The Phillies wrap up a series against the Cubs Sunday night, and there was once a chance that Philadelphia’s biggest star would be in the opposite dugout at Wrigley Field.
Bryce Harper signed a 13-year, $330 million contract with the Phillies ahead of the 2019 season, but he recently revealed that the Cubs were his top choice at one point.
“Going into that offseason, they were the No. 1 team on my list,” Harper told The Athletic’s Patrick Mooney. “Without a doubt.”
It’s an interesting exercise to consider how that offseason may have changed the future of both teams. Had the Cubs gone after Harper, who had six All-Star appearances at the time and won 2015 NL MVP with the Washington Nationals, they could have extended their championship window.
Chicago was coming off a loss to the Rockies in the 2018 Wild Card game. They regressed to 84 losses in 2019, their fewest since the 2014 season, which led to manager Joe Maddon’s firing. Team president Theo Epstein walked away after the 2020 season, and his replacement, Jed Hoyer, dealt away key members of the 2016 World Series team – Kris Bryant, Anthony Rizzo and Javier Báez – at the 2021 trade deadline.
Would Harper’s presence have been enough to avoid rebuilding seasons in 2021 and 2022, when the Cubs went below .500? It’s a somewhat realistic alternate reality that could have significantly changed the last six Cubs seasons, which include zero playoff wins. But the Cubs never engaged with Harper, Mooney wrote.
Along with the high cost of acquiring Harper, the Cubs also had Jason Heyward under contract for $23 million per season through 2023. Both played right field at the time, though Harper was mostly a designated hitter in 2022 and 2023 before becoming a full-time first baseman in 2024.
If the Cubs signed Harper to that same 13-year contract back in 2019, it also may have changed where things stand with Chicago’s current roster. Would Hoyer have traded for MVP candidate right fielder Kyle Tucker, or the young and talented first baseman Michael Busch? What moves would he have made instead, if one of those positions was filled by Harper?
We’ll never know the answer to some of those questions. But if one thing’s for certain, Harper wanted to play for the Cubs, and the MLB landscape would look much different today if things played out that way.