Photo by Mitchell Layton for the Nationals; picture with Mike Rizzo (L), Scott Boras (C), Harper (R) and Bryce’s parents in the background in 2010
The kid is all grown up at 26 and is a free agent for the first time in his career. When he was 17-years-old, he was drafted in 2010 at #1 overall by the Washington Nationals. For Bryce Harper a.k.a. “Baseball’s Chosen One” , he met those expectations in 2015 when he won the MVP award, but his stardom has not been as dominant since that MVP season. If you think of a baseball contract like a marriage, the end of it sometimes feels like a divorce. It is easier to say goodbye when the relationship is not going well — you know — like when Bryce was batting .209 back in June. Harper finished his season strong offensively, and is now officially a free agent. He is the talk of baseball.
The Nationals had a chance to trade Harper before the trade deadline and again when he was claimed by the Dodgers in August, and as we know it did not happen. Nationals’ general manager Mike Rizzo said many times that he would need a spectacular package to trade Harper. One person’s spectacular package is another’s unspectacular package as the beauty is in the eyes of the beholder — but two stories have broken this weekend about packages that Rizzo was supposedly offered. Continue reading
We recently upgraded our comment system to improve reliability, performance, and long-term control, and we’re currently running both systems during the transition. This shift moves us away from an external service to a system we run and control directly—meaning we own the content and can continue improving it over time. We’ve also reduced the comment refresh delay from about 30 seconds to 10 seconds, making it much closer to real-time.
We understand there have been frustrations and increased feedback, and we’re actively working to improve things. What we ask is simple: use the system and give it a fair shot. If you run into issues, please submit them through the support form so we can track and fix them properly. Repeated complaints without details don’t help us solve problems—we appreciate your patience as we continue refining the experience.
If you’d like a full side-by-side comparison of the platforms and the reasons behind this decision, please refer to the chart below. This change is being made with the long-term benefit of the entire community in mind.