This negotiation was laughably bad and so too was the reporting on it. Those two things are linked, in a way.

How can it be that the Harper camp was "using the Giants and Dodgers" to get more from the Phillies? They came to the table with the most total dollars and the longest contract from the start and it stayed that way. If anything he used the Phillies to try to get the Dodgers (and perhaps the Giants) to extend their offers over more years. When that didn't happen, he decided to enroll at his safety school.

From the Phillies perspective, how the hell do you see that no one is offering a deal longer than five (possibly) six years and end up giving him this kind of deal? At best he should have gotten the same deal Machado did.

There is something about the way the Phils are going about this build-up that doesn't inspire confidence. At least the division is kind of whatever (though Atlanta could get even better), but thinking big time (pennants, WS), eh, I don't see it happening with this kind of approach