As reported yesterday, Bryce Harper turned down a ten-year contract offer worth $300 million from the Washington Nationals on the last day of the season.

That was most likely leaked by his agent Scott Boras to gin up his price now. That sets the starting point.

Borsa appeared on MLB Network Radio yesterday. In vintage Boras mode, he was selling his client Bryce Harper as the most talented player to come along in the the last thirty years of baseball. With a straight face.

I can think of at least ten young hitters roughly Harper’s age (26-years-old) playing right now whose production I would choose over Harper. They are, in no particular order:

Mike Trout (27 years old).
Mookie Betts (26).
Jose Ramirez (26).
Alex Bregman (24).
Manny Machado (26, I wouldn’t want the cancer on my team but he is a better talent)
Freddie Freeman (29).
Franciso Lindor (24).
Nolan Aranado (27).
Christian Yelich (26)
Jose Altuve (28).

Of course, only one of these players above is available, and that’s Machado. So, Harper would be the second-best talent on the market.

At this point it becomes an ego thing. For the agent it’s how much can I get for my client? For the player it’s how much can I break the record contract by?

For the team that signs him, it’s how many seasons until we are regretting this contract and trying to figure out how to dump him and how much of it we are going to have to eat?