Disappointed Harper: Phillies will ‘be back’

PHILADELPHIA — The Phillies’ offseason about an hour old early Wednesday morning, Bryce Harper delivered a three-word pledge for 2024. Contraction included.

“We’ll be back,” he promised. Easily said, difficult to achieve, Harper’s declaration that the Phillies will return to the postseason for a third consecutive year was built on the belief that brought him to Philadelphia in the first place: That John Middleton will not relent in his pursuit to return a world championship trophy to Citizens Bank Park.

That didn’t happen in 2022 despite heavy cash investments in Nick Castellanos and Kyle Schwarber, among others, and it didn’t happen in 2023 despite the addition of Trea Turner. It didn’t, however, compromise Harper’s faith.

“We’ve got a great owner and a great president and GM,” said Harper of Middleton and Dave Dombrowski. “They are going to give us the best opportunity to win and be here every single year.”

Such was the promise the Phillies were known to make Harper when they signed him for 13 years at a fee of $330,000,000 in 2019. Implicit in that, however, was that Harper would lead the way to consistent contention.

He did that again this season, returning early from elbow surgery to play 126 games and hit 21 home runs before adding seven home runs in the postseason. But he was 0-for-4 with a strikeout in a 4-2 Game 7 NLCS loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks Tuesday, leaving two on with a fly ball to left center in a deflating seventh.

“Yeah, I wish I had two pitches back,” said Harper, who also left a runner on in the fifth with a deep fly to left. “There was that opportunity and those moments and not being able to come through right there, especially against Gink.”

Kevin Ginkel retired Harper in the seventh with Cristian Pache and Schwarber on base, challenging him with a fastball. Harper calculated that the pitch missed the barrel of his bat by less than a tenth of a second.

“I got a heater,” he said. “And I just missed it.”

Among the reasons Harper chose the Phillies was his belief that they would be sufficiently financed for consistent contention. They reached the World Series last year, only to waste game leads of 1-0 and 2-1 against the Astros. This year, they had a 2-0 edge on Arizona in the Final Four, then lost four of the final five, the last two at home.

“We work all year to get to these moments and these spots and we weren’t able to close the door,” Harper said. “We had a commanding lead, but lost some tough games in Arizona, then lost the last two games here. They outplayed us, especially at home, and it is a tough feeling. It’s really a good team over there.

“That’s the great thing about baseball, right? When teams get hot, they keep going. And Arizona has playing really well.”

Harper was careful to express his gratitude to a fan base that endeavored to shout the Phillies to a championship. However, a World Series triumph in his career-long quest remains elusive.

“I think any time you start spring training, that’s your goal,” he said. “That’s the mentality. And like I said our GM and president are going to give us the opportunity to get back to this position.

“I expect this team to be ready to go Feb. 15, when we get there.”