Any time a team hands out a humongous contract, there are worries about their ability to make other moves to surround that player. That was long the worry for the Phillies in their pursuit of Bryce Harper, who got the record-setting contract he was projected to.
However, with an average annual salary of $25.4 million, Harper’s salary won’t hamstring the team’s future financial flexibility. The raw money of the deal is slightly front-loaded, but the AAV is all we care about for luxury tax purposes.
According to Spotrac, Philadelphia is projected to have a $172 million payroll this year.