Bryce Harper working out in December, 2025 in a batting cage wearing a shirt that reads "Not Elite." (Screenshot from Harper's TikTok account.)
In the moment, when Dave Dombrowski was questioning Bryce Harper's elite status at the end-of-season press conference, I thought it was intentionally done to light a fire under the Phillies first baseman.
After the presser was over, my colleague Tim Kelly had a different take. He felt that, while accurate, it was just a case of Dombrowski being a little too honest with us and that if he had a chance to do it over again, he probably wouldn't have been as direct.
It was interesting food for thought.
From there, it blew up. Wild, and inaccurate, speculation led to rampant discussion about the Phillies wanting to trade Harper. It lead to Harper venting to The Athletic about the whole situation.
Dombrowski and Harper sat down and discussed the matter and it seemed to be behind the Phillies until Harper decided to troll the Phillies president with his TikTok post on Friday that showed him taking batting practice in a batting cage while wearing a shirt that said "Not Elite."
@3ryceharper Eastside in my blood🥱
♬ Eastside - benny blanco & Halsey & Khalid
This can only be viewed in one of two ways. One that's very good and one that's not at all. There isn't really an in between.
Let's start with the positive, because this stems from what I believe to be true, and it would be the best thing for the Phillies.
Harper is motivated. Maybe more than he's been since the 2022 playoffs. Dombrowski's words are doing what they were intended to do.
Let's face it, 2025 was a tough year for Harper. Not only were his numbers a little down, but he dealt with that mysterious wrist injury that knocked him out of action for a month and impacted his game for a bit more than that.
But the one thing that wasn't discussed much, mostly because it was hard to put too fine a point on it, was Harper seemed a bit more mercurial in 2025 than he had in previous seasons.
I'm not sure if there was a distraction, other than the injury, but there was also the blow-up with Rob Manfred mid-season. Everything with Harper just seemed disjointed.
When he finally had a bit of an outburst in production in July, he reminded everyone - on more than one occasion - that he is still one of the best players in the sport.
But that didn't last. And over his last 58 games his numbers were adequate, but not typical for a player of Harper's stature. (.250/.329/.469; .798 OPS, 13 HR, 33 RBI.)
And it lingered. Usually, when Harper hits a valley, it's followed by a pretty steady climb to a peak. That never happened. He seemed mostly to be treading water - playing well enough to not be under the microscope, but not good enough to be thrust into the spotlight.
It was a very weird spot for him to be. It was just very un-Bryce-like.
I have to wonder if the Phillies got the same vibe from their All-Star? Is that what led to Dombrowski's comments?
And the reason I firmly believe what Dombrowski said was intentional was solidified by what manager Rob Thomson said that same day in a separate press conference.
"I think he's highly motivated to have the best season of his career next year," Thomson said. "He hasn't told me this, but that type of person, I've seen it before, when they have bad years, they go like gangbusters in the offseason to get better. They want to get back to where they normally are at. And I think that's just Harp's mindset. I think that's what he's going to do."
The TikTok post, which comes on the heels of Harper announcing he's going to play for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, would be clear evidence of that.
Harper has always been a guy who responds to challenges. How many times have we seen him come through with a big hit, usually a home run, to silence hecklers near home plate?
That time some dude was chanting overrated to Harper. This was an appropriate response by Bryce 🔥 pic.twitter.com/LIgOGq4eEZ
This might be the toughest challenge of his career to respond to though, especially since he's dealing with Father Time, as well. Harper hasn't played in 150 games in a season since 2019.
But he could be determined to prove everyone - especially his boss - wrong.
And if he is a motivated player, and gets back to being one of the 10 best players in the sport - even for just one year in 2026 - it'll help the Phillies in their never-ending quest to quench a championship thirst.
And if Harper has that kind of season, championship or not, we will all look back at Dombrowski's comments and admit the Phillies President was playing 4-D chess all along.
As I said, that's what I'm anticipating.
But there is a flip side to this. What if I'm wrong? What if this TikTok by Harper was simply born out of pettiness? What if he's not over it and is going to let it turn into some unnecessary cold war? A soap opera between the supposed face of the franchise and the guy in charge of constructing the team?
What if it leads to division, derision, and ultimately forces ownership to make a choice between two highly powerful and highly capable entities in their franchise?
This can manifest itself in multiple ways.
Harper can have a similar season as described above, where he's looking like the two-time MVP that he has been in the past, but rather than enjoying that, what if he starts clamoring (again) for a new contract? Or continues to take pot shots or troll management? What if it becomes a story line that we have to address on the regular? Does that become a distraction for a team trying to win it all?
Or what if Harper continues to be more pedestrian? What if he can't get back to that elite level? Will he, or his agent Scott Boras start talking about not being protected enough in the lineup, again? Will it be a not-so-subtle condemnation of another Phillies offseason in which the glaring hole in the lineup behind Harper was not addressed?
Does that lead to more back-and-forth between the player and management with a labor war looming following the 2026 season leaving a whole lot of certainty about the franchise's future?
How would Dombrowski's comments be remembered then? They likely would go down as some of the most damning ever uttered by a Philadelphia sports figure.
That would be terrible. A worst-case scenario, if you will.
But, it's also not implausible. There is a world where that could be the outcome.
This whole thing is like spaghetti-plotting a storm's path. Different models give you different outcomes, and you always seem to root for the one that has the least-negative impact on your area.
Will Hurricane Bryce wreak havoc on 29 other Major League cities but keep things bright and sunny in Philadelphia? (Isn't it always?)
Or will it take anchor over the City of Brotherly Love and be an unrelenting deluge?
Tracking it ought to be one hell of an adventure in 2026.
