THURSDAY: In the latest twist on this story, Janes reports that Rizzo held a sit-down with Harper, manager Dusty Baker, and trainer Paul Lessard in order to determine whether there was something he was not aware of. Per the report, Harper denied that he was dealing with any injury and Lessard said he had not treated Harper in the shoulder/neck area since he sat out a handful of games earlier this year. Further, says Janes, Harper stated that he had not told Verducci anything to the contrary.
Janes wisely sought out agent Scott Boras for comment on the matter, given his high-profile involvement in the health-related situations of several other major clients. But Boras declined to comment in this case, citing HIPAA laws. That federal health information protection statute obviously does not forbid disclosure or discussion of medical information where consent is obtained from the individual in question.
The report suggests that the Nationals genuinely do not know where the reports are coming from and still have no reason to believe that Harper is dealing with a shoulder injury. As Janes notes, Rizzo’s statements on the matter seem to indicate that he is relying upon what the club’s star is telling him. “Rizzo has effectively tied his own credibility to Harper’s,” she writes, “a strong statement of trust in the 23-year-old’s honesty.”
TUESDAY: Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated reported for a second time today that reigning National League MVP Bryce Harper is playing through a shoulder injury that is severely hampering his ability to perform at the plate, and, as Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post writes, the Nationals have once again vehemently denied that Harper is playing through a notable injury. Verducci reported similar news last month, prompting GM Mike Rizzo to call the report inaccurate. Harper, Janes notes, wouldn’t confirm or deny the report when approached today and simply refused to comment on it entirely.
Verducci cites “a source close to Harper” in writing that at the peak of the issue, Harper was scarcely able to throw the ball 40 feet and points out that Harper was playing abnormally shallow in right field this past weekend. According to Verducci, Harper has been playing through the issue since early July, and the SI scribe quotes manager Dusty Baker stating “the shoulder thing” has been bothering Harper. Baker, however, adamantly insisted to Janes that he was misrepresented in the column and was referencing the previous neck injury that cost Harper five games in August when he spoke to Verducci this past weekend.
“That’s totally inaccurate,” said the Nationals’ skipper. “I don’t know where they got that from. … Bryce said it didn’t come from him. Nobody really knows where it comes from because it’s not on the injury report. The trainer said no. We treated that shoulder already in the past. If I did make a mistake it was because it’s in his neck, which is connected to his shoulder.” Baker conceded that at the time Harper was held out of the lineup for those five games, his throwing was hindered. But Baker also insisted that Harper is healthy and able to throw right now, pointing to the fact that Braves third base coach Bo Porter held several runners at third this weekend rather than testing Harper’s typically strong arm.
Nationals GM Mike Rizzo, meanwhile, once again stated to Janes that Harper is healthy and added that he checked with Harper himself in light of the report and was told that there’s no issue. Said Rizzo: “I just talked to the player again because of the new stuff that came out, and he says it’s the 4-5 days he had with the neck. That’s it.”
Whether there’s an injury at play or Harper’s productivity is simply lacking due to mechanics or another reason, the drop-off in 2016 has been notable. Harper slugged his way to MVP honors last season when he hit .330/.460/.649 with 42 homers, and he carried an OPS north of 1.000 as deep into the 2016 season as May 22. That’s an admittedly arbitrary endpoint, but Harper is hitting a pedestrian .235/.343/.398 in 96 games since that time. While his patience at the plate is eminently visible — he’s walked in at least 13 percent of his plate appearances each month the 2016 season — he’s showing a fraction of his previous power. Since the All-Star break, just 8.5 percent of Harper’s fly balls have left the yard. That’s a significant drop-off from the 18.6 percent mark he posted in the first half, and it’s a precipitous drop from the staggering 27.3 percent HR/FB rate he posted in 2015.
Verducci’s column breaks down the various ways in which a shoulder and/or neck injury could be impacting Harper’s swing at the plate, whereas Janes’ column has further quotes on the matter and further analysis of comments from Baker and Rizzo. Those looking for a greater level of detail on the reported injury and the team’s denial of said ailment are encouraged to check out both pieces in their entirety.
