An elbow issue that’s relegated Bryce Harper to DH duties since mid-April has been diagnosed as a ’small tear’ in his UCL, reports Alex Coffey of the Philadelphia Enquirer. While the reigning NL MVP remains able to swing the bat, he’ll undergo a platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injection on Sunday that will keep him out of the Phillies lineup on Sunday, and possibly into early next week.
The team had previously called the issue a mild elbow sprain, but a visit to Dr. Neal ElAttrache confirmed a test from last week that appeared to show a small tear in his ulnar collateral ligament — the same ligament replaced in Tommy John surgeries. Whether or not such a surgery is in Harper’s future remains to be seen, but it appears that the Phils’ present intention is to keep Harper’s bat in the lineup in whatever way possible.
Signed by the Phillies to a 13-year, $330MM deal ahead of the 2019 season, Harper has mostly lived up to his billing, compiling a .280/.396/.553 triple-slash — good for a 145 wRC+ — in the first three-plus seasons of the deal. 2021 marked his best season in Philadelphia, as he led the majors in both slugging percentage and OPS with a .309/.429/.615 batting line (a 170 wRC+, also best in the bigs) en route to his second NL MVP.
Whatever the prognosis, Joe Girardi’s squad can ill afford to have Harper out of the lineup for long. It’s still early, of course, but the Phillies are already seven games off the pace in the NL East. They may have suffered a bit of bad luck already early in the year: despite a run differential of plus-ten, for instance, the Phillies are three games under .500 entering play on Thursday, and neither the offense (with a collective wRC+ of 106) nor the pitching staff (which has an xFIP of .365, ninth in the bigs) has clearly underperformed. Still, with both the red-hot Mets and the defending World Series champion Braves (not to mention the pitching-rich Marlins) in the same division, Girardi will need to right the ship sooner than later if his team wants to keep alive more than faint hopes for a division title.
After signing both Nick Castellanos (to a five-year, $100MM deal) and Kyle Schwarber (four years, $79MM) in the offseason, the Phils were already playing with defensive fire, but the expectation had been that one of the two would serve as the DH the vast majority of the time. While both have provided some punch at the plate (Castellanos much more so, with a 147 wRC+ to Schwarber’s 99), they’re also both liabilities on defense — an effect that’s amplified when they share an outfield. Harper has rated out as roughly average in right (his 9.9 career UZR suggests he’s saved roughly ten runs over his eleven-year career, though defensive advanced stats are far more controversial than offensive), but his replacement with either Castellanos or Schwarber represents a substantial downgrade.
Yep, didn’t IL him and look where it’s got us. More medical staff shenanigans in Philly.
Do you play for Philly? No? Then it’s not “us”. It’s “them”. Just like it’s the “Cubs” and not “Cubbies”. Grow up, Peter Pan
Who cares…
Grow up? Says the guy who cares about fans saying us? Its his team that he roots for. Theres nothing wrong with it.
a not so lovable loser
Cubs2016, you really need to get a life if baseball jargon on a baseball site bothers you this much. I say “we” in reference to my team all the time. Go ahead, try and stop me. Steam must be coming out your ears right now.
This is always such a weird take.
As someone who does play for Philly – We will miss him in RF. His injury puts Us in a bad spot. Still, We will endure.
wouldn’t be a Phillies team or any other team for matter of fact if it wasn’t for US fans
It’d be great fun to try getting along without Philadelphia fans. In all sports.
Ok, but that doesn’t make you part of the team.
cubs2016……..
Since statements like yours make no sense and drive me crazy I may as well jump in too.
Fans are “invested” (just so you don’t get confused one of the definitions of invested is “devote one’s time, effort, or energy. to a particular undertaking with the expectation of a worthwhile result.) in their team have every right to express “ownership” and say “my”, “we”, “us” etc. It is not a difficult concept and people have been expressing themselves that way for a long. long time .In fact, I would be willing to bet you that when the Cubbies were introduced prior to their first WS home game in 2016, Andrew Belleson (or who ever introduced the team) said the words “Your Chicago Cubs”. That must have really ticked you off.
