Phillies’ Dombrowski wonders if Harper can be ‘elite’ again

PHILADELPHIA — Bryce Harper turned 33 on Thursday, and the celebration for the new father of four may not extend very far within 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 National League MVP — could return to form as one of baseball’s best players with six years remaining on his 13-year, $330 million contract.

“He’s still a quality player. He’s still an All-Star caliber player,” Dombrowski said Thursday as he finished the season. “He didn’t have an elite season like he has in the past. I guess we’ll just know if he becomes elite or if he continues to be good.”

Just good?

That has to sting for a player like Harper, who helped the Phillies move out of irrelevant baseball and into the playoffs for the first time in 11 years in 2022. Yes, Harper missed a month of the season while recovering from a wrist injury, but the numbers showed a decline in production.

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

“Can he still take it to the next level? I don’t really know that answer,” Dombrowski said. “He’s the one who will dictate that more than anything else. I don’t think he’s happy with the year he had. Again, it wasn’t a bad year. But when I think of Bryce Harper, you think elite, you think one of the top 10 players in baseball, and I don’t think he falls 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 quickest return to the majors after Tommy John surgery of any player in big league history, may not have had the kind of success he was accustomed to during his 14-year career.

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

“I think he’s very 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 find a way out of a four-year postseason malaise. As Dombrowski faces crucial roster decisions involving several key free agents, he doesn’t necessarily feel the pressure needed to shake up the team.

“Need more change? We won 96 games,” Dombrowski said.

The Phillies’ October hitting woes could be fixed if Harper can rediscover that sweet left-handed swing that once made him one of the most feared hitters in baseball.

“What I would 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 stays on the ball, he’s a great hitter. I think he just puts himself in the mindset that he’s trying to do a little too much because he knows he’s Bryce Harper.”

Dombrowski said the Phillies would likely work on a one-year extension beyond the 2026 season for Thomson, who has one year remaining on his contract.

The entire coaching staff — including embattled hitting coach Kevin Long — will be back, although 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 management experience to replace him.

The Phillies have increased their win total each of the last four years (87-90-95-96) while their playoff run has gotten worse: losses in the 2022 World Series, in the 2023 NLCS and back-to-back playoff losses in the NLDS.

Dombrowski said the organization had to “keep in perspective” the fact that the Phillies lost to a Dodgers team that could be headed to a second straight World Series title.

“I don’t think we should break up clubs” because they lose in the playoffs again, Dombrowski said.

NL home run and RBI champion Kyle Schwarber, veteran catcher JT Realmuto and rotation stalwart Ranger Suarez are free agents. Outfielder Harrison Bader, who increased his value with dynamite during two months with the Phillies, has a mutual option he’s sure to decline.

“We like to have them all,” Dombrowski said. “It’s probably not practical to collect all four of them.”

The Phillies hold a $9 million club option or $500,000 buyout on left-handed reliever Jose Alvarado, whose season was cut short due to an 80-game suspension for violating baseball’s performance-enhancing drug policy. Dombrowski said the Phillies could decline the option and reach a new deal with Alvarado.

“I would be surprised, without making any announcement, if Alvarado is 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. Phillies ace Wheeler is expected to begin 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.

Regardless of how the team looks in 2026, how will the Phillies — with owner John Middleton backing a $291.7 million payroll — emerge from the same October pattern of ice-cold bats from their most expensive players that doomed them again against the Dodgers?

“We have a very large payroll in the big leagues, and I don’t think 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 possibilities. [funds]. I’ve read places where the way they improve is they sign this guy, they sign that guy. I don’t think we’ll have a $400 million payroll. I just don’t think it’s a practical question.”

The Phillies will also need to figure out what to do with right fielder Nick Castellanos, who has one year remaining on a five-year, $100 million contract signed before the 2022 season. He seemed unhappy and discussed personal issues with Thomson after losing his starting job late in the season.

Dombrowski said he got involved and fixed the problem. There was no firm commitment to Castellanos’ return.

Outfielder Max Kepler will not return after hitting just .216 in his lone season on a one-year deal worth $10 million. Reliever David Robertson will not return either.

Meanwhile, the team continues to back Orion Kerkering, who threw a wild pitch in front of home instead of throwing to first, which decided Game 4 and the series. The one highlight that was as repeated in Philadelphia as Kerkering’s erroneous decision was the sight of Thomson and several of his teammates consoling him in the dugout.

“He will get all the help he needs, and we will give him all the help he needs,” Dombrowski said. “We’re going to continue to work with him to try to help him get through this. I think he can do it, but I also know it’s a challenge for him and we’ll stay in touch with him on an ongoing basis.”

Reliever Matt Strahm raised a few eyebrows after the Phillies were eliminated because of a Kerkering error when he said there was no routine pitching practice.

“The only thing I can think of is, if you don’t practice it regularly, how do you expect to get it done every time? As an older guy in the bullpen, I guess I should have taken it upon myself to make sure we do our [pitchers’ fielding practice]” Strahm told The Athletic.

Dombrowski, however, disputed Strahm’s assessment.

“We made a lot of them. Actually, it turns out we made some PFPs in the playoffs. [Strahm] I didn’t do them. But we did them,” he said.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.