One question that has to be asked of Bryce Harper: “Do you think you had an elite season in 2025?” If the answer is “no,” then the whole issue of Dave Dombrowski’s comments during a season-ending press conference needs to be ended. What Dombrowski said was that “Harper did not have an elite season.”
Which by most accounts, he did not. Harper’s 27 home runs were his fewest since 2023 when he was coming off of Tommy John surgery and he hit just 21 home runs. The previous season (2022) he was playing with a bad elbow and hit just 18 in 99 games. The last time he had fewer than 27 home runs was the COVID shortened season of 2020 when he hit 13 in 58 games. The last full season when Harper hit fewer than 27 home runs was in 2016 when he played in 147 games and hit 24 home runs. Those are still really good seasons and compare well to Freddie Freeman, who Dombrowski compared Harper to in that same press conference.
That’s not to say that Dombrowski’s comments were smart; they weren’t. The hope now is that Harper and Dombrowski can put all of this in the past. Go behind closed doors, yell if you have to, but hopefully, talk it out and make amends. Then, meet the press jointly and put an end to it then and there. Let it be known that they are both good with each other and that neither of them are going to take any further questions on the issue.
If something along the lines of that does not happen, then the issue has the potential to continue on and officially become a distraction.
“I don’t get motivated by that kind of stuff. For me, it was kind of wild; the whole situation,” said Harper at a media gathering in Clearwater on Sunday. “I think the big thing for me was when we first met with this organization we said ‘hey, we’re always going to keep things in house, and we expect you to do the same thing, so when that didn’t happen, it kind of took me for a run a little bit.”
Harper did go on to admit that: “Obviously, I didn’t have the year that I wanted. I didn’t have the postseason that I wanted; my numbers weren’t where they needed to be, I know that, and I don’t need to be motivated to be great. For Dave to come out and say those kind of things is kind of wild to me still.”
The truth is that the whole thing should have been put to bed by now. Just as the Nick Castellanos incident should have been dealt with quicker than it was. Instead, you have Kyle Schwarber standing in front of the media doing a tap-dance around a question about the Castellanos situation and the now infamous Miami Incident and Harper is talking about comments that should not have been made, at least in the way that they were.
There are enough questions for the Phillies to face this spring. Questions about Justin Crawford and Andrew Painter and their readiness to play in the majors. Questions about just how long Zack Wheeler will be out. Questions about Adolis Garcia and the potential for a bounce-back season. Questions about Alec Bohm and the persistent trade rumors.
Now is the time for both Harper and Dombrowski to show leadership, close ranks, and end the whole issue before it does become a distraction.
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