A guy who has historically been well connected with Boras to boot. My current guess is that they have lined up the salary dump(s) they need to sign Bryce, but they're painful. Could be using Happ to dump Heyward, or using top prospects to dump Chatwood, but whatever it is it's something otherwise not worth doing without Bryce. If they can reel him in, we will see 3-4 moves in a row like when Lester signed. If they whiff on Bryce, we see the more modest Plan B offseason. But if this is the case (bolded part), couldn't it also be that Boras is playing him too to create a more robust market for Harper? 100%. There's a pretty good chance that Bryce doesn't want to go to the Sox, the Phillies and Yankees are focused more on Machado, and all this recent Cubs optimism is just meant to turn the screws on the Dodgers.