Bryce Harper contract: MLB star signs $330million Philadelphia Phillies deal
Bryce Harper has signed the biggest contract in baseball history, joining the Philadelphia Phillies in a $330million (£249.8m), 13-year deal.
Philadelphia scheduled a news conference for Saturday to introduce Harper. He will wear No. 3 rather than the No. 34 he used with the Washington Nationals, where he spent his previous major league seasons.
Harper has a .279 career average with 184 homers and 521 RBIs, including a .268 average with 14 homers, 32 RBIs in 47 games at Citizens Bank Park.
His agreement tops the $325m, 13-year agreement outfielder Giancarlo Stanton reached before the 2015 season with the Miami Marlins, who traded him to the New York Yankees in December 2017.
Harper gets a $20m signing bonus in equal installments, the first within 90 days of the deal's approval by the commissioner's office and the second this Nov. 1. He receives a $10m salary this year, $26m in each of the following nine seasons and $22m in each of the last three years. None of the money is deferred, and he gets a full no-trade provision.
His bonus provisions are $50,000 each for All-Star, Gold Glove, Silver Slugger or League Championship Series MVP; $100,000 for World Series MVP; $500,000 for league MVP, $50,000 for second and $25,000 for third. He gets a hotel suite on road trips and the right to purchase a suite for games at Citizens Bank Park.
Harper has been an All-Star in six of seven big league seasons and was a unanimous pick for the NL MVP award in 2015.
Philadelphia forfeited its second-highest draft selection, currently No. 55, and $500,000 of its 2019-20 international signing bonus pool allotment. Washington's compensation pick will be after the fourth round, about 140th.
Additional reporting by the Associated Press.