An established journalist like Verducci wouldn’t risk losing credibility by bringing up this injury story for a second time if he didn’t have a reputable source. All evidence points towards Harper being hurt. And if I’m a Nationals fan, I hope he’s playing hurt, cause that means he should return to his MVP April and May of this year form next year when healthy.
If he was hurt wouldn’t they rest him, the Mets aren’t going to catch them. Get him ready for the playoffs
Of course not. Dusty has to get maximum mileage out of all of his players.
So he runs them into the ground and picks up the pieces later?
Unless rest wasn’t going to help. Obviously he can’t seriously hurt it anymore or else he wouldn’t be playing. So if he is injured, he’s probably playing through the pain to get ready for the playoffs.
So true.. Dusty burns out every team he has ever had…
Yes little tyke, that’s what he’s saying. If you were born before 2003, (obviously you weren’t.) you’d know what he’s talking about. Look up these players because they were before your time, Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, Carlos Zambrano, and Matt Clement. (Yes I put the whole rotation with the exception of Estes, because all of them had surgery at some point after 03, and Z just decided to burn out at 30
That’s what history tells us ib6
I see you are familiar with Dusty’s M.O.
The other M.O. You should see is winning wherever he’s gone. You guys can always try and find a reason to Bash Dusty, but I guess that gives you some kind of satisfaction. If Harper was hurt, I’m sure he wouldn’t be playing against his will. Are you same idiots blaming Terry Collins for injuries to the Mets pitching staff??
Cubsfan: You blaming Terry Collins for all of the Mets injuries? Bobby Cox/Fredi Gonzales for all of the Braves surgeries? Bud Black for all of the Padres surgeries when he was manager? I could on and on with pitchers and injuries. Quit making excuses for a terrible franchise. Cubs fans are as worse as Cowboys fans
Yes….winning until the playoffs, which plays right into the “working them into the ground” theory. They play well enough during the regular season to win and make it into the playoffs, and then can’t shut the door.
Which of Dusty’s teams have won it all?
NONE. Which teams have faired better after he left? Took the Giants awhile, Cubs even longer. What about the Reds? So what he hasn’t won it all, but he’s out together contending teams everywhere he went.
BTW…. players get paid MILLIONS to play a game. The same hypocrites bash guys that don’t run full speed to 1B every time. Can’t have it both ways
Is Harper getting paid millions to play right now?
I am curious as to if there is an injury why would they conceal it? On the flip side, an injury would also be a good cop out for his performance. Or if he is injured, why not rest him? The whole thing is just strange to me. Not fishy or anything. Just strange.
I have the same question. The only thing I can think of is that the injury is something that might prevent him being able to hit a particular pitch. Like say it’s painful for him to hit anything up and in. Other teams would be throwing the ball there all day.
But you’d also think eventually scouts or advanced metrics would figure out if he suddenly couldn’t hit a particular pitch?
Anyone else have any ideas why the injury would not be disclosed? Maybe HOW it was injured? Like maybe he injured it at a fetish club being whipped by another Preppy Hipster Fakerjack? I mean I’m not saying this happened, just saying IF something like that happened they might not want to address it?
Here’s s crazy thought, maybe he’s not injured and just actually sucks?
1 phenomenal season last year vs 3 mediocre seasons prior to it and now he’s back to playing like he did in the 3 earlier seasons this year.
I mean….call me crazy…. But maybe this is just the kind of player he really is and last year was the anomaly.
Tough to wrap your head around given how hyped he is, I know.
Dusty Baker wouldn’t rest him. Let me point you to Mark Prior, Kerry Wood, Johnny Cueto, Brandon Phillips, and Jay Bruce.
Poor, poor, Prior
2026 Nationals’ fans: Dusty Baker ruined Bryce Harper’s career.
Rest the Boy !
I love when ppl blame Dusty for overusing Prior if Alex Gonzalez fields that Double Play I bet they’d have whole different view of Him
No we wouldn’t
If Gonzo makes that play, it still doesn’t excuse the fact that he kept Prior in game 2 when they were up 8-0. He overused him. As soon as he gave up the hit after the bartman play, he should’ve pulled him. Dusty doesn’t like to play rookies, and doesn’t know how to manage a rotation, period.
