Brice Harper breaks silence on Philadelphia president’s “wild” breathing
The The Philadelphia Phillies are currently preparing for spring training as they prepare for the upcoming 2026 MLB season, the Phillies are looking to make a comeback losing to the eventual World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers in shocking fashion in last year’s NLDS.
After last season, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski made some eyebrow-raising comments, publicly questioning whether the star Brice Harper was still an elite player.
Now, Harper himself is reacting to perceived dis.
“I’m not motivated by things like that, it was kind of crazy for me the whole situation when it happened,” Harper said, per the Associated Press, via ESPN. “I think the big thing for me was 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,’ so when that didn’t happen, it sent me running a little bit, so I don’t know. That’s part of it, I guess. It was kind of a wild situation.”
Back in October, Dombrowski drew heavy criticism for his public criticism of Harper following the collapse of the 2025 playoffs.
“Can he take it to the next level again? I don’t know the answer to that,” he said. “…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 fits into that category.”
In a vacuum, Dombrowski wasn’t wrong, as Harper didn’t play up to his future Hall of Fame standards last year.
However, the problem wasn’t so much what he said, but what he said and how he said it, and Harper clearly didn’t appreciate that too much.
The Phillies’ season is scheduled to begin in late March.
2026-02-15 17:19:00
