Courting Harper is likely to require the backing of at least $300M, eliminating some teams from the marketgetty images
Officials from the Dodgers, White Sox, Phillies and Yankees are "among upward of a dozen teams that have traveled or plan to travel to Nevada" to meet with free agent RF Bryce Harper, according to sources cited by Brown & Passan of YAHOO SPORTS. Some teams have met Harper at his Las Vegas home, while others already are "set for a site away from MLB’s winter meetings, which start Sunday at the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas." The Cubs and Padres are "expected to check in," while the Nationals almost "certainly will circle back." Harper’s affection for the Astros is "well-known," as is the Cardinals’ for him. Because the "courtship of Harper is likely to require the backing of at least a third of a billion dollars, the market won’t extend to all 30 teams." Sources said that the White Sox "enlisted the help" of Baseball HOFer Jim Thome during their visit to Las Vegas. The Yankees are a "wild card." Harper "grew up a Yankees fan, always dreaming of playing in pinstripes, and no matter their ultimate interest, meeting with him was, at very least, an exercise in due diligence for a New York team playing extra coy with Harper’s actual appeal" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 12/4).
