We still haven’t hit the meatiest part of the 2017 offseason, so I won’t force your gaze upon the 2018 offseason too much today.
But I do think this is worth getting in front of you, given the possible future connection to the Cubs:
Thoughts:
It is only normal and natural that a franchise player’s agent would meet with the team about a possible extension in the year before that franchise player is scheduled to become a free agent.
It’s far less normal and natural for that meeting to be with team ownership, but (1) given Boras’s relationship with the Nationals’ owners (he’s negotiated with them before), and (2) the enormous size of a Harper extension, it makes sense that Boras would go straight to the top.
It is still very unlikely that Harper signs an extension before hitting the open market in search of what would be a record-breaking contract, but it was also unlikely that Stephen Strasburg and Scott Boras would sign an extension in the year before he was going to hit free agency. Yet, it happened. So I wouldn’t rule this out.