Today, Scott Boras spoke to Jon Morosi of Fox Sports and covered the health of Bryce Harper and Stephen Strasburg. The encouraging news is that Boras’ comments might finally put to rest this fear we had of Bryce Harper having shoulder surgery in a clandestine location. Yes, too many cloak and dagger novels and Verducci tall tales to make it seem a possibility.
Bryce Harper is doing fine physically and is on track to begin normal offseason strength and conditioning soon, Scott Boras told me. @MLB
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) October 20, 2016
A similar tweet was written up on Stephen Strasburg by Morosi:
Stephen Strasburg expected to have a normal throwing schedule this offseason and be ready for spring training, Scott Boras said. @MLB
— Jon Morosi (@jonmorosi) October 20, 2016
Bryce Harper collected a lot of hardware last year including the NL MVP that he won in a landslide unanimous vote by the BBWAA. Shortly afterwards, rumors of $400 million long-term contracts circulated and were quickly replaced by machinations to devise much loftier half billion dollar deals as Harper made it clear he did not want limitations on his future and the skies were the limit. Bryce said in a radio interview, “But don’t sell me short” when it was suggested that a $400 million deal could be possible.
“We want Bryce to be here for a long, long time,” Mike Rizzo said in November of 2015. “He’s a guy I’ve seen play forever, it seems — since he was 14. He’s a guy we drafted, signed, developed, and he’s turned into an MVP-type player for us. We love the guy. We’ve got him locked in for the near future. We certainly would love for him to be a National for life. I think he likes being in D.C. He likes playing for the Nationals. He loves the city of D.C. I think that bodes well for us.”
Harper did not break the bank as no deal was done last off-season, and if anything, Harper left doubt on his future value as he struggled mightily in the 2nd half of 2016 as Harper slashed .226/.336/.373/.709 as rumors of a shoulder injury was floated not once by Sports Illustrated writer Tom Verducci, but twice. Each time, Mike Rizzo responded that Verducci’s reports were inaccurate.
https://twitter.com/SInow/status/764199683791126528
Now we look to the future, and we wonder which Bryce Harper we will see in 2017 and beyond. The skies the limit we hope for Bryce Harper!
