Phillies Daily Links, 3/1/19, Bryce Harper Edition

March is here and YES!, #HarperWatch is over and he is in fact a Phillie. Games have also started and the Phils look quite good – and that’s without trotting out their big rotation pieces. All is right in Phillies-world and everyone is anxiously anticipating the start of the regular season!

Here at The Good Phight:

Continuing and updating the 2019 Phillies preview, Ethan Witte has a post on what the new Harper-inclusive line up looks like. It’s essentially the same just with this huge upgrade from what would have been Nick Williams, Aaron Altherr or Roman Quinn. r

Continuing with the Harper news (because really, isn’t that all anyone wants?) is an incredibly thought-provoking piece on the social media history of #HarperWatch. It really is quit eeye-opening to see how these really respected baseball writers were apparently just guessing. In the age of Twitter, being everything comes second to Follows, and that’s very sad.

Finally there’s the recap of the announcement that yes, Bryce Harper and The Philadelphia Phillies have agreed to terms (does that not make you feel as warm as a fresh-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookie? Mmmmm, delicious).

It should also be noted that TheGoodPhight has for sale some really awesome looking Bryce Harper as a Phillie merchandise that you can find here.

Other Phillies News

No big surprises here, it’s ALL Harper-to-Phillies related. Among the highlights:

Phillies owner John Middleton has been extremely misaligned and the recipient of some very harsh treatment by Phillies fans and the media who cover the team over what was wrongly perceived as an attitude of placing money over winning. However, as ESPN reports, his commitment to signing Harper was unassailable.

The effects of a reported Bryce Harper acquisition are palpable as Philadelphia Business Journal reports. Apparently, according to John Webber, the Phillies senior vice president for ticket operations, the phones will not stop ringing and they’ve had to extend hours to accommodate demand.

And just to spice things up a bit, MLBTradeRumors has some notes on Phillies injury news, including Cesar Hernandez and Roman Quinn; and NBCSportsPhiladelphia details how the team will roll out it’s starting rotation for the first time this spring.

MLB Esoterica

MLB.com looks at the remaining top tier free agents and examines what’s next for them now that Harper has fallen off the board.

They also take a good look at the next class of rising stars to possibly hit free agency and discuss how the next 5 years of free agency look.

And finally BaseballAmerica.com covers the news on the divisive issue of robot umps and how the independent Atlantic League will begin usage of said robots. Personally, I like it; just because “mistakes have always been part of the game” doesn’t mean they always have to be – if there’s a better way to get it right more often aren’t you obligated to explore it?

See you tomorrow!