MLB Rumors: Giants Step Up Bryce Harper Recruitment, Padres Want Manny Machado

The San Francisco Giants maybe late entrants into the Bryce Harper sweepstakes but have made it clear that they are serious contenders and are willing to battle other interested teams for the outfielder’s signature this offseason. Their method seems to include involving current players’ families to recruit the right-fielder and his wife Kayla Harper.

The Bay Area franchise met with Harper and his agent Scott Boras in the player’s hometown of Las Vegas at the end of January and were immediately installed as the favorites to sign the right-fielder for a short while.

It was claimed that the Giants were preparing a lucrative short-term offer somewhere in the region of $30 million per season for Harper, but have since been pegged back after it was revealed that the player will not consider short-term deals.

Harper, a six-time All-Star, seems very patient and is waiting for the right deal something that is close to his demands which is a long-term offer north of $300 million or probably even closer to the $400 million mark. The Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Nationals, Chicago White Sox and the San Diego Padres are the other teams in the race, but it is unlikely that there is an offer of that magnitude already on the table.

The only known offer which Harper turned down was the $300 million, over 10 years offer from the Nationals before he entered free agency in 2018. At the moment the Harper saga seems nowhere close to coming to a conclusion with reports indicating he is likely to wait until March before making a decision on his next destination.

And despite the lack of interest in short-term deals, the Giants are not giving up their pursuit and have now begun using players and their family to help in recruiting the Harpers to San Francisco. Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford’s wife Jalynne asked Harper’s wife Kayla to “hurry to SF” with the 2015 MVP while commenting on one of the latter’s Instagram posts, as shown on NBC Sports Bay Area.

The Phillies continue to remain the favorites in the Harper race owing to their financial capabilities, but one of the reasons for Harper looking toward San Francisco as well is because of the proximity to his family in Las Vegas.

Meanwhile, the Manny Machado saga, while not as interesting as Harper’s is also slowly but surely gathering pace. There was a period of inactivity in the chase for the shortstop as the player also continues to wait for a deal similar to the one Harper is demanding.

The White Sox have been installed as the favorites to sign Machado, but the Yankees are still in the running while the Padres are the latest entrants into the race. The latter is said to be making an aggressive push to land the infielder with MLB.com confirming the San Diego Tribune report about them meeting Machado for the second time in 2019.

The Padres management and Machado are said to have met in Miami last week, but it remains unclear if a concrete offer was made to the shortstop. But their level of interest remains very high and it is believed that their offer could trump any other on the table with the team said to be willing to surpass their franchise record, which is the $144 million contract signed by Eric Hosmer last summer.