WASHINGTON (The Fan D.C.) -- Prized free-agent outfielder Bryce Harper couldn't have been signing with the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday, as was widely rumored, because, Chris Russell reports, Harper is meeting with "an unidentified team" in his hometown of Las Vegas on Thursday.
"Here's what I know," Russell told The Sports Junkies Thursday morning. "I knew the other day that he wasn't signing anywhere, least of all with Philadelphia, because he's got an unidentified team meeting with him in Las Vegas today.
"From what I understand," Russell said, "it's not just one other team that's getting involved in this, other teams are trying now that the price and now that this process has drawn out. I can't say definitively he will meet with more than one other team, but from what I understand, other teams are trying to join the fray late.
"Now who these teams are, I don't know."
Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic later identified the San Diego Padres as the team Harper is meeting with Thursday.
Harper -- who has spent his whole career with the Washington Nationals -- has had interest in the Arizona Diamondbacks all along because of their proximity to Vegas, Russell reported. But the Diamondbacks seemingly took themselves out of the mix by unloading all of their stars this offseason.
"I have been told all along that Arizona was a team that he had wanted to go to," Russell said. "But they dumped out (Paul) Goldschmidt, they dumped out (A.J.) Pollock, who was a free agent.
"They seemingly are rebuilding, but Bryce had wanted to go there because of the proximity to Vegas, pretty good hitter's ballpark, Chase Field in Phoenix. And he just thought that would be a good, ideal location for him and his wife to build a family."