Harper Expands on the Distraction He Feels Dombrowski's Comment Created

To be clear, this is not an example of Bryce Harper continuing to talk about Dave Dombrowski's "elite" comment after addressing it with reporters over the weekend in Clearwater, but it does provide more background.

Harper was a guest two weeks ago on the Bussin' With the Boys podcast with former NFL offensive lineman Taylor Lewan and linebacker Will Compton and the interview was released Tuesday. About two hours into it, the controversial topic arose.

Lewan was talking up a restaurant/sports bar in Arizona called Zipps and referred to it as "elite."

"I don't know about elite things since I'm not elite anymore," Harper joked.

Lewan and Compton then asked Harper about how he internalized the news over the offseason and which piece of it bothered him the most.

The outward nature

"I think there's things in the organization that you probably shouldn't say in an outward expression," Harper said. "If I had a problem with you and you were on my team, I'd probably bring you to the side and talk to you. And so I think that was one thing when I signed there, it was like hey, we don't say anything about the organization outwardly, or make sure it's behind closed doors.

"So I think that's where it rubbed me the wrong way a little bit. I respect Dave and everything he's done in the game. He's great at his job, but I think for me personally, if you have a problem, know you can talk to me. It's not going to motivate me, that's the thing. Anything that people say like that, it doesn't motivate me."

The distraction element

"I don't even have exit interviews," Harper said when asked by the two former NFL players. "Some guys might have them but we don't. But if he had something like that, obviously say it to me.

"I think the tough part is that it's just a story that doesn't need to be out there. When we get to spring training, it's going to be a story, people are going to talk to me about it. It just doesn't need to be a story.

"You don't want stories like that in spring, you don't want that to be right when you get there, 'Hey, what do you think?' Like, great, this is what I have to answer."

Still one of the best

"I was just shocked more than anything, just like that's kind of wild, that's a wild take," Harper said. "Obviously, I didn't have the greatest postseason or the year I wanted to have but if they want to talk about what stats mean or anything else, they have their numbers, they know where I'm at for the tier of the league. It's still there."

Harper had an .844 OPS last season, his lowest in a decade but still 11th-best in the National League, two spots ahead of Kyle Tucker. Even the best of the best see their performance fluctuate from incredible one season to very good the next or vice versa. Baseball careers aren't straight lines.

Harper hit .309 with a 1.044 OPS and 35 home runs in his 2021 MVP season with the Phillies. He hasn't reached any of those marks in the four seasons since yet still ranks eighth in all of MLB with an .880 OPS. He's sandwiched in between a group including Freddie Freeman, Ronald Acuña Jr., Mike Trout, Corey Seager, Tucker, Mookie Betts and Jose Ramirez.

So, yeah, still in the "elite" tier of players overall even if last season was below his standard.

Taking the blame

"I have a good relationship with Dave so it was kind've weird for him to even shoot that way, so I was just shocked," Harper said.

Harper has been such a massive playoff performer in his time with the Phillies. In 34 postseason games from 2022-24, he hit .325/.444/.709 with nine doubles, 12 home runs and 24 RBI. He destroyed the Braves in the NLDS in both 2022 and 2023, had his most iconic moment as a Phillie in the 2022 NLCS vs. the Padres and was basically the only Phillies hitter who produced in the 2024 NLDS loss to the Mets.

The 2025 NLDS against the juggernaut, eventual World Champion Dodgers was a different story. Harper went 3-for-15 without an RBI.

"If you want to blame somebody, I don't mind you blaming me. I didn't have my best series (against the Dodgers). I'm totally fine taking the blame for anything that happens. It comes with the territory. But things like that don't motivate me. I know I need to be better. I know I need to have a great year this year and I plan to do that."