Bryce Harper does not already have a new team; agent’s joke misinterpreted

Some Washington Nationals’ fans may have had alarm bells go off in their heads when Bryce Harper’s agent, Scott Boras, told the YES Network a new contract for Harper is “already completed and done.”

Relax. Boras was joking.

YES’s Michael Kay, interviewing Boras on Friday, prodded the superagent to “make some news” on his program by divulging where Harper will play in 2019. Harper is entering the winter as a free agent for the first time in his career after spending nine seasons in the Nationals’ organization.

“I will tell you this. Bryce Harper is somebody I will say, in my entire career, he has the greatest skill level and the greatest character level of any superstar I’ve ever been involved with,” Boras told Kay. “I think our game is going to see historic performances from him.

“We know who the team is,” Boras said. “It’s already completed and done, but Bryce has told me that he wanted to tell you personally, so I’m going to let him do that.”

That last piece was the part under question.

But it could not have been “already completed and done,” because free agency does not start until the day after the World Series ends. In other words, free agency opened Monday, but Boras was talking to Kay on Friday while the World Series was still going on.

Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post then confirmed it was not true:

Guys. Boras was kidding. I even checked on it for you just in case. He was kidding. Look. Beyond. Headlines.

— Chelsea Janes (@chelsea_janes) October 28, 2018

There will be plenty of time to speculate on where Harper will play in 2019, but for now, he is officially a free agent.