Phillies' Pitcher Thinks Philadelphia Will Sign Bryce Harper Or Manny Machado

The prevailing thought around baseball seems to be that the Philadelphia Phillies will sign either Bryce Harper or Manny Machado for the 2019 MLB season. That belief appears to include at least one member of the team.

Starting pitcher Aaron Nola said Tuesday that he thinks one of the two free agents will end up in Philadelphia, via Tom Moore of The Bucks County Courier Times.

Nola was Philadelphia’s best starter in the 2018 season, going 17-6 with a 2.37 ERA and 224 strikeouts in 212.1 innings. He finished third in the NL Cy Young voting and placed 13th in the NL MVP race.

If Machado or Harper joins the Phillies, Nola could very well lead the league in wins. He was one victory out of the NL lead a year ago, even though Philadelphia ranked just 11th out of 15 NL teams in runs scored.

Philadelphia is coming off their best season in seven years, but they still finished below .500 with an 80-82 record. The Phillies have added reliever David Robertson and outfielder Andrew McCutchen in free agency. They also traded for All-Star shortstop Jean Segura.

Having met with both Harper and Machado, Philadelphia has made it clear that they plan to offer a lucrative contract to one of the free agents. It had been thought that the team preferred Machado, but the organization might be leaning toward the outfielder, if recent reports are true.

Nola will go to arbitration next month to determine his 2019 salary. He asked for $6.75 million, while Philadelphia offered him $4.5 million.