CLEARWATER, Fla. -- The Phillies would have benefited from either Bryce Harper or Manny Machado in 2019.

But Phillies managing partner John Middleton said Tuesday morning on 94 WIP that the organization decided to walk away from Machado because they knew that fans overwhelmingly wanted Harper. Machado signed a 10-year, $300 million contract with the Padres late last month. Harper signed a 13-year, $330 million deal with the Phillies on Friday.

"We looked at this from a variety of different ways,” Middleton told Angelo Cataldi. “There's very, very little room to separate these guys. They bring different skills, but they bring elite skills.

"The one thing that Bryce had over Manny, clearly, is the Philadelphia fans loved him. That was abundantly clear throughout the offseason. Part of the reason we walked away from Manny at the end there, was that reason. We just felt that taking Manny when Bryce was still available just wasn't going to play well with the fan base. And so we passed."

Middleton cited a Twitter poll that ran from Feb. 17-18. More than 9,500 people voted. Eight-six percent said they preferred Harper over Machado.

“That is actually why, at the end of the day, when push came to shove, we walked away from the Manny deal,” Middleton said.

Machado agreed to his deal with the Padres on Feb. 19. Several front office executives cited the poll that day, at the very least as a point of discussion on the executive level at Spectrum Field.

Middleton also was asked about the widely cited comment he made to USA Today in November at the Owners Meetings. He said, “We’re going into this expecting to spend money. And maybe even be a little bit stupid about it.’’

"It was an intentional comment, it wasn't just something that slipped out," Middleton told Cataldi. "As I thought about the offseason and what we had to do, I wanted to send a clear, concise message to our fans, to the team, to our organization, that I expected us to get a lot better. I didn't want to do this over a series of incremental steps.

"I set that market out there. I set that as a goal. … I knew when I raised the bar, particularly when I did it publicly. ... By making it publicly, I made it a public expectation, which was part of raising the bar. Sometimes leaders have to eliminate the easy way out. Part of doing that is to cut off the escape route. It committed the organization to a series of decisions that was really going to test its mettle."