Met,” Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo got sick from eating undercooked chicken that he prepared himself. They’re planning on giving him cooking lessons. I think someone is a natural for the next season of Worst Cooks in America.
• Retired outfielder Kenny Lofton is upset that he got dropped off the Hall of Fame ballot after one election. He blames the PED users. I don’t know why he got so few votes, but he certainly has the qualifications to get inducted.
• Jon Lott explains why the Blue Jays are making taking outdoor batting practice optional. (The Athletic sub. req.) No one thinks it does any good, but some players like it because they like putting on shows or they like chatting around the batting cage, so they’re letting those who still want to continue.
• David Schoenfield has one player from each MLB team that he thinks we should be talking more about in 2019.
• Red Sox High-A affiliate the Salem Red Sox will have the first all-female broadcast team in baseball history.
• Brewers pitcher Brent Suter is on a campaign to rid the team’s clubhouse of plastic waste. He’s arranged for every player to get a reusable water bottle instead of disposable plastic bottles.
• And finally, it’s Spring Training so this is neat instead of an outrage. Twins outfielder LaMonte Wade went into the stands to catch a foul ball that bounced off the floor and into his glove for what the umpire called an out. To Wade’s credit, it doesn’t look like he ever claimed that he made the catch. He just didn’t want to argue with the umpire who said he did.

And tomorrow will be a better day than today, Buster.