Phillies

If We’ve Learned Anything from the Bryce Harper and Dave Dombrowski Saga, it’s that Being Honest with Fans and Media Oftentimes isn’t Worth it

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Oct 25th, 2025 · 9:44 PM EDT

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The Bryce Harper saga took another turn on Saturday when Matt Gelb at The Athletic (now with ads) got some exclusive quotes with the Phillies’ 33-year-old slugger.

The CliffsNotes is that Bryce is annoyed with Dave Dombrowski’s comments at the season-ending press conference from a little more than a week ago. In sequential order, the eight days have included the following, in order:

• Dombrowski is asked about Harper and questions whether or not Bryce will ever be an elite player again.
• Fan and media trade speculation is ratcheted up to ridiculous levels, DESPITE the fact that Bryce has a no-trade clause and no opt out. He has six years remaining on his contract at about $25 million AAV over those six years.
• Numerous stories are written about Harper, while social media and sports talk radio goes ham on the topic.
• Dombrowski appears on the Foul Territory podcast and says the Phillies have no intention of trading Harper
• Harper goes public in the conversation with Gelb, saying he’s hurt by the trade speculation that Dombrowski contributed to.

Harper to Gelb:

“I have given my all to Philly from the start. “Now there is trade talk? I made every effort to avoid this. It’s all I heard in D.C. (with the Nationals). I hated it. It makes me feel uncomfortable.”

There’s been a lot of arguing about whether or not Dombrowski’s comments were reasonable. Harper battled a wrist injury this year and didn’t look like the player we’ve seen in past Phillies seasons, but he still finished with an .844 OPS and hit .261 while driving in 75 runs. He hit 27 homers and logged 244 total bases while drawing 70 walks, so he wasn’t exactly Mario Mendoza out there. He didn’t have a great postseason against the Dodgers, but not many Phillies did.

That’s all been litigated to death, and will continue to be, but what’s intriguing from a different perspective is the concept of transparency, and the rare moment of honesty we got from Dombrowski in this quote:

“Of course, (Bryce Harper is) still a quality player. He’s still an All-Star caliber player. He didn’t have an elite season like he has had in the past. I guess we only find out if he becomes elite or if he continues to be good.

I look around the league. Freddie Freeman – he’s a really good player, right? He still is a good player. Is he elite like he was before? Probably not to the same extent. Freddie’s a tremendous player. And, that to me, is Bryce. Can he rise to the next level again? I don’t really know that answer.

He’s the one who will dictate that more than anything else. That’s what it comes down to. I don’t think he’s content with the year that he had. And, again, it wasn’t a bad year. But when I think of Bryce Harper, you’re thinking elite, right? You’re thinking of one of the top 10 players in baseball, and I don’t think it fit into that category. But, again, a very good player. I have no idea. I’ve seen guys at his age, again, he’s not old, that level off. Or I’ve seen guys rise again. We’ll see what happens.”

Right or wrong, Dombrowski is being sincere with fans and media. That’s not common. And what did that get him? It got him into a mess. It backfired. You likely have been hearing a lot of takes that go something like, “Dombrowski might not be wrong, but he shouldn’t have gone public with it, he should have kept that to himself.”

And if we’re accepting that as the better strategy, when what does the alternative look like? Dombrowski could have danced around the question and said absolutely nothing. Then we’d be annoyed that he decided to dodge the question, in turn being dishonest with fans.

In both cases, we’re annoyed. It’s really a catch-22 if you think about it, because both paths lead to pissing someone off. If you’re honest and sincere, you run the risk stepping directly into the shit, but if you give us boring platitudes with a side of word salad, then you’re being disingenuous. You’re in a lose/lose situation.

This is a good reminder of why we usually get nothing from coaches and executives, and why it will probably continue, because being honest oftentimes isn’t worth it.