People that care about us/them when talking about sports teams are the absolute worst. Nobody cares if it bothers you and you’re clearly an unpleasant group of people nobody wants to watch a game with. I’ll continue cheering on my team or the team, whichever word I feel like using at the moment. Psychos.
Eat a bag of wangs.
my guess is cubs2016 might just be frustrated with “them” (the cubs) and most likely becoming the equivalent of the orioles for the next decade
At least there’s a DH in The National League now so he can hit, if not he’d prob miss the whole season after surgery
There will be no surgery. Resting the throwing arm heals a small tear over time. He will be playing rf by July.
You could look at it the other way. If there was no DH, he could go get healed and be 100% rather than be 50% of a player AND cost a AAA player a job. With Harper on the IL getting fixed, some minor league player or players would get a big league salary. Now they won’t.
This is a weird take.
The il would not have made any difference whatsoever. I had the same injury, and swinging the bat doesn’t affect the strain/tear at all. Resting the throwing arm is the only treatment involved.
would swinging the bat not potentially expose the UCL somewhat though? I’d presume that’s what helped Ohtani come back hitting before pitching, but couldn’t complete rest help more than just partial rest?
Batting does not put anywhere near the strain on elbow or UCL that throwing does. Let alone throwing while pitching at a MLB caliber level. So to answer your question the risk of injuring UCL while hitting is pretty much nonexistent compared to throwing. A batter even with a partial tear in UCL is still at much greater risks for other injuries every at bat such as strained oblique or pulled hamstring.
When I had the injury, I had complete rest. Swinging the bat didn’t hurt, or cause a loss of power. Your question is a good one. Complete rest, probably would accelerate the healing process. In this case, the Phillies really need his bat in the line-up. The throwing sessions, are what set him back. Now he knows he must go at least 30 days before resuming throwing. There are no exercises, only refraining from throwing the ball.
Phillies should just blow it up. They stink like bad
Agreed but wrong gm for that
Right. Dave only knows how to operate one way.
The 1993 through 2001 Marlins disagree that Dave only knows to operate one way – and not know how to blow it up and rebuild a winner. The 1997 and 2003 Marlins say, “Hello!”
The 1988 to 1991 Expos disagree as well.
Dude idc what you’re saying. Dave is old and for the last 20 years has not run a baseball Tema outside of win-now mode. Bye
So, essentially you choose to ignore the facts I presented because it doesn’t fit your false narrative that comes straight from E!SPN, FOX Sports and NESN.
I’m talking sports; not politics or world news.
No not at all I said that Dave hasn’t ran a team like that in years. You’re talking so long ago. Just because you were there then doesn’t make it relevant now.
Marlins: Seen some really negative stuff lately on Kim Ng. I assumed that she’d be somewhat popular given the early success of the team thus far. The Wendle acquisition alone was a great move it seems – that’s guy’s a gamer, man. What’s your opinion, brother?
@Yankee Clipper
The problem that Kim Ng has run into is the bullpen problem. In the 2020-21 offseason, it was debatable whether the Marlins needed a legit Closer because they seemed to have decent options, but many like myself felt we needed one. Ng got a pass for that offseason because, again, at the time it was debatable whether we needed one or not.
After what happened in 2021, it was no longer debatable. It was clear that for the Marlins to contend for a playoff spot, or in the very least, maximize their talent to get a true read as to where we are in our rebuild, we needed to hold the leads we took into the 8th and 9th innings and beyond. We had not one single guy that was able to hold a lead consistently. Our bullpen also did not find a lead that they couldn’t blow. For many like myself, adding a legit Closer was the number one need, even over a bat. It was expected that Ng would fill the obvious with a Closer along with a bat or two. She added Garcia, which is fine. But the problem came when she never really made a play for Jansen, Kimbrel, or even Melancon or Trivino or any other possibility. Instead, she used the money to add another corner OF, which we already had. Now, with Bryan de la Cruz showing that he may be legit as a player covering the OF, we have a surplus of corner OFs and DHs, but not one option as a legit Closer who can actually hold a late-inning lead to make us win the vast majority of the games we’re supposed to like contenders do.
