Giants CEO sees shades of Bonds in Harper pursuit
The San Francisco Giants know the effects that one player can have on an organization.
Twenty-seven years after signing Barry Bonds to a then-record free-agent contract, the Giants are pursuing another generational talent in Bryce Harper, who, like Bonds, could really change things in the Bay Area.
"The thing that I'm very proud of with the Giants - and it's not always successful, like it was in '92 with Barry - we want to be in the deal flow, so to speak," Giants CEO Larry Baer explained during the team's FanFest event on Saturday, according to MLB.com's Maria Guardado.
"We want to be able to pursue players to bring championships back to the Giants' fans. Bryce Harper is an amazing player. It's very hard, and these are competitions. I can't handicap it. I don't know where we are, but we're giving it a shot, and that's all we can do."
Baer, along with president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi and manager Bruce Bochy, engaged in a four-hour, face-to-face meeting with the 26-year-old Harper in Las Vegas on Monday.
San Francisco only plans to offer Harper a lucrative short-term deal and has no desire to enter into a long-term commitment, reports Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY Sports.
While the Giants are reportedly facing stiff competition from the Washington Nationals, Philadelphia Phillies, Chicago White Sox, and San Diego Padres for the services of the 2015 National League MVP, they came away from the meeting feeling positive about how things went.
"I don't want to make any forecast predictions or anything," Baer said. "What I do know is we've got a lot of different plans. It's a very slow-moving offseason for a lot of reasons, and all I can do is talk about the Giants and our motivations. Our motivations are to get a bunch of guys on this team that are going to get us back to where we've been in recent years, and that is winning rings.
"One player can make a difference."