CLEARWATER, Fla. – Bryce Harper has eight years left on his 13-year, $330 million contract he signed in 2019. He hopes to be able to extend this commitment at some point.
“Of course I want to stay here for a long time,” Harper said Sunday morning at BayCare Ballpark. “Lets see what happens.”
Harper arrived at the stadium Sunday for his sixth spring training with the Phillies. It will be different than all the others. The Phillies announced in November that Harper would be their everyday first baseman – not just this season, but for as long as he plays for the Phillies, be it until 2031 (when his current contract expires at age 38) or his early 40s. if he gets the extension he wants.
“I don’t think I’ll move back to the right,” Harper said. “I don't. But never say never.”
Harper volunteered to play first base last year after Rhys Hoskins suffered a season-ending ACL injury in March. He debuted in July and played well. He had +3 outs above average according to Statcast and a Defensive Run Saved according to FanGraphs.
The Phillies believe he could win a Gold Glove there.
So Dave Dombrowski, president of baseball operations, and Harper met shortly after Game 7 of the 2023 NLCS. They discussed his future in the field.
“I think we had a pretty good conversation,” Harper said. “Me and Dombo, we sat down and he said this would be great for our organization. And I said, “Okay.” I wanted them to know that I was on board with whatever they wanted to do – whether that was right field, whether that was first base. And that's what I told them. I said, 'If you want me in right field, I'll play right.' If you want me first, I'll play first base.' I think everyone collectively said, 'First base is where we want you.' I said, 'OK, I'll do whatever it takes to be there and that's what I want to do. '“
In addition to learning a new position on a team with World Series hopes, Harper has exceeded expectations as the face of the franchise and one of baseball's biggest stars. In five seasons with the Phillies, he slashed .284/.395/.536 with 122 home runs, 368 RBIs, a .931 OPS and a 149 OPS+. Of 151 qualified hitters over the past five years (minimum 1,750 plate appearances), he ranks fourth in on-base percentage, eighth in slugging percentage and sixth in OPS.
He won the 2021 National League MVP Award. He provided one of the most iconic moments in franchise history with his game-winning home run “Bedlam at the Bank” in Game 5 of the 2022 NLCS.
So it was perhaps no surprise that Harper's agent, Scott Boras, said Harper wanted an extension at the winter meetings in December.
“There is no better metric than when [owner] John [Middleton] “He himself says it’s a great bargain,” Boras said. “So that’s certainly something he appreciates, and I think we all know it’s true.”
When Harper signed his $330 million contract, it was the most lucrative guaranteed contract in North American sports history. Only seven MLB players have signed larger contracts since then, but the average annual value of Harper's deal has fallen to 46th at $25,384,615, according to Cot's Contracts. Harper could have insisted on an opt-out in the deal, forcing a renegotiation, as Padres third baseman Manny Machado would have done in 2023. But Harper didn't want one.
“I didn’t really think about it much,” Harper said. “I want to stay here for a long time – play until my 40s. I mean, that's the biggest thing for me. So I want to do that.”
Harper said he and Boras talked to Dombrowski about an extension. On this basis, it appears that these discussions have not yet reached Middleton.
Dombrowski said little about this. When asked last week, he declined to comment. Asked about the winter meetings, Dombrowski said he has never renegotiated a major league contract because the deal still has several years left.
“I am not at all surprised by this proclamation,” Dombrowski said. “But otherwise… for me, [the] The priority is completing the winter meetings, finalizing our squad and so on. It will be a long time before we reach this point. I don't want to dismiss it by any means, but he's welcome in the thought process and the feelings that they have.”
Harper was asked Sunday whether he would be OK if an extension didn't happen in the short term or whether he felt the urgency to go through with it.
“I mean, I understand that there are other people to worry about, right?” he said. “Wheels understand that [Zack Wheeler] is a big topic for us at the moment. But, you know, contract negotiations [happen] all season long and things like that. So we’ll see what Scott and Dave come up with.”
In the meantime, Harper will continue working to help the Phillies win another World Series. In 2022 they are two wins short. Last year they were five wins short.
“This is a window of opportunity where we have to win,” Harper said. “Our owners deserve this. Our fans deserve that. Dombrowski deserves that too. And we do that too. So we had to go out and play our game and play Philly baseball. And we’ll see what happens.”