Spring training is less than three weeks, but Bryce Harper and Manny Machado still appear nowhere close to signing. This leaves fans of the Phillies and other teams pursuing them understandably frustrated, but there is plenty of reason to not be in a rush to sign them.
Machado and Harper both came into the offseason looking for record contracts. Harper declined a ten-year, $300 million offer from the Nationals, signaling he was looking for way more. Machado is rumored to want a deal larger than Giancarlo Stanton‘s 13-year, $325 million contract signed in November of 2014.