"Baseball is worth $11,500,000,000" - When Bryce Harper justified his $330,000,000 deal with the Phillies

Bryce Harper has been one of the most successful players of his generation. Although he has not yet been able to hoist the Commissioner's Trophy, he has accomplished about as much as an individual player can. A two-time MVP and eight-time All-Star, Harper is about as good of a player as they come.

A once-polarizing superstar, especially in his younger days, Bryce Harper has seen himself gain a number of fans across the MLB. But this did not happen overnight. As a member of the Washington Nationals, Harper left some fans divided over his attitude, which made his high-profile move to the Philadelphia Phillies in free agency a major talking point.

Prior to the 2019 regular season, the superstar slugger signed a massive 13-year, $330,000,000 deal, which was the richest contract in baseball history at the time. At the time, a lot was made about the deal and whether players should be paid at such a level, however, Bryce Harper gave a thoughtful answer when asked about his contract during his Phillies introductory press conference:

"You know, I think baseball is worth about $11,500,000,000, so I think some of it should go back to the players as well. I'm making 26 a year or something like that, so I think that's going to be able to bring some other guys in to help this organization win [1:35]," Harper explained.

While Harper's contract at the time seemed crazy, he was correct in saying that his deal would help the team bring in more talent around him. Thanks to the length of his contract, his annual salary is relatively team-friendly, which allowed the Phillies to bring in impact free agents such as Trea Turner, Kyle Schwarber and Zack Wheeler.

"For me, the game has changed alot. It's changed in the fact that it's a different time, it's a different world. Big social media, everybody knows what's going on, what everybody's doing. There's alot of fans that love to come to the game that are spending about $16 for a beer that used to be about 25 cents," Harper said of the state of baseball in 2019.

Bryce Harper's contract value has been passed by several players

At the time that Bryce Harper signed his contract with the Philadelphia Phillies, it was the richest deal in MLB history. That being said, it was not long before he was surpassed by several players who either signed extensions with their teams or cashed in during free agency.

Shohei Ohtani, Mookie Betts, Aaron Judge, Mike Trout, Francisco Lindor, Fernando Tatis Jr. have all signed contracts with more overall value than Harper. It's likely that Juan Soto will join that list this offseason as he is staring down a monster contract from a motivated contender.