This is why Kim Ng is getting some criticism. If the Marlins had a Closer to hold the games, they’d be over .500 right now. If they had one last year, they would’ve been about .500 or above, and would have finished in third place (especially considering that Anthony Bass last year handed the third place Mets 4 wins in head-to-head play that a legit Closer would have secured at least 3 if not all 4). Until Ng addresses that problem, she’s going to continue to catch heat with every loss given up by the bullpen…especially as de la Cruz continues to outperform Soler and/or Garcia who got the money that should’ve been spent on a Closer.
And as an additional note, Jeter doesn’t get a free pass either. Instead of whining about not getting Castellanos, he should’ve been pushing for a legit Closer. He dropped the ball on this bullpen problem as well. And it shouldn’t be that way considering that Jeter knows how good it felt to play knowing that you would hand leads, first to Wetteland and then to Mariano for the remaining decade and a half.
How’s paid attendance? If it’s still decent then they spent a lot of money to blow it up. Even still it’s only May. Give them another month or two at least.
The Phillies aren’t blowing anything up. They have a good team that has underperformed for 30 games. The season is 162 games. In 2019, the Nats were 19-31 after 50 games
They went on to win the W.S.
The problem is that they don’t have a good team. They have a few good players. The stars and scrubs line up is a testament to how poorly that rebuild went and how expensive it is to fill out an MLB roster if you can’t produce decent-good players to fill in the gaps.
Time will tell. The Phillies have a strong line-up, and very good starting pitching. The bullpen will determine how far the Phillies go this year.
They have a +12 run differential. They’ve had the hardest schedule in all of baseball and continue to have a tough schedule through May. They’ve had some bad luck. They’ve played like garbage a few times, but their bats are heating up. They’re in 2nd place in their division (tied with Atl) and only 2.5 back in the wildcard. It hasn’t been a great start for the Phillies, but to suggest they’re just done is ridiculous. The Mets always start off looking like a World Series team before fading late (to be fair I don’t see that happening this year. Mets are legit.) The Phillies always start off looking like a little league team before having some surges in June or July. The Phillies may click and get things going. They may not. We’ll see. But my point is it’s too early to give up.
Agree, Phillies have upside and should be in the playoff race. To be fair to the Mets, their season mainly went south last year after degrom went down. Makes a big difference to lose the best sp in the game, and they learned the hard way. Plus their manager was in over his head, and the whole lineup was in a slump. Blah blah, anyway, this year doesn’t surprise me and I don’t see them fading either.
Phillies should tank
Wrong sport amigo.
MLB posters need to familiarize themselves better with how the MLB draft operates
MLB teams don’t tank. They’ll suppress their payrolls in hopes of having a left extra in the purse for the right time but none of this has anything to do with draft picks.
100% correct, Cap. Good luck convincing gdbyers of that.
They did already, for like ten years. Didn’t work.
RIP to the 2022 *SCRANTON SHEEP
Scranton is big time Yankees territory.
Might as well get the surgery sooner or later, your team clearly isn’t strong enough to compete for the division, idk if the wild card is in their future right now.
absurd to throw in the towel on a WC spot this early on.
Position players have a shorter rehab for TJS (if he even needs it). Harper can wait until the postseason and still play all of next season, even if he has to DH all of this year and early on in 2023. He can still hit and run, why shelf the reigning MVP in mid-May?
So many posters here don’t understand the injury that Harper has. There is basically zero chance he will need surgery. I had the same injury, it heals with rest. Batting, in no way aggravates the injury. It seems like some of these posters are hoping for the worst. Harper will play the full season. When he returns to rf, is the only question yet to be resolved.
There’s a big difference between you resting your injury by eating Cheetos in your couch and a world class athlete resting the same injury playing at the peak of a professional sport. Stay in your lane, we can make our own assessments, Dr. Doolittle.
