St. Louis Cardinals: What is the right price for Bryce Harper?

While he believes that the St. Louis Cardinals should go as in as they need to for Harper’s signature, Trevor Hooth has a gut feeling that the Cardinals won’t be emerging the winners of the Harper sweepstakes. And he’s OK with that.

Ideal Contract: 10 years $350M with various opt outs

Most I would pay: Pay what it takes.

Look, Bryce Harper can change the face of the St. Louis Cardinals and only make them better. I am not ignorant to that fact at all. I am not even worrying about overpaying. The fact remains that I have yet to be convinced that there is a chance of this happening.

Call me a pessimist if you want, but my numbers above could just as easily read 700 million dollars and I still would not be invested in the idea it is possible. Okay, for that much it is. But you get the point. It might take a crazy contract to secure his services.

My fellow writers will have great numbers and statistics to throw at you, so please read them carefully. I am going a different route. Keep in mind, that if Harper is a true possibility, I would be ecstatic by the signing. He is a true game changer in that lineup.

This is a fantastic time to sign the superstar that this team is missing. If it does not happen, we turn to the ever powerful Tyler O’Neill to provide that spark in the coming years.

That is right, I’m one of those people. I’m bought in to O’Neill mania.

His strikeout rate was scary, but he is a safe bet to not strikeout 40 percent of the time his entire career, considering he consistently posted 20 percent in the minors. O’Neill also showed flashes of his power, and his ability to tap into that power in clutch situations. No one can forget when he took his shirt off after the walkoff.

Marcell Ozuna will be hitting the free agent market after 2019. So there will be a full time spot for O’Neill soon enough, even if Harper signs with the St. Louis Cardinals. I cannot wait for a full time outfield with Harrison Bader and O’Neill.

So yes, pay what it takes. Harper is young enough with some scary good numbers to prove he could be worth it. Take the jump. I just could not write this without thinking of how to plan for the ever likely scenario that Bryce Harper will sign the dotted line elsewhere.