Baseball front offices should beware of Bryce Harper

Washington Nationals right fielder Bryce Harper at Nationals Park in Washington on Aug. 7. (Katherine Frey/The Washington Post)

Regarding the Nov. 10 Sports article “To Boras, a $400 million contract for Harper isn’t absurd. It’s conservative.”:

Bryce Harper is a gifted baseball outfielder who batted .249 in 2018 with an end-of-season OPS (on-base plus slugging percentage) of more than .889. In midseason, he batted under .200 for a month and was close, in my opinion, to becoming a noncontributing player when he was badly needed.

Even if his agent, Scott Boras, does not believe WAR (wins above replacement percentage) is a valid statistic for outfielders, the fact remains that, since 2016, 33 more outfielders had WARs higher than Mr. Harper’s.

May the ownerships of other interested teams beware of making a huge commitment to Mr. Harper because, if he dazzles now, that brightness could quickly fade if baseball fans conclude that he is merely “quite a good player.” As I see it, if the Nationals’ ownership will be spending between $30 million and $40 million each year for 10 years, it should be on starting pitching and upgrades at other positions.

Peter Raudenbush, Falls Church