It’s a doom-and-gloom crowd mostly here sprinkled in with some dedicated trolls. I wouldn’t say it’s a zero chance but a partially-torn UCL can heal. The Yankees’ Masahiro Tanaka pitched with one for years. Harper is hitting well to boot.
YBC: First person that came to my mind as well. Now, for my injury, PRP was ineffective, but that doesn’t mean Harper’s result will be the same. Even if it is, which wouldn’t surprise me, Masa still was able to proceed just fine after rest and steady strengthening.
I think the chances of a successful season weigh heavily in his favor. I detest the thought of another premier athlete in our game going down to injury for the season. Get well, B Harper!
It’s the same injury, and the doctor gave the same assesment. Commenting on something you don’fully understand, doesn’t make you look good.
Playing at the peak of a professional sport doesn’t change which ligaments are stressed by the action of swinging a bat. Based on the fact that he’s not going on the IL right now, but won’t be throwing, it would seem that the Nats’ doctors share roughly the same opinion that BH just shared.
I don’t disagree necessarily. But this wouldn’t be the first time a team watered down or downplayed the potential severity of an injury in hopes that a star player could play through it, only to have said player not be able to play through it. Time will tell.
Phillies have had a lot of bad luck and their expected record is actually 17-13. They aren’t good enough to compete with the top dogs, but I do think they’re a wildcard team. They just need to get it together. They traditionally are slow starters, but this injury could be the death knell.
Don’t worry Von Hayes, unless the Phillies are lying about the severity of the injury ( which I doubt), he will be able to hit with no ill effects. Rest will heal the injury ( as far as throwing is concerned). By trying to resume throwing a little too soon, he set himself back. My guess is he will be back playing rf sometime in July.
There is no way Harper will need surgery on a small tear on the inside of the elbow. It will heal by itself with rest. Batting has zero effect on the injury, only throwing the ball re-aggravates the injury. I know this from personal experience.
you could swing the bat like Harper with a tear in your elbow? not going to put something in mind to be careful when swinging that could affect what he can do?
Hoskins probably made it worse during the grand slam celebration yesterday. May not be the Phillies year but they are fun to watch.
Terrible to hear.
Bryce is gonna play through it unlike 99% of the soft players currently on MLB rosters. For all you little boys and girls growing up with this current generation of baseball player this is what “ball players” do.
I have a feeling this comment won’t age well!
With that said, I hope Bryce doesn’t miss time. It will be more fun to watch him continue to strike out and not walk all year.
I’m pretty sure Bryce will be fine with that if he can continue to be 43% better than the league average hitter.
I mean, if he was 10% better that would be fine. But are the Phillies really better with their best outfield defender (aside from Quinn) sidelined and unable to throw all season?
@ mystery team,
What is it like being a 1% tough player?
Can you setup a press conference to educate others?
Or at least educate the other 99%. I’m sure the other players would love to know your secrets. Thanks.
Batting doesn’t have any detrimental effect on the injury. The doctor that examined Harper, told him to rest it an additional 30 days. By throwing too early, he set the clock back. Surgery is not a concern at all.
Is there a concern about performance over the next nine years and whether this could contribute to further decline and decay of his game, or does rubbing dirt on it every day evaporate any worry at all?
neo, “”further decline and decay his game”””?
Really? Have you seen any indication he is in decline or decay?
Where in h*ll do some of you come from?
Good thing the NL has the DH now , tough break for Harper but at least he can hit.
Yes
That outfield defense is going to be terrible without him in right.
I think a lot of people are not understanding that this isn’t new. The Phillies have been doing this all year. Harper has been DHing already.
@mysteryteam that’s really giving credit where none is due. 2021 Bryce is under the knife without the DH option. Your comment should read “this is what 2022 ballplayers do”
Pretty sure that, if there was no NL DH, Philly would not hesitate to trade Hoskins and put Harper at first base. Harper has nearly a decade left on his deal, and Hoskins is a streaky, passable 1B who also is a free agent after next season, and is a Boras client. He’ll be leaving soon enough anyway…
Harper is an above average defensive rf. There is no chance he will move to first base. This injury takes time to heal on it’s own. He can’t play any position other than dh until it is completely healed ( probably in July).
