January 28, 2019
On Monday morning, photos surfaced on Twitter of a pair of custom Bryce Harper Phillies bats and, naturally, Phillies fans jumped to the conclusion that it must mean the prize free agent outfielder is signing in Philadelphia.
— chris jones ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (@LONG_DRIVE) January 28, 2019
While Harper signing with the Phillies might happen, it appears those bats, made by Victus, were not an early indication of Harper's intent. At first, it was reported that the bats were being made by the King of Prussia based bat company just in case Harper decides to make Philadelphia's winter dreams come true.
So, from sources at Victus, the bats were made a week and a half ago and were not made as a special order.
— Jack Fritz (@JackFritzWIP) January 28, 2019
Were made just in case it happens.
Fritz later added that the bats were actually made as part of a package the Phillies were sending to Harper to help sway his free-agent decision.
Nope, they were made to send to Bryce and maybe help sway him.
— Jack Fritz (@JackFritzWIP) January 28, 2019
Based out of KOP so makes sense.
But weren't a special order. https://t.co/8yTfy6ZnzZ
And, interestingly enough, the Phillies clubhouse manager accidentally tweeted out confirmation of the gift package being sent to Harper by someone named Jake.
so Phil Sheridan, the home clubhouse manager for the Phillies, tweeted this last night and immediately deleted it. possibly was meant to be a DM? pic.twitter.com/4xjiIuZAfp
— chris jones ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (@LONG_DRIVE) January 28, 2019
Could that be Jake Arrietta — you know, so it doesn't look like the Phillies are trying to bribe Harper? I'm not sure what the rules are on sending gifts to free agents, but I imagine there are some...
As you can see, patience is wearing thin in Philadelphia and baseball fans in these parts are looking for any sort of confirmation that Harper, or fellow free agent Manny Machado, are going to sign with their team. And just like we do every day, we're going to keep you up to date with all the latest free agency news and rumors from around baseball as we wait for a decision to come down.
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