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PHILADELPHIA, PA - APRIL 09: Philadelphia Phillies right fielder Bryce Harper (3) receives hit National League Championship ring alongside primary owner John Middleton and Dave Dombrowski prior to the Major League Baseball Game between the Cincinnati Reds and the Philadelphia Phillies on April 9, 2023, at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, PA.
The Philadelphia Phillies’ 2026 season has quickly begun to come apart following the All-Star Game, and it appears things may be even worse off the field.
Philadelphia is just 3-9 in its 12 games since the break, and most recently got swept by a Miami Marlins team that had lost 12 games in a row prior to the series between the two.
Star first baseman Bryce Harper recently called out team president Dave Dombrowski, claiming that the team needs help before the upcoming trade deadline, and it sounds like that didn’t particularly sit well with Dombrowski.
Harper and Dombrowski already had a tenuous relationship after the team president called out his star player after being eliminated by the Dodgers in the 2025 NLDS.
“He’s 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. And I guess we only find out if he becomes elite or he continues to be good,” Dombrowski said at the time.
Those comments didn’t sit well with Harper, who fired back in February.
“I don’t get motivated by that kind of stuff,” he told reporters. “For me, it was kind of wild the whole situation of that happening. I think the big thing for me was, when we first met with this organization, it was, ‘Hey, you know, we’re always going to keep things in-house, and we expect you to do the same.’ And so, you know, when that didn’t happen, it kind of took me for a run a little bit.
Now it sounds as if the two are still at odds.
Bryce Harper And Dave Dombrowski Never Got Back On The Same Page
After Wednesday’s loss to the Marlins, which dropped Philadelphia 6.5 games behind the Braves for the lead in the NL East and left them just 1.5 games up on the Padres for the final Wild Card spot, Matt Gelb of The Athletic reported that things are still tense behind the scenes in Philadelphia.
“Neither Harper nor Dombrowski, two powerful men with huge egos, particularly cares for the other,” Gelb reports, stating that the two have not repaired their relationship following Dombrowski’s initial comments.
It probably didn’t help matters that interim manager Don Mattingly, whose son, Preston, is the Phillies’ general manager, decided to get involved recently.
“Guys want to be GMs without a real understanding of where the organization is, exactly where this thing goes,” Mattingly said. “Not only this year, but moving forward. Players like being GMs and making calls and spending other people’s money. So I just let it go at that. I mean, Dave’s been doing this a while. He’s never really backed away from trying to get guys. We’re trying to get better. We’re going to try to get better at the deadline.”
Harper’s current contract runs through 2031. Dombrowski is expected to sign an extension with the organization. So either the two figure it out, or things could get extremely ugly in Philadelphia in the coming years.