Above average? Pretty much all the metrics stats would disagree with that.
BH, I know Harper’s ability as a RF. My point was about responding to someone else saying that – if there was no NL DH – then Harper could possibly tough it out at first base just to stay in the lineup until his elbow healed. You’re so eager to make your point that you’re not paying full attention….
@Cosmo2 I don’t love defensive metrics because they don’t tell the whole story. Harper has been good in RF for the Phillies. Definitely not great, but above average. He also has a killer arm. That being said, even if you consider him subpar, he’s a drastic improvement over Castellanos and Schwarber.
VonPurple: Exactly why I cannot stand defensive metrics – none agree, none measure the same things in the same way, & none provide an accurate context unless you look at three basic categories: Poor; Average; Good.
Occasionally, the metrics reflect players in the same general area on these, as you well know. That said, I think Harper’s greatest defensive deficiency resides in his ability to move lateral routes to the ball.
Other than the movement, I think he’s a good fielder. He’s a great player overall, a deserving MVP, & absolutely one of the best players in MLB without a doubt. Wish he had signed with the Yanks – we’d take him in RF or LF without hesitation.
Hope he recovers quickly and keeps hitting bombs for ya.
@Yankee Clipper spot on regarding lateral routes.
His comment was about what would happen if the universal DH hadn’t been adopted so he didn’t have the option to do that all year.
Von: Did Harper change his swing? I noticed he went to a slight toe-tap and *no* leg lift when he hit that absolute rocket in the first inning against LAD, and each AB thereafter. Normally, he has more of a mule kick-style leg lift.
Ok, I’ll take your opinion over stats that I don’t really understand how they work. He was a negative 1.5 or so dWAR last year but I’ve no idea how that’s calculated or how accurate it is year for year.
Your analysis is very accurate. The defensive metrics are for people that can’t evaluate how well or poorly a defender plays his position. Harper is a good defensive right fielder. When the Nats put him in center in 2018, he was a below average centerfielder. The route you take on a hall is magnified if you play center. The only way to somewhat overcome that, is if the centerfielder has great speed.
Make him DH or move him to first base
It inevitable. It’ll have to happen permanently sooner rather than later.
He’s been DHing all season.
He can’t throw without re-aggravating the injury. It will heal, and he will return to rf, at some point. Batting doesn’t set him back. I had the same injury ( ss), so I understand what the doctor told him.
This sucks!!! Don’t want to see these stars get hurt and lose massive amounts of playing time. Wishing Harper the best.
This is a case of let him DH. See how it goes. If he become mediocre due to the injury or the Phillies aren’t making headway, have the surgery and be ready next year.
Harper has had this injury since April 17th. It doesn’t have any effect on his hitting. He can’t throw the ball at all until the slight tear heals. Surgery isn’t a concern, and neither is his hitting or base running.
I’m a Nats fan who never loved Harper when he was here—he was young, attention-seeking and very attuned to the hype and I’m old school. Well, maybe mostly old 🙂 But he played hard and he played through injuries. I hope the injection enables him to tough out this season and the off season allows him to heal. Love him or not, he’s good for baseball.
Harper has matured quite a bit. He came up at 19. He was 100% baseball ready, but it was a life adjustment, that took some years to evolve. Don’t worry, this injury heals on it’s own. He will be back at 100%, playing rf probably in July.
Phillies fans, give thanks to the DH.
Philadelphia, please enjoy your purchase.
It’s been an absolute steal so far, and one of the only reasons to watch the team.
This is why you preferably do not sign a player to be your full-time DH but rather rotate a number of competent players through the DH slot.
Good luck to Mr. Harper, a bona fide MVP in recent times, and his defensively challenged colleagues.
