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CLEARWATER, Fla. — Bryce Harper has eight years left on the 13-year, $330 million contract he signed in 2019. He says he hopes to extend that commitment at some point.
“Obviously I want to be here for a long time,” Harper said Sunday morning at BayCare Ballpark. “We’ll see what happens.”
Harper arrived at the stadium Sunday for his sixth spring training with the Phillies. He will be different from any other. The Phillies said in November that Harper will be their everyday first baseman, not just this season, but as long as he plays for the Phillies, whether through 2031 (when his current contract expires at age 38) or until age 40, if you get the extension you want.
“I don’t think he’ll go back to the right,” Harper said. “No. But never say never.”
Harper volunteered to play first base last year following Rhys Hoskins’ season-ending ACL injury in March. He debuted in July and played well, finishing with +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 president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and Harper met shortly after Game 7 of the 2023 National League Championship Series. They discussed his future on the field.
“I think we had a pretty good conversation,” Harper said. “Dombo and I sat down and he said this would be great for our organization. And I said, ‘Okay.’ He wanted them to know that he was okay with whatever they wanted to do, whether that was right field, whether that was first base. And that’s what I told them. I told him, ‘If you want me in right field, I’ll play well.’ If you want me at first, I’ll play first base. I think they collectively said, ‘First base is where we want you.’ I said, ‘Okay, I’ll do everything I can 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 all expectations as the face of the franchise and one of baseball’s biggest stars. In five seasons with the Phillies, he has hit .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 appearances at the plate), ranks fourth in on-base percentage, eighth in slugging percentage and sixth in OPS.
He won the 2021 National League MVP award. He produced one of the most iconic moments in franchise history with his “Bedlam at the Bank” game-winning home run in Game 5 of the 2022 National League Championship Series.
So perhaps it wasn’t a surprise when Harper’s agent, Scott Boras, said Harper wanted an extension at the Winter Meetings in December.
“There’s no better metric than when (owner) John (Middleton) himself says it’s a great bargain,” Boras said. “So that’s certainly something we appreciate you saying and I think we all know that’s true.”
When Harper signed his $330 million contract, it was the most lucrative guaranteed contract in the history of North American sports. 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 from the deal, which would have forced a renegotiation, as Padres third baseman Manny Machado did in 2023. But Harper didn’t want one.
“I haven’t really thought about it much,” Harper said. “I want to be here for a long time, play until I’m 40 years old. I mean, that’s the most important thing to me. So I want to achieve it.”
Harper said he and Boras have talked to Dombrowski about an extension. Based on that, it appears those discussions haven’t reached Middleton.
Dombrowski has said little about it. When asked last week, he declined to comment. When asked at the Winter Meetings, Dombrowski said he has never renegotiated a major league contract with several years left on the deal.
“The proclamation is not something that catches me off guard in any way,” Dombrowski said. “But other than that… for me, (the) priority is finishing the Winter Meetings, finishing our roster and all that. It’s a long time before we get to that point. “I don’t want to ignore him in any way, but he’s welcome to the thought process and the feelings that they have.”
Harper was asked Sunday if he would be okay if an extension didn’t happen anytime soon, or if he felt the urgency to do so.
“I mean, I understand there are other guys to take care of, right?” he said. “Understanding Wheels (Zack Wheeler) is very important to us right now. But, you know, contract negotiations happen throughout the season 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. They fell within two wins in 2022. They fell within five wins last year.
“This is a window where we have to win,” Harper said. “Our property deserves it. Our fans deserve it. Dombrowski deserves it too. And so do we. So, we have to go out and play our game and play Philadelphia baseball. And we will see what happens.”