Advertisement
Bryce Harper‘s season could be in jeopardy after the reigning NL MVP suffered a fractured thumb in Saturday’s game against the Padres. Opposite to Blake Snell In the fourth inning, Harper had to duck to avoid a 97-mph fastball that sailed up and down, but the court still hit Harper in his left hand, leaving the Phillies’ bat with visible pain.
Harper left the game immediately, and the Phillies announced shortly thereafter that initial testing revealed the breach. More details will come out after more testing takes place, and baseball operations president Dave Dombrowski told reporters (including Matt Yellow by The Athletic) that it’s too early to tell if Harper needs surgery. So the door isn’t closed on a possible Harper return, as Dombrowski “hope he comes back sometime.”
If surgery is required, Harper risks missing the rest of the 2022 campaign. While each specific injury is different, for comparison, Jean Segura received a recovery period of 10-12 weeks after the Philadelphia second baseman suffered his own broken finger in late May and required surgery.
Losing Segura was a brutal result for the Phils, but the team bounced back and had their best month of the season. The Phillies had a 22-29 record under the former manager Joe Girardibut after Girardi was fired and Rob Thomson promoted from bench coach to interim manager, Philadelphia promptly went on a 15-6 run over Thomson’s first 21 games as skipper.
That run brought the Phillies back above the .500 mark (37-35) and went into tonight’s action and three games from an NL wild card berth. However, it’s hard to imagine Philadelphia staying in the running without Harper’s contributions to an overall unconvincing lineup. With Harper and Segura outside Kyle Schwarber and Rhys Hoskins are the only regulars batting well above average.
Harper has already played with pain as a minor UCL tear has restricted him to DH duty for over two months. By and large, Harper Philadelphia’s monopolization of the DH spot didn’t help, as Schwarber and Nick Castellanos were forced into everyday corner outfield roles, much to the detriment of the Phillies’ defense. (And possibly the offense of Castellanos, given that he had an overwhelming year on the plate.) On the plus side, Harper’s own bat was still on fire as he hit 15 home runs and a .320/.385/.602 slash line in today’s game against the Padres.
Harper’s UCL rip complicates things further. If the Phils fall behind in the postseason race, Harper could decide not to delay the inevitable any longer and undergo elbow surgery, shutting him down for 2022 but likely ensuring he misses little or nothing from the 2023 season .
Injuries have long been a side issue in Harper’s career, but he’s had relatively longevity in recent years, playing in 515 games out of a possible 546 from 2018-21. Throughout it all, Harper has continued to produce at the Cooperstown level, including last year’s MVP campaign. After winning the NL MVP honors with the Nationals in 2015, Harper became the fifth player in baseball history to win a multiple-team MVP when he hit .309/.429/.615 as the league-best with 35 homers and 42 doubles with the Phillies last season.
Unfortunately, that production could only help the Phils to an 82-80 record – enough to go on a nine-consecutive winless season streak, but not enough to propel the club back into the playoffs. Harper’s 13-year, $330 million contract makes him an easy target for criticism, but the Phillies’ lack of success on the field is hardly Harper’s fault, given his tremendous count in more than three years in Philadelphia.
In the short term, Harper’s absence clears DH space for a Schwarber/Castellanos timeshare, which may create an opportunity for a major defensive upgrade. Dombrowski said that Mickey Monica is called up to take Harper’s place on the active roster, though Moniak is hardly an ideal day-to-day solution. Right now, the Phillies’ plan seems to be to have one of Castellanos or Schwarber at DH in a regular lineup, the other in a corner in outfield, and a rotation from Moniak. Odubel Herreraand Matthew Vierling for the other two outfield positions. On the farm, Scott Kingery, Justin Williams, Jorg Bonifacioand Dustin Petersen are all options, although none are on the 40-man roster.
A swap would be a way for the Phillies to address the situation because even if Harper is gone for the season, the Phils won’t immediately wave the white flag on their chances of finally ending their playoff drought. However, Dombrowski could await Harper’s status before determining the extent of a future move — if Harper could avoid surgery, it could increase the chances of the Phillies acquiring a more tried-and-true, everyday outfielder, rather than perhaps a complementary piece.
For Phillies fans looking for a silver lining, the 2021 Braves, who were only 44-44 then, are the obvious comparison Ronald Acuna Jr. tore his ACL on July 10th. While Atlanta seemed doomed, the Braves instead overhauled their outfield mix by trading for Eddie Rosario, Joc Pederson, Adam Duvaland Joerg Soler before the close and eventually rolled all the way to a World Series championship.
While it might be far-fetched to think that such a scenario could materialize for another NL East team for a second straight season, Dombrowski is no stranger to aggressive roster shuffling. The way the Phillies rebounded in June breathed new life into the team’s season, and it would take Philadelphia an immediate and sudden downturn to go into seller mode before the deadline.
Photo courtesy of USA Today sports images
