By Harry Allison
Angelo Cataldi supposedly was a print reporter for the Inky back in the day.
And he had some strange sources then.
And now.
Cataldi, according to a source, says a 10 year, 330 million dollar deal is currently being held up by a three-year opt-out clause Harper and his agent, Scott Boras, are seeking from the Phillies.
“Here’s what has actually been going on,” Cataldi said on his morning show on 94WIP. “By the way, I can’t reveal who gave me this information, but I’ll just say a little birdie. This is great information. Friday, (John) Middleton goes to Vegas. By then they’ve already got the money settled. He’s there for one reason—to get the final approval of the last detail in the negotiation, which is something that didn’t even exist 10 years ago. It’s called the opt-out clause. Now, in big, big deals the player gets the opportunity to bail on the contract at a certain point. Scott Boras, from day one, has insisted that there be an opt-out clause in there, quite honestly, because he’s not positive that Harper will like it here. That is part of the whole situation.
“Boras said we have to have an opt out and it has to be after year three,” Cataldi continued. “Three years guaranteed and then we get the chance to leave. If we don’t, then we get the other seven years and he’s here for the full ten. He gets the one opt out after the three. They (the Phillies) say, not only does that not work for us, but we can’t sell that to Philadelphia. We’re gonna poison the well before he gets here. He’s basically saying, we’re not sure about Philadelphia. The opt out clause is what’s holding up an agreement with the Philadelphia Phillies and I can tell you, Scott Boras insists that it be three years.”
The Dodgers were reported to be back in the mix on Monday and Cataldi expanded on that as well.
“The Dodgers are back in the bidding, but only on a short-term contract,” Cataldi explained. “Not more than four, probably three years. I can tell you those are the years that are being discussed with Harper and the Dodgers. So, they are not a threat for the preferred mega 10 year deal.”
