As we await today’s fresh set of rumors stoked by agenda-driven agents and front offices, Ken Rosenthal checks in with the structure of Andrew McCutchen’s new three-year deal with the Phillies, and I like what the team did here:

Per source, McCutchen deal with #Phillies is back-loaded: $10M in 2019, $17M in 2020, $20M in 2021, plus $15M club option or $3M buyout for 2022.

— Ken Rosenthal (@Ken_Rosenthal) December 13, 2018

The $10 million owed in the first year is pocket change, adding minimal obligation to an already modest 2019 payroll. In theory, it allows the Phils to make more aggressive short-term offers and front-load deals with prospective free agents, which certainly seems to be the organization’s goal. Look no further than their reported reluctance to go three years with J.A. Happ despite the obvious need for a reliable left-handed starter.

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Fear not, Phillies fans.

Despite the team’s trade of Carlos Santana last week, there will be plenty of WALKS coming to Citizens Bank Park this spring. That is, of course, thanks to the Phillies’ reported agreement with 32-year-old free agent outfielder Andrew McCutchen on what’s believed to be a three-year deal worth $50 million. Of course, the immediate concern in the wake of this news has nothing to do with McCutchen at all, but instead what it does in terms of the Phillies’ desire and ability to pursue Bryce Harper. The status of that flirtation remains unchanged in that it remains wholly ambiguous.

For example:

Sounds like this means Bryce Harper out in #phillies plans. I’ve been told they will not wait and big free agents . They will not play games with their agents. They will move on. That would go for Machado as well. @SportsRadioWIP https://t.co/jD58VJQT7X

— Howard Eskin (@howardeskin) December 11, 2018

Signing McCutchen doesn't mean #Phillies are done in the outfield. He's not a center fielder anymore, so the move doesn't necessarily impact Herrera. Could deal Nick Williams, or platoon Williams/McCutchen in LF and sign Harper to play RF. Lots of possibilities remain.

— Scott Lauber (@ScottLauber) December 11, 2018

This seems like a fairly reasonable breakdown of where things stand with the Phillies on the Harper front, after the jump:

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Phillies manager Gabe Kapler met with reporters at the Major League Baseball winter meetings this afternoon in Las Vegas, and let me just say, the guy is a total quote machine:

Gabe Kapler said he wants the Phillies to build physical and emotional armor this offseason.

— Tim Healey (@timbhealey) December 10, 2018

Without question, acquiring a player of, say, Bryce Harper’s caliber would go a long way towards building up that physical armor, and Kapler was unsurprisingly asked during the session about baseball’s most coveted free agent. His answer did nothing to dispel the rumors of the Phillies’ planned aggressive pursuit of Harper.

Here he is, after the jump:

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