Philadelphia– bryce harper He turned 33 on Thursday, and the celebrations probably won’t extend too far for the new father of four philadelphia phillies‘ front office.
After a season in which Harper’s .844 OPS was his lowest since 2016 and his .261 average his worst since 2019, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski analyzed whether Harper – a two-time National League MVP – can return to being one of baseball’s best players with six years remaining on his 13-year, $330 million deal. Can.
“He’s still a quality player. He’s still an All-Star-caliber player,” Dombrowski said Thursday, ending the season. “He didn’t have an elite season like he has in the past. I think we’ll just find out if he becomes elite or he continues to be good.”
just good?
That stings for a player like Harper, who helped lead the Phillies out of baseball irrelevance and into the playoffs for the first time in 11 years in 2022. Yes, Harper missed a month of the season recovering from a wrist injury, but the numbers showed a decline in production.
against los angeles dodgers In the NL Division Series, Harper was only 3 for 15 with no RBI in the four-game loss.
“Can he get to the next level again? I don’t really know the answer to that,” Dombrowski said. “He’s a guy that will decide that more than anything else. I don’t think he’s satisfied with the year he had. Again, it wasn’t a bad year. But when I think about Bryce Harper, you think elite, you think one of the top-10 players in baseball, and I don’t think it fits into that category.”
Phillies manager Rob Thomson said that Harper, who made a Gold Glove-caliber move from right field to first base and made the fastest return to the majors after Tommy John surgery of any player in big league history, would not have had the kind of success he was accustomed to in his 14-year career.
This did not mean that Harper’s best years were behind him.
“I think he’s extremely motivated to have the best season of his career next year,” Thomson said.
Harper will almost certainly return next season as the Phillies try to figure out how to break out of a four-year losing streak in the postseason. While Dombrowski faces important decisions regarding the roster with several key free agents on the way, he isn’t necessarily feeling the heat of shaking up the team.
“Need more changes? We won 96 games,” Dombrowski said.
If Harper could rediscover the sweet left-handed stroke that made him one of baseball’s most dangerous hitters, the Phillies’ hitting problems each October could be solved.
“What I’d like to see is him being himself, trying not to do too much,” Thomson said. “Really focus on hitting the ball the other way. When he’s on the ball, he’s a very good hitter. I think he just gets in the mindset that he tries to do too much because he knows he’s Bryce Harper.”
Dombrowski said the Phillies would likely work on a one-year extension after the 2026 season for Thomson, who has one year left on his deal.
The entire coaching staff – including embattled hitting coach Kevin Long – will return, although the Phillies are searching for a new bench coach. Mike Calitri will become a major league field coordinator, and the Phillies will look to add someone with managerial experience in his place.
The Phillies have increased their win total over the past four years (87-90-95-96), while their postseason runs have been worse: losses in the 2022 World Series, consecutive series losses in the 2023 NLCS and NLDS.
Dombrowski said the organization “needs to keep it in perspective” that the Phillies lost to a Dodgers team that could have headed for a second consecutive World Series title.
“I don’t think you just break up clubs,” Dombrowski said, “because they lose again in the playoffs.”
NL home run and RBI champion kyle schwarberexperienced catcher JT Realmuto and rotation giants ranger suarez Are independent agents. outfielder Harrison BaderThe guy who raised his value with dynamite in two months with the Phillies has a reciprocal option he will surely decline.
“We’d love to have them all,” Dombrowski said. “It’s probably impractical that we would bring all four of them back.”
The Phillies have a $9 million club option or a $500,000 buyout on the left-handed reliever jose alvaradoWhose season was interrupted by an 80-game suspension for violating baseball’s performance-enhancing drugs policy. Dombrowski said the Phillies could decline the option and work out a new deal with Alvarado.
“Without any announcement I would be surprised if Alvarado didn’t come back with us,” Dombrowski said.
Dombrowski said jack wheeler May be ready to return to the major leagues after surgery and blood clot complications. Wheeler, the Phillies’ top hitter, is set to begin his rehabilitation next week. Wheeler, 35, went 10-5 with a 2.71 ERA and led the majors with 195 strikeouts when he was sidelined in August.
No matter what the roster looks like in 2026, do the Phillies — whose owner John Middleton supports a $291.7 million payroll — get their highest-priced players off the cold bat of the same October pattern that doomed them again against the Dodgers?
“We have a pretty big league payroll, and I don’t think there’s going to be any change in that,” Dombrowski said. “John is very supportive of it. We have a good club with a lot of good players. But you don’t have unlimited.” [funds]I’ve read some places how they get better, they sign this guy, they sign that guy. I don’t think we’ll get a $400 million salary. “I don’t think that’s practical.”
The Phillies also need to figure out what to do with right fielder. Nick CastellanosWho has one year remaining on a five-year, $100 million deal signed before the 2022 season. He seemed unhappy and cited personal issues with Thomson after losing his starting job at the end of the season.
Dombrowski said he got involved and resolved the issue. There was no firm commitment that Castellanos would return.
outfielder max kepler He would not return after hitting only .216 in his lone season on a one-year, $10 million deal. preventive david robertson Will not come back either.
In the meantime, support for the team continues Orion KerkeringThe one who throws wildly out of the house instead of tossing first Game 4 and series decidedThe only highlight of Kerkering’s bad decision in Philadelphia was seeing Thompson and several of his teammates console him in the dugout.
“Whatever assistance he needs, we will provide him,” Dombrowski said. “We’ll continue to work with him and try to get him through this. I think he can do it, but I also know it’s a challenge for him and we’ll be in constant touch with him.”
preventive matt stramm After the Phillies’ outing, some eyebrows were raised over Kerkering’s mistake when he said that regular pitchers did not have fielding practice.
“The only thing I can think of is if you don’t practice it regularly, how do you expect to do it every time? As an older guy in the bullpen, I feel like I should have taken it upon myself to make sure we were doing our job.” [pitchers’ fielding practice],” Stram told The Athletic.
However, Dombrowski objected to Stram’s assessment.
“We did a lot. In fact, as it turns out, we did PFP in the postseason. [Strahm] Didn’t do them. But we did them,” he said.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.
