Water main break a perfect time to bid for Bryce

With Manny Machado officially a Padre, all the attention is on Bryce Harper . The former MVP outfielder is the best free agent left on the market and, for teams that missed out on Machado, the pressure is on to not let him get away.

That is especially the case in Philadelphia, where the Phillies are in position to contend in the NL East and ownership indicated early in the offseason that "stupid money" is available for spending. On Thursday, the fans made clear who they want to receive that money. During a water main break in Cherry Hill, N.J. -- a suburb of Philadelphia -- local news choppers captured a message to Harper from the construction crew:

We have reached a level of the Harper saga we didn't think existed.



Construction crews in Cherry Hill responding to a water main break had a message for @NBCPhiladelphia's #SkyForce10.



Sign Harper. pic.twitter.com/SK12kk770B — NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) February 21, 2019

This isn't the first time this offseason the blue collar sector in Philadelphia has attempted to influence the free-agent market. Back in December, a union electrician greeted Machado as he arrived at Citizens Bank Park to meet with the team. Obviously, that didn't work with Machado, but it did work with Jim Thome back in 2002. So, let's call them 1-for-2 at this point.

If all goes well for the Phillies in the Harper sweepstakes, the Philadelphia blue collar worker record in free agency will stand at 2-1 before long.