Heeeeere's Bryce!

   Is Bryce Harper the best baseball player in the world?

   If you will recall, Bryce Harper was the anointed cherub while he was still in high school at the age of sixteen, predicted to be the King of Swat, and filled with all the raw power of Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and Barry Bonds, neatly packed and packaged into one rolly poly and sent forth on a Major League baseball field to play for the Washington Nationals at the age of nineteen.

   Harper was the National League's Rookie of the Year in 2012 as well as the National League's Most Valuable Player in 2015 when he belted 42 homeruns.   Since 2015, however, he has not led the National League in any hitting category. 

   Now in his seventh big league season, Harper has hit 183 homers, driven in 500 runs, and has a career batting average of .280.  

   In comparison, Manny Machado of the Dodgers---in the same seven-year period---has hit 166 homers with 481 RBIs, and has a career .281 batting average.  

   Now let's talk about Nolan Arenado of the Colorado Rockies.

   Arenado has been playing one year less than Harper and Machado, yet Arenado has hit 178 homers (5 less than Harper), 590 RBIs (90 more than Harper), and has a career .293 batting average (13 points higher than Harper).  

   Arenado has also won three Silver Slugger Awards while Harper and Machado have none.

   Defensively, Arenado has five Gold Gloves hanging from his belt while Machado has two Gold Gloves and Harper has none.

   Still, the sports media across America is on a frenzy in promoting Harper as the next $300 million baby---or perhaps he will go as high as $400 million---when his contract with the Nationals expires at the end of 2018.

   But with Machado's numbers about equal to Harper's, should Machado also expect to get $300 million when he becomes a free agent at the end of 2018?

   When we separate fact from fiction, however, should Nolan Arenado move to the top of the money tree since he is clearly the best baseball player in the National League?