In a perfect world you are correct. The problem the Phillies had was they needed two big outfield/dh bats. Schwarber and Castallanos were the best available. Harper is 29 years old. Predicting this type of injury ( it isn’t nearly as bad as most people here think), was impossible.
Start the sell off. First one gone Rhys Hoskins. Strike while the iron is hot. Because he’s gonna blow the rest of this week
You are funny
Hate your arch rivals the same way Philly fans hate Rhys Hoskins
Luck has absolutely been a factor for the Phillies this year, and it’s all been bad. They are significantly better than their record suggests,but sadly that doesn’t matter. This injury stinks and although it’ll lead to yet another season without playoffs, Harper should probably get surgery before this thing gets worse.
Von Purple Hayes, I know of this injury firsthand. Of all the Phillies posters, I respect your opinion the most. Hitting doesn’t make the injury worse. The reason it has taken this long, and actually gotten slightly worse is he started throwing too early. That aggravated the strain/slight tear. He will now not throw for a least a month. It will heal by itself, how long is the only question. He will pl@y the full season, and most likely in July, will be back in rf. I am not a doctor, but played ss, and had the exact same injury. The instructions ( from the doctor) were identical.
Thanks for the context. Makes me feel better and makes sense as Harper has been hitting well.
Definitely a benefit to the DH in the NL for the Phillies. Not being able to throw for four weeks a lot better than “out for the season”
I believe that it’s the Philadelphia INQUIRER.. Not too much sports in the National ENQUIRER.
A lot of overreaction on this thread. Harper has been playing and producing with this injury for at least the last three weeks. In fact, he just homered.
Literally just hit a homer
He has dh’d since Aoril 17th. The injury doesn’t in any way affect his hitting or base running. Rest will heal the abilty to throw at his normal level. Almost no one here ( including the author of this article), seems to understand he won’t need surgery.
If pitchers can pitch with a partially torn UCL I would think that OF can play with it as well. He is eventually going to need Tommy John but hopefully they can put it off until the off-season.
That opinion is 100% incorrect. Harper doesn’t have a partially torn ucl ligament. What he has is a very small tear, that will heal with rest. That means not throwing the ball at all, until it heals. The “false narrative” of needing Tommie John Surgery, is not an option. The injury is annoying and frustrating, but nothing more than that.
Source?
Harper is such a gamer. Shoulda been a hockey player.
Phillies blow another big lead tonight…
But they won somehow. Alvarado is not reliable at all. Joe G uses him too often, but you’re stuck with what you have.
Yea – a nice job by Knebel getting out of the bases loaded, no-outs jam in the 9th
Yup. I’m a big fan of Knebel although he waa scary today. I don’t even blame him for the disaster against the Mets. He had thrown a lot of pitches the night before and came into a situation with a lot of inherited runners.
Alvarado is usually good for two walks in an inning. Then unless he gets lucky, trouble ensues. I think Hand has to become the primary lefty in the pen. Alvarado has to be delagated to 6th inning duty.
@baseballhistory I hate how Girardi always puts Alvarado in with runners on base. As you said, he’s good for 2 walks per inning, not to mention wild pitchers or hit batters. He cannot come in in bases loaded situations ever, but Girardi keeps trying.
I admire Harper’s willingness to play through the injury – that’s increasingly rare amongst today’s players.
It helps to not be worried about your next contract and how much money you will risk by making an injury worse.
At least this way, if the Phillies clear him medically and anything goes wrong they only have themselves to blame.
Belted a three run shot against the Dodgers last night so I’m guessing its tolerable for him
Exactly, 30 Parks. Contrast Harper with, say, Correa? Man, much respect for Harper going out and playing each and every day still. Dude’s a competitor, no doubt.
You got it, Clipper. I admire old school toughness. I’d put Trout in that Correa category, too – Harper wants to play. He’s won-me-over with his tenacity.
When Trout and Harper were first getting going we were arguing who was going to be better when we should have been discussing who will spend more time on the IL for their careers. These guys can’t catch a break.
