Philadelphia Phillies: Bryce Harper approves of the Dave Dombrowski hire

Prior to Dave Dombrowski being hired, things weren’t looking too hot for the Philadelphia Phillies.

They had finally moved off the dreadful pairing of Andy MacPhail and Matt Klentak, but had no immediate plans of replacing them. Payroll was expected to come crashing down, J.T. Realmuto and Didi Gregorius were viewed as unlikely to return, and Zack Wheeler’s name was even popping up in some trade rumors.

Less than two years after signing with the Phillies, Bryce Harper was predictably not thrilled with the direction of his franchise. Speaking with the media for the first time since the 2020 season ended, Harper had this to say regarding his feelings on the state of the team pre-Dombrowski (quotes pulled from Todd Zolecki’s piece for MLB.com):

"“Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of people thought that,” Harper said Tuesday morning at Spectrum Field. “I think guys within the organization thought that. We were kind of figuring out like, what our identity is going to be, what are we going to do this offseason? … I remember sitting there talking to J.T. [Realmuto] and trying to be like, ‘What are we doing?’ You know like, ‘What’s going on?’ Not even about J.T., but just about everything else. Because if you’re a free agent and you’re sitting there and your team hasn’t really done anything, you’re sitting there going, ‘Well, do I really want to sign back?’"

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While Harper may have been feeling skittish following the disaster that ended up being 2019 and 2020, the hirings of Dave Dombrowski and Sam Fuld appear to have reassured him that the Phillies are in fact trying to win:

"“Once Dombrowski came in, finally, it was kind of like a breath of fresh air,” Harper said, “where you’re sitting there going, man, this guy is going to do his job and he’s going to do everything he can to help this organization. And I think the city is in need of that, you know what I’m saying?”"

Bryce Harper is back on board with the direction of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Obviously, Dombrowski hasn’t won anything as president of the Philadelphia Phillies quite yet. However, he’s had himself a productive offseason in terms of retaining and acquiring talent, and he of course carries with him a resume that will get him into the Hall of Fame the second he is eligible.

After two seasons of treading water under the guidance of Gabe Kapler, Andy MacPhail, and Matt Klentak, it’s not all that surprising to see Harper feeling just a tad more upbeat with Dombrowski now in charge.

When it comes to the Dombrowski hire, capitalizing on Bryce Harper’s prime is ultimately what he was brought in to do. Forget building up the farm for a moment, the cherry on top to Dombrowski’s baseball legacy would be delivering a World Series to Bryce Harper and this current Phillies team.