As excitement mounted and tension built for the long-awaited face-to-face meeting between Bryce Harper and Phillies brass in Las Vegas this weekend, a distraction began to emerge. Stealing some of the thunder and momentum was news that the club and its ace, Aaron Nola, failed to reach an agreement on salary for 2019 prior to the Friday deadline of salary figure exchanges.
Nola, eligible for arbitration for the first time and on the heels of a third-place finish in NL Cy Young Award voting, filed at $6.75 million, while the club filed at a surprisingly low $4.