Harper offers services to Japan's Yomiuri Giants: 'Got some time to kill'

Bryce Harper appears willing to cross the Pacific if that's what it takes to play baseball.

With spring training halted and Opening Day in jeopardy, the reigning National League MVP offered his services to the Yomiuri Giants - Japan's most famous baseball team - in an Instagram post on Monday.

The Giants seem enthused about the idea, even if it is a long shot:

There's little doubt that adding one of MLB's biggest stars, even temporarily, would be a boon for the Giants. Harper would instantly transform a Yomiuri offense that had the Central League's fourth-lowest OPS and averaged just 3.6 runs a game in 2021.

But the odds of seeing the 29-year-old at the Tokyo Dome are, at best, incredibly slim. The Giants' roster already has four foreign-born players, the maximum allowed by Nippon Professional Baseball. The Philadelphia Phillies, who signed Harper to a 13-year, $330-million contract in 2019, would also be unlikely to endorse the move.

If Harper is serious, however, the Major League Baseball Players Association might support his efforts to play in Japan. The union stated in its work stoppage guide that it would "challenge any attempts by MLB to interfere with players who choose to participate in a foreign league during the lockout," according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. The MLBPA cited the NHL's decision to let players sign overseas during its 2005 lockout as precedent.

MLB owners and players met again in Florida on Monday, the day MLB previously set as the deadline to save a 162-game season. The league said any canceled regular-season games would not be made up.