Dombrowski questions Harper's status as elite player

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Bryce Harper turned 33 on Thursday, and the celebration for the new father of four just might not stretch very far inside the Philadelphia Phillies' front office.

After a season in which Harper's .844 OPS was his lowest since 2016 and his .261 average was his worst since 2019, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski analyzed whether Harper — a two-time NL MVP — can return to form as one of baseball's best players with six years left on his 13-year, $330-million deal.

“He's still a quality player. He's still an All-Star caliber player,” Dombrowski said Thursday as he broke down the season. “He didn't have an elite season like he's had in the past. I guess we only find out if he becomes elite or he continues to be good.”

Just good?

That has to sting for a player such as Harper who helped carry the Phillies out of baseball irrelevancy and into the playoffs for the first time in 11 years in 2022. Yes, Harper missed a month of the season as he recovered from a wrist injury, but the numbers did show an overall dip in production.

Against the Dodgers in the NL Division Series, Harper was just 3-for-15 batting with no RBIs in the four-game loss.

"Can he rise to the next level again? I don't really know that answer," Dombrowski said. "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. Again, it wasn't a bad year. But when I think of Bryce Harper, you think elite, you think of one of the top-10 players in baseball and I don't think it fit into that category."

Phillies manager Rob Thomson said Harper — who made a Gold Glove-caliber move from right field to first base and made the fastest return to the majors following Tommy John surgery of any player in big league history — may not have had the kind of success he was accustomed to over his 14-year career.

It just didn't mean Harper's best years were behind him.

"I think he's highly motivated to have the best season of his career next year," Thomson said.

Harper will certainly return next season as the Phillies try and figure out how to snap out of a four-year postseason malaise that has yet to win them a World Series. While Dombrowski has heavy decisions to make about a roster with several key free agents, he's not necessarily feeling the heat to shake-up the team.

"Need to be more change? We won 96 games," Dombrowski said.

The Phillies' hitting woes each October could be settled if Harper can rediscover that sweet left-handed stroke that once made him one of baseball's most feared hitters.

"What I'd like to see is just him be himself, try not to do too much," Thomson said. "Really focus on hitting the ball the other way. When he stays on the ball, he is such a great hitter. I think he just gets in the mindset that he tries to do a little too much because he knows that he's Bryce Harper."

Who's staying

Thomson will return for his fifth season and Dombrowski said the Phillies would likely work on a one-year extension beyond the 2026 season. Thomson has one year left on his deal.

The entire coaching staff — including embattled hitting coach Kevin Long — will return, though the Phillies are looking for a new bench coach. Mike Calitri will become a major-league field coordinator, and the Phillies would like to add someone with managerial experience to take his place.

The Phillies have increased their win total each of the last four years (87-90-95-96) while their postseason runs have gotten worse: losing in the 2022 World Series, the 2023 NLCS and consecutive series losses in the NLDS.

Dombrowski said the organization needed to "keep it in perspective" that the Phillies lost to a Dodgers team that could be steamrolling toward a second straight World Series title.

"I don't think you just break up clubs," because they lose again in the playoffs, Dombrowski said.

NL home run and RBI champion Kyle Schwarber, veteran catcher J.T. Realmuto and rotation stalwart Ranger Suárez are all free agents. Outfielder Harrison Bader, who raised his value with a dynamite two months with the Phillies, has a mutual option he is sure to decline.

"We love to have them all," Dombrowski said. "It's probably impractical we're going to have all four of them back."

The Phillies hold a $9-million club option or a $500,000 buyout on left-handed reliever José Alvarado, whose 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.

"I'd be surprised, without making any announcements, that Alvarado's not back with us," Dombrowski said.

Dombrowski said Zack Wheeler could be ready to return to the major leagues after May following surgery and complications from a blood clot. The Phillies ace is set to begin his rehabilitation next week. The 35-year-old Wheeler went 10-5 with a 2.71 ERA and led the majors with 195 strikeouts when he was sidelined in August.

No matter how the roster looks in 2026, how do the Phillies — with owner John Middleton supporting a $291.7 million payroll — snap out of the same October pattern of frigid bats from their highest-priced players that doomed them again against the Dodgers?

"We have a very substantial big-league payroll and I don't see that that's going to change," Dombrowski said. "John is very supportive of that. We have a good club with a lot of good players. But you don't have unlimited (funds). I read some places where how they get better is they sign this guy, they sign that guy. I don't think we're going to have a $400-million payroll. I just don't think that's a practicality."

Who's going

What will they do with right fielder Nick Castellanos — who has one year left on the five-year, $100-million deal signed ahead of the 2022 season — who seemed unhappy and cited personal issues with Thomson after losing his starting job late in the season?

Dombrowski said he became involved and settled the issue. There was no firm commitment Castellanos would return.

Outfielder Max Kepler will not return after he hit just .216 in his lone season on a one-year, $10-million deal. Reliever David Robertson also will not return.

Phillies are still here for Orion Kerkering

Kerkering made a wild throw past home instead of tossing to first that cost the Phillies Game 4 and the series. The only highlight replayed as much in Philadelphia than Kerkering's brain cramp of a throw was the sight of Thomson and many of his teammates consoling him in the dugout.

"He will get whatever assistance, and we will offer him whatever assistance that he needs," Dombrowski said. "We'll continue to work with him to try and get him through that. I think he can do that, but I also know it's a challenge for him and we'll keep in contact with him on a continued basis."

Talking about practice

Reliever Matt Strahm raised some eyebrows after the Phillies were eliminated on Kerkering's error when he said there wasn't routine pitchers' fielding practice.

"The only thing I can think of is, if you don't routinely practice it, how do you expect to make it happen every time? As an older guy in the bullpen, I guess I should have taken it upon myself to make sure we're doing our (pitchers' fielding practice)," Strahm told The Athletic.

Let Dombrowski have the last word.

"We did plenty. Actually, as it turns out, we did do PFPs in the postseason. (Strahm) didn't do them. But we did them," he said.

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