At the Trade Deadline, the Philadelphia Phillies made a bold move to completely refigure their defensive alignment to make room for Luis Arraez. Now, it may have cost them in the form of an injury to star Bryce Harper.
Harper was moved off first base and into right field, the position he had once played in the majors, because of the move. Since then, he’s begun battling knee soreness.
On Tuesday, Harper shared that the soreness goes back to July 11th, well before the Trade Deadline. However, it came back in the last week or so since he moved back to the outfield.
“I was not feeling it,” Harper said to The Athletic on Tuesday, “but the more I’ve ramped it up, I’ve gotten sore. I think the more I play, I think it’ll help me — just getting in condition more. I feel like I’m in spring training again, trying to get through everything. The more I play, the more my body is accustomed to playing the outfield, I think it’ll kind of weasel its way out.”
Harper was back in right field on Tuesday. There, he’d go 0-2 while taking two walks in a losing effort for the Phillies. Still, there’s a good chance he’ll need to go back to DH in the near future, which disrupts the lineup, either forcing Kyle Schwarber into the field or out of the lineup.
“Obviously it’s bothering me a little bit,” Harper said. “But we’ll see. I’ll take a DH (day) any time I can get it, but I don’t think we’re at that point yet.”
Philadelphia Phillies President Dave Dombrowski on Not Adding Another BatGettyPhiladelphia Phillies President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski
Going into the Trade Deadline, it was generally agreed that the Philadelphia Phillies needed a right-handed hitter. In particular, a right-handed hitting outfielder.
President of Baseball Operations Dave Dombrowski wasn’t able to add one, though. Instead, he brought in the left-handed second baseman, Luis Arraez. Harper’s move to the outfield solidified that unit, but didn’t address the lack of right-handed bats.
Recently, Dombrowski explained that it wasn’t because the Phillies had no interest in those bats. It’s just a matter of finding the right one to fit the roster.
“When you look at a right-handed hitting outfielder, as far as an everyday guy that would be a force in the middle of the lineup, we could not find one out there,” Dombrowski said. “There were guys that we liked that we thought would make us better, but they were almost all platoon guys. … We just couldn’t find that guy. And then you start saying, ‘OK, well, how are we going to make our offense better?’”
The closest the Phillies got was a minor league trade. In it, they landed former A’s prospect Colby Thomas, who is a right-handed hitting outfielder. The hope is he can reset his career with a change of scenery, but that’s not helping the MLB team today.
“We just couldn’t find that guy that was available that we thought was a legitimate upgrade of our club — but we felt that Arraez was,” Dombrowski said. “And then how could we make it work? Well, that’s when all the other conversations came into play. But we really explored all of the different markets.”
Phillies Manager Don Mattingly Believes Bryce Harper Can Play 162 GamesGettyBryce Harper of the Philadelphia Phillies.
It’s rare that anyone plays 162 games anymore. It’s particularly rare for a 33-year-old, like Bryce Harper, to do it. However, having played in all 121 Phillies games to this point in the season, it looks like Harper is going for it.
The last time Harper missed significant time was in 2022. That’s when he needed Tommy John Surgery, which originally moved him from the outfield to first base. Even without missing significant time, though, Harper has never played 162 games in his 15-year MLB career.
Despite that, interim Phillies manager Don Mattingly believes it’s very possible. That is, unless an issue pops up where he “absolutely has to have a day.” Hopefully, the knee issue doesn’t become that for Harper. Of course, if it does become that, the Phillies would probably prefer he take a break to get healthy than play injured and either at a diminished level or at risk of a major injury.
Harper is hitting .252 with a .370 OBP, a .495 slugging percentage, and an .865 OPS. He also has 25 home runs and 71 RBIs this season.
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