You're Phillies owner John Middleton, and life is good. Your team is already better than it was at the end of last season after adding the best catcher in baseball, J.T. Realmuto, and Andrew McCutchen, and David Robertson, and others. But the best addition might be on the horizon.
You have an offer out to slugger Bryce Harper, and you're feeling very good about where you stand. During a winter in which big-budget teams like the Red Sox and Cubs have held the line on spending, your Phillies have tremendous payroll flexibility and boatloads of cash. Some of it might be earmarked for the possibility of landing Mike Trout in a couple of years, but you want Harper now, and if you're John Middleton, you're probably thinking you've offered more money to Harper than anybody else -- maybe far more money. Only Scott Boras knows for sure.
But in spite of your offer, Harper and Boras are still taking meetings with other teams who don't seem positioned to offer anything close to what you offered. The Dodgers were the latest team to meet with the Harper camp, on Sunday night. You're waiting for Harper to say yes; instead, the courtship drags on.
You're Phillies owner John Middleton, and you know what you do next?
You call Boras and put an expiration date on your offer. Maybe Tuesday, maybe Wednesday, but no later than the end of the week. You need an answer because, well, enough is enough.
Only Bryce Harper knows for sure what he really wants, but the longer this drags out, the more the perception grows in the industry that he's not wild about the idea of playing in Philadelphia. As Trout said recently, if you play hard in Philly, they will love you, but for Harper, there would be a ton of pressure -- after accepting a record-setting contract, presumably, and after the laborious 2½-month process.
But if you're Phillies owner John Middleton, you might be starting to wonder whether the player you really want feels the same way about you.
If you're in Middleton's position and you believe you have the biggest financial offer on the table, there really isn't any reason to add more dollars to your proposal, because the choice for Harper might be fairly stark -- either he takes the most money from the Phillies, or he takes a lot fewer dollars on a short-term deal from a team like the Dodgers. For Harper, that might be a $200 million gamble if the Phillies are offering 10 years and the Dodgers are offering three or four.
And if you're Middleton, you're looking at the calendar. Players have already been in camp a week, exhibitions started up the other day. If Harper agrees to terms sometime this week, he'd be in camp by the weekend, and then might need a few days to get ramped up and into games. If it takes much longer, he might not play until the middle of the month, and Harper would be on an accelerated schedule.
In recent seasons, a whole lot of players who've signed late have struggled: Kendrys Morales, Stephen Drew, Greg Holland, etc., etc., etc. Some players in that situation will tell you they would've preferred the time to get comfortable, to get to know teammates, to establish some relationships and trust and credibility in the clubhouse. Harper, who will face enormous scrutiny no matter where he lands, could use that foundation.
He could use as much time as possible to give him the best possible chance for success in 2019 and beyond. And if you're John Middleton and you're willing to pay Harper $30 million to $35 million annually, you don't want to immediately have your investment depreciate. You don't want him falling behind, in preparation or performance -- and this is especially true for a player in one of the biggest and most intense sports markets.
So if you're John Middleton, you should dial up Boras and press him for an answer, and if there is none, you're setting a deadline. If Harper isn't prepared to take the offer after 2½ months of talking, then there's no point of leaving it on the table.
If you're John Middleton, you want the player, absolutely. And you're also prepared to move on if it doesn't become clear very quickly that he wants you.