The Mixed Messages of Bryce Harper
November. 3, 2025
The undeniable bond that Bryce Harper has had with Philadelphia has never been much of a mystery. He has always been a tough player with a commitment to winning that meshes perfectly with the psyche of the fans.
From his teens, Harper has basked in the biggest spotlights, catapulted over the biggest obstacles. He is indomitable, unflappable, and loyal – all major components in a Philly superstar.
Until the past few weeks, at least.
Now, in the aftermath of a disappointing season for him and the Phillies, he is sending out an entirely new message that contradicts everything that came before this. For reasons that he has chosen not to share, Harper has become an overly sensitive, shockingly petulant whiner.
In fact, dollar for dollar, my unofficial calculations show that he is now the highest-paid whiner in American sports.
And it all happened because his boss, GM Dave Dombrowski, had the audacity last month to tell the truth about Harper’s 2025 season.
“He’s still an All-Star-caliber player,” Dombrowski said at his end-of-season news conference. “He didn’t have an elite season like he has had in the past. And I guess we only find out if he becomes elite or continues to be good.”
The response was so shrill, you might have thought the GM speculated that his 33-year-old first baseman was in the Epstein files.
Predictably, the ever-softening Philadelphia media jumped to Harper’s defense, even though there is none, really. In what world does a .261 average with 27 homers and 75 RBIs qualify as elite? If anything, Dombrowski was being kind, given his slugger’s annual salary of $26 million.
Still, the support of the fawning reporters and broadcasters was no surprise if you have been paying any attention the past five years or so. Win or lose, very few Philly superstar asses go unkissed in the docile atmosphere of today.
But then the real story broke. Harper himself is upset about Dombrowski’s comments. In fact, it is even more pathetic than that.
Bryce Harper is “hurt.”
“I have given my all to Philly from the start,” he said. “It’s disappointing to hear me being questioned about my contribution to the team. Just really hurt by the notion because I love Philly so much.”
Harper went on to publicly lament a surge of supposed trade talk, even though he has full control of that option since he had an ironclad no-trade clause.
And this bit about Harper’s devotion to Philly is sounding more disingenuous nowadays, too. Yes, he insisted that there be no opt-out clauses in the $13-year, $330-million contract he signed in 2019. But he spoiled that act of loyalty when he openly campaigned for a new contract last season, not even halfway through the original deal.
So there was no opt-out for the Phillies, but an unspoken one for Harper? Is that what he was suggesting last year?
One thing I have gotten better at in retirement is knowing a big story from a bogus one. The Harper crisis belongs more in the latter category.
He is not getting traded; no one would pay him the $175 million or so still owed to him for his years between 33 and 40. Plus, he can always say no deal. It’s in the contract.
And don’t believe a word of Dombrowski’s apology last week. He’s only backing off his original statement to placate the fragile ego of his biggest star. The GM has every right to wonder if we have all seen the best of Harper at this point.
The real story here is that Harper is changing, and not for the better. Instead of embracing the support he has gotten from a fan base that fills every seat every game, instead of still trying to accomplish the main goal he had when he came here – a championship – he is feeling sorry for himself.
Philadelphia loses its affection for sports figures very quickly when these overindulged stars show their sensitive side.
If Harper thinks his boss’s appraisal wasn’t fair, there’s one way to prove him wrong, and that’s to become elite again.
Right now, unfortunately, the only thing Harper is elite at is whining. He needs to stop doing that. Immediately.
I’m having a difficult time processing this new direction of the 76ers, who are transitioning from a center-oriented team to a guard-first approach.
My old friend Stephen A. Smith actually said the other day that Tyrese Maxey and rookie VJ Edgecombe have the talent to become, well, here are the ESPN superstar’s
exact words:
“If not this year, by the end of next season, I believe there’s a legitimate argument that we will saying that the Philadelphia 76ers have the best backcourt in the National Basketball Association.
Stephen A. said a couple of other things worth pondering. One was that he thought GM Daryl Morey had entered into his final weeks running the team before Edgecombe exploded onto the scene. Now, all bets are off.
And two, Smith said, almost as an afterthought, that Joel Embiid’s return to health, fragile though is it, gives the Sixers a formula for NBA championship contention right now.
This has to be the first time in at least a decade that Embiid was not the focal point of a Sixer forecast. The former MVP is not nearly the player he once was, but as a supporter to that gifted backcourt, who knows?
What I’m trying to say here is that the Joel Embiid Process era may have already ended. We just don’t know it yet.
Hey, I’m fine with that. In fact, I’m fine with any formula that removes Embiid from the win-or-die equation. He’s too brittle and too sensitive to shoulder that burden.
Maybe Maxey and Edgecombe offer the real route to the first Sixers championship in more than four decades.
At least the two young studs have a chance to do it.
We know at this point that Embiid alone does not.
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Idle thoughts . . . .
- The Eagles are in a bye week, so I’m taking a quick break from them in this space. I must say, though, that I’m impressed again by GM Howie Roseman’s obsession to improve the roster by trading for two new cornerbacks and an edge rusher in the past few days. I just wish Howie were as aggressive during the past off-season.
- How great was that World Series? No, that wasn’t a rhetorical question. I didn’t see the biggest moments because, yet again, they happened after midnight in the East. The classic 18-inning Game 3 ended at 2:50 a.m. here. Baseball thinks this is a smart way to run a business. It’s one of the biggest reasons why the NFL – which offers all US fans access to every moment of every big game – surpassed MLB 30 years ago.
- Joel Embiid is playing with minutes restrictions right now, but his act just keeps getting more and more tired anyway. The NBA fined him $50,000 last week for a lewd gesture he stole from pro wrestling. Of course, he protested the decision on social media immediately, playing the one role he has never restricted – the victim. Always the victim.
- Fan polls of Stay or Go have taken a dramatic turn for Phillies manager Rob Thomson. Most were wildly supportive of him for the first three years, but after he flubbed his fourth straight postseason last month, a majority of fans, in virtually every poll, would prefer now that he leave. Eventually, the still-fawning media will make an adjustment to reflect its audience. On second thought, maybe not.
- Speaking of Thomson, what are the odds he would have gone back to his Game 6 starter, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, in the key late innings of Game 7 the way LA manager Dave Roberts did? A slave to pitch counts, Thomson would have been a quivering wreck when he saw that his ace had thrown 96 pitches the previous night and then 34 the next day with zero rest. Hey, Rob(ot), take note. This is how you win a championship.