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Bryce Harper posts about Japan’s Yomiuri Giants as MLB shows willingness to miss a month of games

With no deal yet to end Major League Baseball’s lockout, it’s unclear when the 2022 season will get started.

Philadelphia Phillies star Bryce Harper, clearly, doesn't see that happening anytime soon.

On Monday, shortly after reports that the league is content to miss a month of games amid the standoff, Harper seems to now be looking for somewhere else to play. He posted a photo to his Instagram story that showed him wearing a Yomiuri Giants jersey, a team that plays in Tokyo in Japan’s top baseball league.

“Aye Yomiuri Giants, you up?” he wrote. “Got some time to kill.”

After a week of intense negotiations in Florida didn’t seem to lead to any progress, MLB is reportedly willing to miss about a month of regular season games. It’s deadline for getting spring training in before opening day required that a deal be in place by Monday, something that now doesn’t seem likely.

Though Harper almost certainly won’t leave MLB to play elsewhere for any amount of time — he has a full decade left on his $330 million deal with the Phillies, after all — his post isn’t a good sign.

If Harper thinks that he will have “time to kill,” negotiations clearly aren’t going well enough to save the full regular season.

Bryce Harper of the Philadelphia Phillies
Bryce Harper clearly doesn't expect the MLB season to start on time. (Eric Espada/Getty Images)