Keith was live on the air Wednesday night as Bryce Harper was torching the Braves to the tune of two home runs in a pivotal game three at Citizens Bank Park, and he couldn’t help but picture Harper shining on the playoff stage in pinstripes, which is what could have happened had the Bombers aggressively pursued him in free agency four years ago.
“Another guy who grew up a Yankee fan, who got on a podcast and said they didn’t even give me a phone call, they didn’t even contact me,” Keith said. “Excuse me, what? Bryce Harper, a generational talent, who we saw on the cover at Sports Illustrated at 16 years old…the guy was dreaming of playing in Yankee Stadium.
“You know what the Yankees did? ‘Oh no, we got Giancarlo Stanton, we’re good.’ Redundant.”
Harper led the Phillies to a pennant last year, and could very well be on his way to doing the same in 2023, while the Yankees watch from home. For Keith, it was an unforgivable miss by the Yanks to not even entertain the thought of Harper in the Bronx.
“Criminal, Brian Cashman,” Keith said, “For you not to entertain Bryce Harper.”