The San Diego Padres are clearly serious about landing a big free agent, and they may be developing a preference for one more than the other.
According to Jon Heyman of Fancred, the Padres may be leaning toward a pursuit of outfielder Bryce Harper, partially for marketing and business reasons, despite having more of a positional need for third baseman Manny Machado.
Padres ownership is said to view Bryce Harper as a business/marketing opportunity and despite the positional need at 3B may now lean toward Harper over Machado (also Manny not want to go west). Question now is whether San Diego could outbid a team with stupid $ (plus others).
— Jon Heyman (@JonHeyman) February 2, 2019
What is clear is that the Padres are serious about landing one of the two biggest names left on the free agent market, and it doesn’t appear to be the only move they want to make. If they can swing these moves, it would certainly set them on the path toward instant credibility, with Harper becoming the new face of the franchise.
