Bryce Harper Rumors: More MLB Teams in Las Vegas After Phillies Owner Left

The latest Bryce Harper news is, once again, no news.

Jon Heyman of MLB Network reported Sunday that Harper's representatives plan to meet with more teams in Las Vegas after the Philadelphia Phillies.       

The Phillies have seemingly been the front-runner to land the free-agent slugger for much of the process. However, it's unclear what level of progress the two sides have made, and based on Heyman's report, there seem to be numerous other interested suitors.

Manny Machado signed a 10-year, $300 million contract with the San Diego Padres last week, ending one of the two major sagas of the winter. That leaves Harper as the main domino to fall, and his contract will almost certainly eclipse Machado's to become the biggest free-agent deal in North American sports history.

Phillies owner John Middleton met with Harper and agent Scott Boras on Friday and Saturday but was not able to complete a deal. Middleton promised major spending this offseason after slowly trimming the team's books of salary and building a promising young core. 

"We're going into this expecting to spend money—and maybe even be a little stupid about it," Middleton told Bob Nightengale of USA Today in November. "We just prefer not to be completely stupid."

Harper, 26, hit .249/.393/.496 with 34 home runs and 100 runs batted in last season, earning his fourth straight All-Star appearance. He has posted a WAR of 3.0 or better in six of his seven seasons, per FanGraphs. While he has yet to reach the heights of his 2015 NL MVP campaign again, Harper is a foundational middle-of-the-lineup power bat and one of MLB's biggest stars.

Should their plan work out, the Phillies could be in a position to sign Harper now and then add Mike Trout in a few years, giving them the most marketable team in recent baseball history.