St. Louis Cardinals: Which team should fans want Harper to sign with?

As has been known for a while, the St. Louis Cardinals are 99.99% not going to sign Bryce Harper. Accepting this, where should fans root for him to sign?

This is all dragging on too long. The St. Louis Cardinals‘ fan base is frustrated with the team for not being involved more with the bidding for superstar Bryce Harper. Whether or not this decision is smart or not is something that will be decided in the coming years, but it would seem that 8-10 year deals don’t normally turn out well (Albert Pujols, Jason Heyward). It’s just so hard to see all the usual big spending teams out on such a good player just sitting out there in the open market.

Harper would be a paradigm-shifting force in the St. Louis Cardinals’ lineup, but I personally trust Mo and understand why a deal of the magnitude and duration that Harper is likely to sign is worrisome and has kept Mo at bay. That may be a naive thought, but for a team that has added Paul Goldschmidt and Andrew Miller this offseason it’s understandable that the Cardinals didn’t have to go after Harper.

So if Harper isn’t coming to St. Louis, who should fans be rooting for him to sign with? The immediate reaction in thinking about this question is to pout and complain that nobody should get him if the Cardinals don’t, but he has to go somewhere. This question seems a little odd though, and I think it’s something fans don’t often put too much thought into.

The perfect world would for Harper to sign with an American League team. The Cardinals then would have very little chance to play against him more than three times every couple years, but as of recent reports, the leading teams for Harper are pretty clear cut.

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Despite some conflicting reports, it seems that both the Yankees and the Dodgers are out on Harper, the Cubs never had a chance and the White Sox are more focused on Manny Machado. Stopping right there, think about how many times the Yankees, Dodgers and Cubs went and got the big free agents over the Cardinals. Why aren’t the Cardinals in on Harper?!

Bottling up that frustration again, the clear-cut favorites for Harper are either the Phillies or the Nationals. The Nationals at one point were believed to be out on Harper, but have since stormed back in the race after signing Patrick Corbin among a plethora of other additions. The Phillies seem to be going crazy and keep divulging their greatest fantasies of signing “Kimbrel, Keuchel and Harper” per Bob Nightengale.

Which team of these two should St. Louis Cardinals fans want Harper to sign with? Let’s take a look at what each team would look like if they added Harper and how that effects the Cardinals.