A Phillies fan ran into Bryce Harper riding a baby blue beach cruiser and carrying a Wawa bag in his basket on the streets of Clearwater, Florida, one week after pitchers and catchers were supposed to report:

Does Bryce Harper know something about lockout talks that we don’t? Why else would he already have reported if the owners and MLBPA weren’t going to get a deal done this week? Didn’t you hear? The tone is improving. That’s the best news since the lockout started! You ever try to talk to someone who has a bad tone right off the bat? It turns into a fight 10 out of 10 times. Everybody knows negotiations are easier to get done when you come into them with the right tone of voice. We’re trending in the right direction:

This is like an ugly divorce right now. You say mean things in the beginning. You play hardball with your spouse over the toaster you never used once, because you’re in a dick measuring contest. Until one day you wake up and you’d rather just get it over with and get on with your life.

That’s the stage we’re in right now between the owners and MLBPA. We’re in the bank account and cars part of the divorce. Agreeing to the increased arbitration pool and the draft lottery being expanded are good, small steps in the right direction. The MLB gets the Porsche, but the the players keep their Fidelity account with their retirement. Now we just gotta figure out who gets the beach house and visitation rights:

I’m generally an optimistic person and I think Bryce Harper being in Clearwater is a big clue we’ll have baseball on time. He’s got Max Scherzer on the inside feeding him secrets. They’re going to get this deal done by February 28th and we’re going to have baseball. Would Bryce Harper be looking like The Quadfather if he was worried about the lockout? –