Philadelphia Phillies two-time Most Valuable Player and eight-time All-Star Bryce Harper is still progressing toward returning from injury, but could he be moved?
Harper has been absent from the lineup since suffering a wrist injury on June 5 after a pitch hit him. The Phillies have been great this season, but Harper’s absence from the offense has slowed them down a bit. The 32-year-old has been ramping up, but it’s still unclear when he’ll return to the field.
With the trade deadline quickly approaching, The Athletic’s Jayson Stark questioned whether the Phillies should move Harper back to the outfield when he returns and trade for a first baseman.
“Oh, and one more thing,” Stark wrote. “Logically, it would make sense for the Phillies to add one more right-handed bat. But does Dombrowski see any chance that bat could be a first baseman, someone who could motivate them to move Bryce Harper back to the outfield?”
Though the Phillies could use another right-handed bat, Dombrowski does not prefer to move Harper back to the outfield, as Stark shared.
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“Well, Bryce has said that,” Dombrowski said. “Bryce will be willing to do whatever needs to be done. And that’s one of the many things that are great about him. (But) I would really prefer not to do that.”
In 57 games this season, Harper is slashing .258/.368/.814 with nine home runs and 34 RBIs. It’s promising that Harper is willing to be a team player and do whatever the team needs of him, but it seems Dombrowski has no intentions of moving the veteran back to the outfield when he returns from injury.
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