Phillies' Bryce Harper breaks silence over 'wild' Dave Domobrowski not elite comment

The Philadelphia Phillies season in 2025 ended in heartbreak, and while they're gearing up for another contending season, there is one lingering story from the 2025 season.

After the year came to a close, Dave Dombrowski made a comment saying that Bryce Harper's 2025 season was not elite. This didn't sit well with Harper, and for the first time, he commented on it publicly.

As John Clark of NBC Sports Philadelphia shared, Harper clapped back at Dombrowski over his not elite comments, saying it was "wild" for Dombrowski to say that, and calling the president of baseball operations out for not keeping things in house.

Bryce Harper claps back at Dave Dombrowski

"It was kind of wild, the whole situation about that happening," Harper said. "I think the big thing for me was when we first met with this organization, it was 'hey, we're always going to keep things in house, and we expect you to do the same thing.' So, that didn't happen, took me for a run a little bit. It's part of it, I guess. It's kind of a wild situation, that's even happening."

Harper clearly isn't a fan of Dombrowski's comment. It was clear he didn't like it before, but this comment from Harper adds to his feelings about the "not elite" comment.

Not only is saying a player didn't have an elite season already an odd thing to say publicly, but it's also even stranger when it's about the face of the franchise, currently in someone like Harper.

Saying someone like Alec Bohm, Aaron Nola, or some other players who didn't have the best season weren't elite wouldn't be that strange. To call out Harper, who wasn't that bad, is, as Harper said, a "wild" decision from Dombrowski.

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And if this comment from Dombrowski was meant to spark motivation in Harper for the 2026 season, he had a response for such an angle as well: "I don't need to be motivated to be great."

Harper is not a fan of Dombrowski's comments, both as a motivation factor and also as a breach of trust. It is wild for Dombrowski, the executive who's responsible for building the team, to call Harper's 2025 season "not elite."

There are better ways to express that his 2025 season wasn't up to his standard, or that he's expecting more in 2026 from Harper. But choosing to say Harper wasn't elite is a wild comment to make on the team's face of the franchise.

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