Dusty can manage better than you. Funny how when Dusty left, the team went into the TANK, just like in Cincy. I guess that’s just coincidence, right? Blame Dusty for everything that went wrong in a city that hasn’t won in 100 yrs. can’t wait to see the CUBBIES flame out again. You gonna blame Maddon???
You think after all the grief that poor kid Bartman got, if the Cubbies make it to game 7 in the WS he should just show up in the stands… even in the same seat, dressed exactly the same and just intently stare at the hitters not saying a word… If I’m the team playing against them I offer him a million bucks and all the security he wants to do it…. just to creep them out. hehehehe
How did the Cubs go in the tank when Dusty Left? Pinnella had then in the playoffs in back to back years and best record in baseball in one of them. If you do not know the facts. Then dont post
Sounds like Mr. Harper is trying to an excuse out there for why he is having a bad year. Bye bye 500M.
Quite the opposite – the issue seems to be that he’s NOT making any excuses, and just playing though the problem.
Sounds like you need to find a better way to take potshots at people you don’t like to begin with.
If he was trying to excuse his bad performance, then he would say he was injured. How is denying being injured making an excuse?
Read the story. He’s not denying he’s being injured.. Rizzo and Baker are the ones being clear here. He certainly isn’t trying very hard to clear the air. Harper seems to be conveniently ambiguous about the whole situation. Like he wants everyone to think he’s hurt but he doesn’t want to be the one to say he’s hurt, because he knows that would make people say “he’s making excuses”. So he’s just getting someone else to say it.
I agree with Nine Livez. I think if there’s anyone here trying to “spin” the story based on a preexisting bias, it’s you Cam. The story being reported here is that there’s an under preforming star (Harper) and a leaked story about an injury that may or may not be true. Assuming this isn’t just completely incompetent reporting, there’s only really 2 scenarios that make sense here: 1 is that Harper is in fact hurt and it is in some way in his or the teams best interest to conceal the injury or to not let all the facts about the injury become known, but the story did get leaked and now they’re trying to pretend like they didn’t know the whole time. The other scenario is that Harper is having such a down year that leaking a story about an injury would help excuse his poor performance, and the team found this out, realizes it makes them look bad if there in fact has not been an injury reported to them or that they’ve been treating him for, and would like to clarify the issue publicly. Now, it’s clear that Rizzo is trying his best to figure out what’s going on and looks to be pretty transparent. Dusty Baker has openly denied that there is an injury. But reading the article above it says that while Harper told Rizzo behind closed doors that he has no injury, when asked about it and the report that he did have an injury Harper would “neither confirm nor deny”. That sounds to me like he is at very least OK with leaving some ambiguity to the situation. To me, that is also confirmed when he could very easily tell his agent to squash the rumor and Boras, who never shuts up, sites HIPPA and won’t talk about it. Now, I’m not saying Harper himself leaked the injury news, but it’s pretty clear that someone close to him did. It’s even stated outright by the reporter. It’s not hard to imagine a situation where Harper let’s his person close to him leak the info for his benefit, especially when he hasn’t publicly denied it since. The point is, I don’t think Nine Livez did anything here but connect the dots from the story he read, sounds like you got your feelings hurt.
@Aaron, I think you that’s a good summation of the situation and theories as to why.
My gut tells me that Harper is okay with leaving the ambiguity because he has to be “the best” (and there’s nothing wrong with that) but also he wants everyone else to see him that way and when he has a down year, at least there will be some that will say “yeah well he’s playing through an injury they won’t tell us about”. So he doesn’t seem like as big of a failure to everyone.
Bottom line is… as much as I dislike the guy… he’s a talented player and the league needs superstars like him, so I hope it’s a blip and he’s back to being a great player again… I just wish he didn’t have such a douchey attitude and carried himself more like a Posey or a Jeter. MAN… THEN… He would be one of my favorite players.
Really hope he is injured… not to wish injury unpon a player, but he’s
Really delined this season