Yeah, Mike Trout heard.
If that was Bryce Harper’s goal — to publicly begin recruiting baseball’s best player as his first act as a $330 million Phillie — mission accomplished.
Trout did his best to downplay Harper’s remarks at Angels camp on Wednesday, while conceding that, yes, Harper’s words reached their desired ears.
“Obviously I saw it,” Trout told reporters, via the Orange County Register. “He’s excited. He’s excited about his team. I have no control over what he says.”
Even if Major League Baseball and the Angels would like some of that control. MLB is exploring whether Harper’s public pitch to Harper — “If you don’t think I’m going to call Mike Trout to come to Philly in 2020, you’re crazy” — constitutes tampering, which could result in a fine. That notion didn’t seem to bother Harper, who will be handsomely paid for the next 13 years.
“If I didn’t mean it,” Harper said Wednesday, doubling down, “I wouldn’t have said it.”
Trout has long been linked to Philadelphia, having grown up just outside it in South Jersey and being a former owner of Eagles season tickets. Harper’s (relatively) low average annual payout — about $25.38 million — is more conducive to the Phillies adding another star beside him, even if the Trout sweepstakes will blow the Harper sweepstakes out of the water. That sweepstakes may have already begun, and the Angels are being protective.
“There is a rule against tampering for a reason,” Angels manager Brad Ausmus told reporters Wednesday. “There has been for a long time.”