Report on Harper, Machado: ‘Word is Neither Player Particularly Likes Philadelphia’

Its typically one of the quietest weeks of the baseball offseason, but everyone is waiting to hear where the two biggest fish in the free agent pond with land.

Bryce Harper and Manny Machado of yet to decide where they will play in 2019, but there are some signs pointing to where the might end up. By all accounts the Phillies, White Sox and Yankees are all involved on the free agent sluggers, with Machado visiting all three destinations last week.

"I think the Phillies are in such a desperate position here that they are going to make it tough for him to walk away from the largest amount of money," Joel Sherman of the New York Post said on the MLB Network about Machado. "I do think the high bidder, again reading tea leaves, will be Philadelphia, but if you believe what people around Machado say, he wants to be a Yankee."

According to Sherman in his NY Post column, both Harper and Machado aren't thrilled with the the possibility of signing with the Philadelphia Phillies.

“Word is neither player particularly likes Philadelphia and both would have preferred the Yankees, who have shown little interest in Harper.”

Harper met with Phillies brass out in Vegas during the winter meetings, and Machado was in Philadelphia last week to meet with the front office.  According to reports, people expect Machado to make his decision sometime in January, while Harper's could drag past the Super Bowl in February.

The one thing going for the Phillies?

It has been reported that both Harper and Machado are looking for long-term deals, up to 10 seasons, and worth at or above $300 million. The Phillies are one of the few teams that can spend that money that kind of 'stupid money' that owner John Middelton said they were willing to spend.

So if neither guy ends up in Philly, how would you feel about the Phillies offseason?