MLB Rumors: Bryce Harper ‘Finalized’ Dodgers Deal Tuesday, Takes Team Physical Thursday, ‘MLB Insider’ Claims

Update: contrary to the report, Harper has reportedly signed with the Philadelphia Phillies, per a new Inquisitr story.

As reports surfaced on Wednesday that free agent, six-time All Star Bryce Harper met on Tuesday with the top brass of the San Francisco Giants, as The Inquisitr reported, a new and as of yet unconfirmed report from a Twitter account — the same account that first reported the Los Angeles Dodgers’ meeting with Harper over the weekend — now claims that Harper has snubbed the Giants and signed with the Dodgers.

In fact, according to a Twitter post made early on Wednesday morning, that same account, MLB Insider, reported that Harper’s deal was so certain that “Harper will take his physical in Los Angeles on Thursday. The #Dodgers will introduce him at a Friday morning press conference, at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona.”

The MLB Insider report would contradict a report on Twitter by San Francisco Chronicle Giants beat writer Henry Schulman that the Giants had offered Harper a 10-year deal, and a report by NBC Sports Bay Area which also said that Harper’s representatives and the Giants “have discussed a 10-year contract… that would match the deal the Padres gave Manny Machado earlier this month and likely give Harper a chance at the record dollar figure he has been seeking.”

But MLB Insider said on Twitter that he was so certain of his reporting that “if Bryce Harper doesn’t end up with the #Dodgers, I will disappear from Twitter.”

According to the MLB Insider Twitter report, Harper’s reps met with the Giants on Tuesday, but after that meeting in a phone call with the Dodgers front office, the Harper team “finalized” the deal with the team that has won the last six National League West titles — and played in the last two World Series.

The Dodgers “outbid” the Giants, MLB Insider said, adding that the deal “will become official on Friday like I reported.”

The MLB Insider report appeared to parallel reports from Dodgers Nation editor Clint Evans posted on Twitter at about 1 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, Pacific Standard Time, which said that Harper’s meeting on Tuesday with the Giants was “just due diligence.”

Evans wrote that the Dodgers’ offer to Harper was for fewer years than the Giants’ offer, but came with a higher average annual value — in other words, more money per year, for fewer years. But Evans did not report that the deal between Harper and the Dodgers had been “finalized,” saying only that the race to sign Harper — who has remained on the the free agent market for nearly 18 weeks — was “still the #Dodgers race to lose.”