Defiant Bryce Harper leans into ill-timed Phillies tension with Dave Dombrowski

The Philadelphia Phillies have been ramping things up in spring training since Wednesday, but Sunday marked star first baseman Bryce Harper’s first day in camp. Obviously when Harper arrives to spring training, everyone wants to hear what he has to say about, well, everything.

Not surprisingly, one of the first things he was asked about was president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski’s comments in the offseason questioning whether Harper was still an elite player.

Back in the fall, shortly after the Phillies had been eliminated from the NLDS, Dombrowski made a remark during his end-of-season press conference. He wondered aloud whether Harper was still an elite player in the league after having a down year at the plate, at least by Harper’s standards.

It didn’t seem like it was meant to ruffle feathers, but it’s Bryce Harper and this is Philadelphia. So it was big news in October and it’s big news again here in February.

Harper was reportedly “pissed off” (subscription required) at the time of the comments. He was also seen wearing a shirt reading “NOT ELITE” during a batting cage session.

Phillies’ Bryce Harper doesn’t back down in response to Dave Dombrowski

So the writing was on the wall. You saw it coming a mile away. There was no way Harper was going to get through his first day on the job without having to field questions about any potential rift between himself and the front office.

Harper didn’t back down. When asked about Dombrowski‘s comments questioning whether he’s still elite, Harper leaned in and didn’t mince his words, as reported by MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki.

“I don’t get motivated by that kind of stuff,” Harper said, per Zolecki. “It was kind of wild, the whole situation. I think the big thing for me was, you know, when we first met with this organization, it was, ‘Hey, we’re always going to keep things in house, and we expect you to do the same thing.’ When that didn’t happen, it kind of took me for a run a little bit. I don’t know. It’s part of it, I guess. It’s kind of a wild situation, you know, that even happening.

“Obviously, I didn’t have the year that I wanted. Obviously, I didn't have the postseason I wanted. My numbers weren't where they needed to be. I know that. And, you know, I don't need to be motivated to be great in my career or anything else. So that's just not a motivating factor for me. For Dave to come out and say those things, it's kind of wild to me.”

Harper could have easily just brushed it off and said it was nothing, that it wasn’t a concern to him. While he kind of, sort of did that, he also didn’t back down. Bringing up Dombrowski‘s original messaging from when he signed Harper seven years ago about “keeping things in house,” seems like a deliberate dig at the veteran executive for making that comment to the media, even if it was innocent in intention.

Any kind of perceived animosity between a player of Harper’s stature and anyone in the front office or on the coaching staff isn’t a great look. Phillies fans are on edge, and rightfully so, after the recent situation with Nick Castellanos.

Does anyone expect Harper to end up like Castellanos? No, that’s not going to happen.

But questioning your star player’s abilities isn’t the most brilliant strategy, especially when that player has helped turn baseball around in Philadelphia since his arrival in 2019. Honestly, even if there’s nothing there and even if nothing comes of this down the road, which is what most sane observers would expect, the fact that this is even a storyline at this point is another blemish against Dombrowski, at least in some fans’ minds.

Phillies fans will be hoping that Harper bounces back and has another MVP calibre season. There’s every chance that that could happen. But if he doesn’t, then Dombrowski’s comments will no doubt resurface.