Bryce Harper talks Kyle Tucker, Wrigley Field vibes and what could have been with the Cubs

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CHICAGO — During a recent Thanksgiving break, Philadelphia Phillies superstar Bryce Harper bumped into Chicago Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer at a Nashville restaurant. Harper, who has a home in Tennessee, recognized the longtime Cubs executive while they both were out with their families. Inevitably, they began talking shop.

“We were just messing around a little bit,” Harper recalled, “a what-could-have-been kind of thing.”

History, in a sense, could be repeating itself with Kyle Tucker, another left-handed hitter who checks all the boxes in terms of what the Cubs are looking for in a franchise player. It’s only April, but the fan frenzy and media speculation surrounding Tucker’s future are already beginning to approach the kind of fever pitch that once followed Harper.

Imagine if the Cubs had signed Harper as a free agent when they had the chance. Perhaps the Joe Maddon era wouldn’t have ended with the nine-game losing streak in September 2019 that sealed the manager’s fate. Maybe Theo Epstein would’ve reconsidered his decision to walk away as team president after the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. The presence of Harper, the National League’s 2021 MVP, might have prevented a sell-off at that trade deadline.

The opportunity was right there for the Cubs in 2018, following losses in Game 163 and the wild-card round, a finish so disappointing that it led Epstein to declare: “Our offense broke.”

“Going into that offseason, they were the No. 1 team on my list,” Harper told The Athletic before the start of this weekend’s Cubs-Phillies series at Wrigley Field. “Without a doubt.”

The Cubs can’t go back and undo Harper’s 13-year, $330 million contract with the Phillies. Harper never really looked back, either, directing agent Scott Boras to close a deal with full no-trade protection and no opt-out clauses, thereby fully committing to Philadelphia.

Hoyer acknowledged the need for an MVP-level performer when he acquired Tucker from the Houston Astros last winter, giving up 14 years of club control over Cam Smith, Isaac Paredes and Hayden Wesneski for potentially a one-and-done season with Tucker.

“He’s one of my favorites in the league,” Harper said. “He’s a big-moment player, a red light kind of player. It’s a lot of fun to watch the way he does it. He’s very impressive. It’s kind of weird to see a superstar player like that get traded from a really good team to another really good team. Great for Cubs fans. Great for the team.

“He’s got a really good opportunity next year to make some pretty good coin.”

The Cubs are getting a full season to recruit Tucker, 28, who is older than Harper was when Harper reached free agency. The cost of acquiring or retaining blue-chip talent has increased exponentially, as evidenced by Juan Soto’s 15-year, $765 million contract with the New York Mets and Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s 14-year, $500 million extension with the Toronto Blue Jays. The average annual value of Harper’s deal is slightly above $25 million, an amount similar to what the Cubs have allocated for Gold Glove shortstop Dansby Swanson.

Bryce Harper hits a two-run double in the fourth inning of Philadelphia’s 10-4 win over the Cubs on Saturday. (Kamil Krzaczynski / Imagn Images)

When Cubs chairman Tom Ricketts was recently asked for a move that would have altered the franchise’s trajectory — or a deal that did not happen that he still thinks about — he quickly answered during a sit-down interview with CNBC.

“We spent a lot of time thinking about what Bryce Harper’s worth as a free agent,” Ricketts said. “That’s one that we kicked around that obviously we never executed on.”

That video clip got back to Harper, who said he did not meet with the Cubs as a free agent or speak with Chicago’s front office during that offseason.

“One of my buddies is a big Cubs fan,” Harper said. “He sent it to me like: ‘Man, what the heck? Why does he got to say this?’ But it’s one of those things. Looking back on it, it could have been really good, or it could have been really bad, right? You never know. I never fault any organization for not getting a player or not going after a player.

“They were in such a different timeframe at that time. You never know what an organization’s going to do or where their next five years are going to be. You have no idea. At the time, it just didn’t match or didn’t work. It just kind of happens that way, sometimes, in sports and free agency.”

The Cubs carried the NL’s highest payroll in 2019, but since then the organization’s baseball budget has remained largely flat at a time when an aggressive group of owners have increased the cost of doing business. Phillies owner John Middleton, for example, has pushed his club’s payroll into a different stratosphere. Harper’s landmark deal helped set up a run to the 2022 World Series, a return to the NL Championship Series in 2023 and a 95-win season last year.

Around the time of the Harper negotiations, the Cubs were not even halfway through Jason Heyward’s eight-year, $184 million deal. Kris Bryant, Javier Báez and Anthony Rizzo were all angling for their next contracts. A lack of homegrown pitching forced the club to constantly search for expensive external solutions. Winning the 2016 World Series meant a century-and-counting championship drought no longer hung over the organization, possibly lessening the sense of urgency.

The Cubs also kept drawing attention, in part, because Harper and Bryant grew up together in Las Vegas and enjoyed posting photos on social media that highlighted their friendship.

“Fans are going to play with that a little bit,” Harper said. “I think it’s fun; Kris is definitely a little bit more reserved than I am with that kind of stuff. But I think it was real. For me, it was definitely real, wanting to possibly come here and play. But, again, where the organization was, you had no idea what they were going to do.

“It was definitely something that I talked about — wanting to play in Wrigley, wanting to play in Chicago. One of the better meetings I had was with the White Sox on the other side (of the city). It just didn’t pan out that way.

“Obviously, I’m extremely happy with where I am in Philadelphia. I would never change it for the world. I love the fan base, city, everything. It’s a blast. But pre-2019, going into free agency, the Cubs were at the top of my list.”

Tucker’s list — if he even has one at this point — is not publicly known since he has taken the opposite approach to Harper’s fun with social media, relying on standard quotes such as: “I’m just here to play baseball.” Teammates, however, rave about Tucker’s energy, confidence and attention to detail.

There’s still a long way to go, but Tucker has to be considered an early frontrunner in the NL MVP race and the No. 1 projected free agent on next winter’s big board. After sitting out the Harper talks, the Cubs should take a big swing here. The Friendly Confines should be a destination for the best players.

“It’s my favorite visiting place to play,” Harper said. “Just the vibes of Chicago and Wrigley Field and the ivy. When the wind’s blowing in, it’s not great, but it’s just such a fun ballpark. The crowds show up. With the bleacher creatures out there, it was always fun listening to what they had to say behind me in right field. A summer day in Wrigley, man, it’s one of the best baseball atmospheres in the league.”

(Top photo: Kamil Krzaczynski / Imagn Images)

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