How Much Will They Pay to See the Max and Mondo Show?

Washington, DC baseball fans have not seen anything like it in many a year. How long has it been since there a pitcher of Max Scherzer’s ability in the Nation’s Capital? How long since there was a hitter like Bryce Harper? Could having them both to watch be like…Mickey Mantle and Whitey Ford?

According to Baseball Reference.com, there have been 115 games since 1915 where a starting pitcher managed 16 or more strikeouts as Scherzer did on Sunday afternoon against the Milwaukee Brewers. However, there have been only 10 where the pitcher allowed 1 or fewer hits AND 16 or more strikeouts*. It was a masterpiece by any definition. It called to mind the 14 strikeout performance by Stephen Strasburg in his Major League debut, a game that any Nationals fan who was there remembers as one of those unique moments along with a half dozen other highlights of baseball’s return to DC.

Bryce Harper did not play in the Sunday game because he had been hit by a pitch the previous night. Alex Rodriguez was drilled 21 times in 2007 when he hit 54 home runs, so Harper may have to get used to pitchers taking out their frustration on him in these highly personal ways. Nationals fans can be forgiven their outrage when the most talented player to don a Nationals uniform is put at risk by the opposing pitcher just because they cannot get him out. It is going to happen, but not as often as “Mondo”–the nickname for Harper listed in Baseball Reference–is going to go deep.

Twenty-two times this seaon Bryce Harper has lined the ball over the fence, which ties him with his prior season high of 22 during his rookie season in 2012. Some of those 22 home run were more majestic than others, but for the most part they are missiles that never get particularly far off the ground and reach their destination with amazing speed. Harper has maintained his pace with some consistency, projecting to hit 45-55 home runs ever since the night he hit three on May 6 against Miami with Giancarlo Stanton looking on. Could the two sluggers be setting off for one of the best home run races to mark the post-steroid era? How many more might we see if we are lucky?

Stanton added one that evening on May 6 and has taken over the Major League lead with 24 long balls, while Todd Frazier (20) and Albert Pujols (19) continue in hot pursuit. Only Frank Howard has ever put this kind of thrill into the Washington faithful and the chances are that Harper will exceed many of the marks that Hondo set several decades earlier because it has been just that kind of season so far for Harper (Mondo). Harper’s OPS is an obscene 1.216 and he sits atop most hitting indices like some great ape atop the Empire State Building, which is where some think he will be “inevitably.”

Washington baseball fans would like to do more than watch two great players compete every night; they would like to win as well. That has been happening less often and it remains to be seen if the Nationals can figure out their deficiencies and mount a charge on the rest of baseball. But if watching Scherzer and Harper is the consolation prize, there are worse fates the baseball gods could provide.

With Ryan Zimmerman and Jayson Werth both on the bench, there are few DC fans who can find much good to say about long term contracts for players. Zimmerman’s 11-year contract that pays him $139 million was signed in 2009 and since then he has been hurt almost as many seasons as he has been healthy. Werth’s seven-year deal for $126 million has been similar with the “Wolf of First Street” hurt for significant amounts of time almost as much as he has been healthy.

Max Scherzer has put those contracts in a better light and even if fans know that the book is still open on his $210 million of deferred compensation, they are hopeful that there is much good baseball left in his golden arm. But what of Bryce Harper? How long can Nationals fans hope to watch their young phenom? ESPN’s Buster Olney thinks it is written that that Harper end up in pinstripes or playing closer to home in LA.

Harper is playing on a 2-year contract for $7.5 million that will take him through next season after which–2017–he will become arbitration eligible. Although the wise men at baseballpundit.com may be seeing the world more clearly than I, Giancarlo Stanton signed a $325 million dollar contract that will keep him a Marlin until 2027. His salary escalates to $25 million in 2020 and maxes out at $32 million in 2023 and that money was good enough to keep him in Florida without consideration of New York or LA. Can Washington find that kind of money and convince Harper to stay?

The issue according to Harper is the World Series rings. He wants to play for a winner and it is likely that only if Washington can prove it is committed to putting a championship caliber team on the field will he stay. The Scherzer signing is exhibit A for the defense.

Max Scherzer gives the Nationals someone with the ability to start Game One of the NLCS or World Series and win against any pitcher in baseball. Clayton Kershaw may be better, but Scherzer has had more post-season experience and while he failed for Detroit in 2014, he was outstanding in 2013. He can feel comfortable taking the ball for the big games and Washington has a front end of the rotation that could match anyone’s if Jordan Zimmerman and Doug Fister are healthy and at the top of their game.

Can Nationals ownership book the Scherzer-Harper show for a long run? The success of 2015 will go a long way in determining that. If the Nationals can go deep into the 2015 playoffs on the strength of their pitching and the bats of Bryce Harper and Anthony Rendon, then it will be prime time to pursue a Giancarlo Stanton contract for Harper. If Jeffrey Loria can do it, the bar is not as high as Olney may think. Dream big Nationals fans! There is gold to be had in $10 beer prices and if Harper signs a long term contract who cares if they rise to $12.

The ticket of admission will be worth every dollar because the Max and Mondo Show could be historic in nature and there are some pretty amazing monuments to the heroes who have strode these streets. Yes the Yankees got monuments, little pretend ones, but Washington, they got the big ones that school kids come from all over the country to see. So pitch on Max! Run that WAR to historic proportions Bryce, cause we got more than just big paydays, we got Monuments like nobody else got monuments and they could be yours if this show runs long and deep.

*If you can manipulate the Query function at Baseball Reference.com and obtain a different result, please share.