Harper has been relatively healthy outside of one lost season with the Nats. Trout on the other hand…
Even then, Trout has had the superior career.
I never understand the Trout/Harper arguments. Why are they even compared? No one is stating Harper is better than Trout, but whenever someone praises Harper people say “Trout is better.” Trout is a top 3 player when healthy. Harper is a top 10 player when healthy. I’d happily take either one. I will say though, over the course of his Phillies deal so far, Harper has provided more value than Trout in those years, simply because of healthy and availability. All that could and likely will change as the years go on, but time will tell.
Harper always seems to always miss chunks of season, usually fighting through an injury to get through the year. He has been on the field more than Trout that’s for sure. But my point is really that it’s just a shame that these guys have missed so many games bc of the generational talent that they have. And you’re right, it doesn’t matter who you think is better, they are both elite and nobody would say no to having them on their team (money aside).
I wonder if Dr. Neal ElAttrache translates to “the attacher”. He sure does a lot of them.
Might want to call up Boston about JBJ. should be able to get him for a bucket of balls. don’t forget to get plenty of oxygen tanks for him to suck on between innings.
I believe the recovery time for TJ for position players is about 8-10 months. So, the Phillies have until around July to wait and see, at that point delaying the surgery impacts next year.
In the meanwhile, no reason to do anything drastic (although maybe they would want to look at their outfield depth).
There is no surgery. The injury ( mild) that Harper has heals on it’s own.
Harper’s has had this issue all season, yet has a 152 OPS+ and is on pace to hit 35+ HRs in the season of the dead baseball. No reason for Phillies fans to assume his season will soon be over. He may never need surgery if it’s a small tear in his UCL. Tanaka opted for rest and a PRP treatment and is still pitching to this day eight years later. The main issue is it locks up the DH spot for the time being on a team that would prefer to DH other position players with lesser defensive skills.
Harper is probably afflicted with monthly cramps, too. Lol This guy is the most overrated player in MLB history. And, he’s never won a damn thing as far as championships are concerned. Glad he’s Philadelphia’s problem for the next 10 years.
Menstrual joke, eh? Nothing if not classy.
Someone named BaseballClassic1985 clearly doesn’t know a thing about baseball. Keep on hating though.
Did Bryce hurt you….? Therapy will help….
If you read the thread, he came up @19 and he’s simply grown-up, some don’t.
It certainly doesn’t look good that the Nats won it all AFTER Harper left. But let’s be serious, the guy is a top 10 talent in the sport, bar none.
No player can carry a team to the World Series. The Nats would have been even better with Harper there. They didn’t need to splurge on him because the had other tremendous talent. They got hot at the right time and took that momentum to a well-deserved WS victory. If Harper were on the Nats, they would have been even better.
While team chemistry is a real thing, I think it gets a bit overblown in baseball. The Mets right now are one of the best teams in baseball and some of the players don’t even talk to each other. Not because of any hate or drama, but because they’re just focused on winning.
This is just a long-winded way of saying Harper leaving the Nats had very little to do with them winning the WS IMO.
If you watch the Mets, every player is talking to each other right now. After at bats, hitters are relaying info to the on deck guys and in the dugout to let them know about the pitcher’s movement. On days when they aren’t pitching, Scherzer and Bassitt are working with the other starters constantly. It’s actually been awesome to watch and I’d argue team chemistry on this team is fantastic. Is there something specific you are referring to, Von?
I’ll try to find the article, but there was something posted the other day how a lot of guys never even spoke to each other. They just play. It wasn’t in a negative context either. It was complimenting their commitment to win.
What did Harper leaving (which was his choice, not theirs) have to do with anything? They had Soto ready to take over, and multiple players had career years that they haven’t replicated since. They didn’t even win the division that year, only played well in the playoffs. What have they done since then? Where are they now?
Love Bryce, this is not good! Hopefully he the PRP will work, then he gets TJ after the seasons over and be back by June! Cuz, he’s a great OF and better than Castellanos and Schwarber