Phillies missing out on Manny Machado means all the focus now on Bryce Harper

With Manny Machado officially heading to the San Diego Padres, the Philadelphia Phillies can now fully focus on trying to convince Bryce Harper to come on board.

Over the last couple of months, Philadelphia Phillies fans have been more than patient to see whether they would be fortunate enough to land one or two (or both) superstars this offseason in Bryce Harper and Manny Machado.

Now that Machado is officially off the market after agreeing to a 10-year, $300 million deal with the San Diego Padres, it looks like the main focus for the Phillies can shift to Harper, which is completely fine since it will all be worth it if this happens.

Despite how great things went in Las Vegas in January when Philadelphia met with Harper, things had been quiet for the most part in recent weeks, although rumors have been heating up over the last couple of days in regards to a potential deal happening this week.

Prior to the offseason, there was plenty of excitement surrounding the Phillies with their offseason approach since unlike most teams, they had the money to spend players like Harper and Machado would be looking for.

As great as it would have been to bring superstars on board, from a realistic perspective, deep down Philadelphia knew this was always a long shot. But now that Machado is officially heading to San Diego, the good news for the Phillies is their chances of landing Harper still seem high.

With the reports from Monday indicating that Harper views Philadelphia as a team in position to win big now along with a potential decision coming by the end of the week, it was tough for fans to contain their excitement over the thought of the power hitter joining the club.

There may not be anything set in stone at the moment since a few teams will be competing with the Phillies to land Harper, but it’s going to be even more difficult to try containing that excitement.

Believe it or not, the Padres signing Machado could be the move Philadelphia was waiting to see since it could lead to Harper finally making his decision in regards to which team the star outfielder plans to play for during the 2019 season and beyond.