In his season wrap-up press conference with the media (including MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki) last week, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski described Bryce Harper’s 2025 campaign as something less than “an elite season like he has had in the past,” and expressed some vague uncertainty over whether or not Harper would be able to once again be an MVP-caliber star. While not really a criticism of Harper, Dombrowski’s comments created a bit of a stir, as Jon Heyman of the New York Post heard that Harper was “pissed off,” in the words of “people connected to the Phillies.”
Dombrowski has now spent the last two days downplaying any notion that the club is unhappy with Harper, or that the two-time NL MVP could possibly be nearing the end of his time in Philadelphia. The executive told the New York Post by phone that, simply, “Bryce Harper’s not getting traded. He’s a great player. He’s a future Hall of Famer. He’s a cornerstone of our franchise, and we look to have him be with us a long, long time.”
Dombrowski said that he had yet to speak to Harper since the press conference but probably would in order to further clarify things, again noting that he didn’t view his comments as an insult. Turning back to Dombrowski’s initial remarks from the press conference, the PBO said that going forward with Harper, “I guess we only find out if he becomes elite or he continues to be good. If you look around the league, I think…Freddie Freeman: He’s a really good player, right? He still is a good player. Is he elite like he was before? Probably not to the same extent. Freddie is a tremendous player, and that, to me, is Bryce. Can he rise to the next level again? I don’t really know that answer. He’s the one that will dictate that more than anything else.
“I don’t think he’s content with the year that he had. And again, it wasn’t a bad year. But when you think of Bryce Harper, you think of elite, right? You think of one of the top 10 players in baseball, and I don’t think it fit into that category. But again, a very good player. I’ve seen guys at his age — again, he’s not old — that level off. Or I’ve seen guys rise again.”
Over 580 plate appearances in 2025, Harper hit .261/.357/.487 with 27 home runs. This production translated to a 131 wRC+, which is the fifth-lowest of Harper’s 14-year Major League career. Of course, the fact that a 131 wRC+ counts as a down year for Harper is a testament to his high standard of play, and only 24 qualified batters in all of baseball topped the 131 wRC+ mark this season. From an fWAR perspective, Harper’s 3.5 total was tied for 45th amongst all qualified batters.
In an interview on the Foul Territory show on Thursday, Dombrowski said he viewed his statement about Harper’s season as “a compliment,” given how a 3.5 fWAR/131 wRC+ campaign would be a career highlight for many players.
“The reality is there are eight to 10 players in the game of baseball every year, when they’re not let’s say in the MVP consideration for whatever reason — sometimes it can be an injury factor, sometimes they just have a bad year — but whatever, it’s not an elite year for them….Now I’ve been reading that, ’Oh, the Phillies may trade Bryce Harper.’ That couldn’t be further from the truth. We love him. We think he’s a great player. He’s a very important part of our team. I’ve seen him have better years. I look for him to have better years.”
Harper just turned 33 last week, and Dombrowski acknowledged that there are natural concerns to be had about any player when he gets deeper into his 30’s. Yet, these aging concerns were already baked into the fact that the Phillies signed Harper to a 13-year, $330MM contract. As Dombrowski said on Foul Territory, in terms of gauging how players will continue to perform into their 30’s, “I’d take my chances with Bryce more than most, because Bryce is an elite talent. He’s a very very talented individual and he’s driven.”
Harper has already battled plenty of injuries during his career, including a bout of wrist inflammation that sidelined him for most of June. Dombrowski told the Post that Harper’s wrist problems were a factor in his 2025 season, though the PBO didn’t mention the injury during the press conference.
Speaking with Zolecki earlier this week, Harper’s agent Scott Boras said he “was surprised” that Dombrowski didn’t initially acknowledge the wrist issue, but otherwise had no problems with the executive’s comments. What Boras is hoping to see is more lineup protection for Harper in 2026, as the agent noted that Harper saw pitches in the zone only 43 percent of the time this season. Harper primarily hit third in Philadelphia’s lineup, with Trea Turner usually hitting leadoff and slugger Kyle Schwarber as the primary No. 2 hitter. The bulk of the Phillies’ cleanup at-bats went to Nick Castellanos and J.T. Realmuto, who each had below-average years at the plate (Castellanos a 90 wRC+, Realmuto 94 wRC+).
Dombrowski perhaps put it best when he said that “this thing has got a life of its own,” in terms of how his press conference comments have become a talking point. Dombrowski didn’t say anything untrue about Harper’s season, and it is also natural for a competitor like Harper to take umbrage at any idea that he is no longer one of baseball’s top players.
Harper is now past the halfway point of his 13-year megadeal, and is still owed $144MM over the final six seasons of the contract. It was just shy of two years ago that Harper and Boras raised the idea of a contract extension, though there seemingly hasn’t been any movement on that front, which is understandable since the Phillies likely felt no urgency or need to extend a player who was already locked up through his age-38 season.
In terms of trade possibilities, Harper has a full no-trade clause, and might well revisit a contract extension as a condition for accepting a deal. However, while Dombrowski has swung his share of blockbuster trades in the past, there is no reason to suspect Harper is a trade candidate this winter or in the foreseeable future. The Phillies are clearly in win-now mode, and Harper’s importance to the lineup becomes even greater if Schwarber and/or Realmuto left in free agency this winter.
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