Still in Florida, but it’s an off-day for everyone today, Mets major leaguers and MiLBers, everyone is off. So here are some links.
What makes Harper far more anticipated than your typical phenom is a sense that he not only recognizes the vastness of his potential but also feels plenty comfortable telling you about it. One minute he informs me that “baseball needs more superstars.” The next, while discussing Albert Pujols signing with the Angels, he offers thoughtlessly, “Albert and I know each other and respect each other.” In a sport in which “paying your dues” is practically in the job description—an institution that once made Michael Jordan ride around in a bus for five months—Harper seems to have emerged fully formed to piss off the baseball establishment.
– Will Leitch, “Is Baseball Ready for Bryce?”
GQ
NSFW language from Bryce in that piece, by the by. The guy’s got a figurative mouth. But oh my, am I now a Bryce Harper fan. Baseball doesn’t have a dominant, showcase figure right now — the way the NBA has Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, and football has Tom Brady and his Uggs — and Leitch captures how much fun it’d be if Harper became that guy. I hope Harper is even better and even more of a jerk than we can imagine. I want dozens of surly writers penning columns on how awful Harper is for baseball, how he’s the anti-Jeter, and every other predictable angle. As a Mets fan, I want him to be a great villain for the next dozen seasons, because he might just be the best villain ever. Give me Bryce Harper in all his insolent glory, and give him to me soon.
Hey, has anyone heard about this yet?
The $162 million, which includes the $83 million that the Mets owners had already been ordered to pay the trustee, is to be paid out of money Wilpon and Katz expect to recover as a “net loser” of the Madoff scheme. Recovery chances are good, said David J. Sheehan, counsel to Picard.
– Richard Sandomir and Ken Belson, “Mets’ Owners Pay $162 Million to Settle Madoff Suit”
New York Times
And Mets fans never heard anything bad from the Wilpons ever again, and we all lived happily ever after, the end.
More from Spring Training over the next couple of days.
Patrick John Flood (blog) 
“Baseball doesn’t have a dominant, showcase figure right now — the way the NBA has Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, and football has Tom Brady and his Uggs — and Leitch captures how much fun it’d be if Harper became that guy.”
Be careful what you wish for Patrick. Kobe and Brady got to where they are at the expense of league, conference, and (especially) division rivals. Baseball had that once in Reggie Jackson but I was able to look the other way since he always stayed in the American League. The Mets are in Bryce Harper’s division so it won’t be as tolerable for me if his projections do come to fruition.