The 2019 Major League Baseball season is just over one month away and, you guessed it, one of the game's biggest superstars - Bryce Harper - remains unsigned.
For Philadelphia Phillies second-year manager Gabe Kapler, the free agency frenzy isn't on his radar as he leads his team's first workouts of the year together from sunny Clearwater, Florida.
But with high-volume coverage and speculation surrounding Harper's chances of landing in the City of Brotherly Love, tuning out the noise is no easy task; especially when said noise comes in the form of push notifications sent directly to your phone.
They were just like, ‘Pop, pop, pop’ — here’s a story, here’s a story,” Kapler told the Washington Post Monday afternoon at Spectrum Field. From the Post:
“At some point you just say, ‘What does any of this mean?’ … After the fourth ‘The deal is complete’ headline, I stopped. Just like you guys, I stopped taking it seriously.
Perhaps Kapler, a former member of the 2004 World Series champion Boston Red Sox, is wise to place all the hype on the backburner.
His Phillies were awfully busy in the offseason, having added key pieces like left fielder Andrew McCutchen, catcher J.T. Realmuto, reliever David Robertson and shortstop Jean Segura.
Washington Nationals
The new acquisitons join a team that finished 80-82, good for third in the NL East, in Kapler's first season as manager.
As for Harper? His future remains unclear, but Philadelphia seems to be focused on the task at hand in Clearwater. For now, at least.
MORE NATIONALS NEWS:
- Pressure & Patience: Key words surrounding Juan Soto
- Manfred Sounds Off: Commissioner not pleased with MLBPA
- Opportunity Calls: Davey Martinez throws aside baseball trope
- Barrett Battles Back: Pitcher reaches milestone