Bryce Harper risks alienating Phillies teammates and Philadelphia with his outrageous contract request

And you thought Terrell Owens was crazy.

Not since T.O., who in 2005 wanted to renegotiate a seven-year deal with six years left, has a Philadelphia athlete requested anything as audacious as Bryce Harper. With eight years and $196 million left to go on a contract he signed just five years ago, Harper and his agent, Philly villain Scott Boras, have told the Phillies they want an extension.

Now 31, Harper says he wants to play into his 40s. He hasn’t been fully healthy the last two calendar years. Let’s try to make it through the 30s first, huh?

Harp’s popular, but, I mean, read the room, man. He was part of an epic, two-game collapse that allowed the Arizona Diamondbacks to steal the pennant just a few months ago. Twenty-five percent of Philadelphians live below the poverty line and cannot afford to attend a single Phillies game, and he hopes for — what? — an extra three years and $150 million?

And what if he struggles this season? What if he gets hurt again? Can you imagine the outrage at a Bryce Harper hitting .250 with 20 homers on a .500 team?

This is the sort of unnecessary boondoggle that can crater an athlete’s legacy. And it is a rare, almost unprecedented misstep by Harper during his Phillies tenure. As solid a foundation as he has built in Philadelphia, it’ll be interesting to see how this request gambit plays with the populace that considers itself blue-collar and hardworking.

As it stands, Harper, Trea Turner, and Aaron Nola will see their contracts expire around the same time. If the Phillies are smart, Zack Wheeler will soon sign a contract extension that terminates at approximately the same point. I cannot foresee any of them trying to strong-arm the organization into a premature extension.

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There hasn’t been a Phillies player as popular as Harper maybe ever. He’s their best player since Mike Schmidt, but he has fostered a much more salable image. The fact that Harper is trying to leverage that popularity and production into a contract that could cripple the organization into its next generation might rankle both fans and teammates alike.

Imagine being his teammate and witnessing this. This level of audacity might rub, say, Kyle Schwarber the wrong way. Harper has eight years left. Schwarber has two. Does Harper consider himself that much more relevant or important than Schwarber? In his two seasons as a Phillie, Schwarbs has twice been the team’s best leadoff man, has twice finished in the top 20 in MVP voting, and was an All-Star in 2022. He leads the National League in home runs over the last two seasons, and, with 93, he leads the Phillies in homers — by 51. Harper’s 39 homers rank fourth.

Eight years is almost twice the average length of a player’s career. In about eight years, the Phillies hope to be extending the contracts of Bryson Stott, Alec Bohm, Brandon Marsh, Andrew Painter, and Mick Abel. Their ability to do that would be diminished if Harper’s on the books for three more years and $150 million.

Only two players have hit more than 30 homers after the age of 40, and they were David Ortiz and Nelson Cruz, who by then were full-time designated hitters. Only five times has a 40-something hitter hit more than 25 homers, twice by Barry Bonds, perhaps the most tainted player of the steroid era.

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Harper’s clean. Stupid clean. From his intense offseason workouts to his unquestioned toughness to his closely monitored diet to his body wash and shampoo — all natural, no toxins — Harper is preparing himself to be as good at 41 as he is as at 31. Good for him. He says he wants to be a Phillie for life, and I hope he is a productive, pleasant Phillie until that reddish-blond hair of his turns as gray as mine.

Some might not blame Harper and Boras for requesting a pre-pension pension. We all should ask for the moon, because we just might get it, right? Evidence: my marriage.

Harper’s got a point. Even considering the $160 million he will pocket by the end of this season, he has outplayed and outperformed his contract. He won his second career MVP award in 2021. Since Harper signed in 2019, only Freddie Freeman and Juan Soto have a higher OPS than Harper’s .931 among players with at least Harper’s 581 games. His 1.137 postseason OPS in that span leads all players who have played at least 15 playoff games in the last five years.

Since Julius Erving’s bicentennial arrival in Philadelphia in 1976, no star athlete has delivered on every level like Harper. None, including Doc, has ever embraced the Philadelphia-ness of Philadelphia like Harp. He’s become the city’s best ambassador, even as Joel Embiid and Jalen Hurts, the town’s biggest stars of more popular sports, chase MVPs and championships. You don’t see Jalen wearing Swoop gear the way Harper reps the Phillie Phanatic.

Fortunately for the Phillies, president Dave Dombrowski views Harper’s request with appropriate incredulity. Earlier this month he told 94-WIP, “You can desire and want anything you like.” Between his gentlemanly manner and his desire to respect Harper and Boras, that’s as firm of an “Are you bleeping kidding me?” as Dombrowski can manage.

No doubt this bizarre request stems from what happened a year ago with Manny Machado, the player whose über-free agency before the 2019 season coincided with Harper’s. Machado last spring threatened to exercise an opt-out clause in his contract after the 2023 season, then leveraged his superb production and durability in San Diego into a new, 11-year, $350 million deal — which includes no more opt-outs.

Harper, in an effort to exhibit his loyalty to Philadelphia and justify his current contract, which was longer and more expensive than Machado’s initial contract, refused to include an opt-out in his deal. Consider this a soft opt-out. Let’s hope it’s the last we hear of it for about five years.

Like Owens, Harper has been magnificent. Like Owens, he has played superbly while injured. Like Owens, he didn’t win a championship, but he brought his team to the very precipice.

Unlike Owens, Harper is not a narcissistic, combative diva.

He’s not going to disrupt the clubhouse. He’s not going to get into a fight with a teammate, as Owens did with Hugh Douglas. He’s not going to get kicked off the team and do sit-ups in his driveway, with his agent standing by, acting like some sort of overpaid hype man.

The Phillies must keep this in mind. They seem to have done so.

Dombrowski also said to the radio station, “Knowing Bryce that when he gets to spring training under any circumstances, he’s ready to go and you know you’re going to get 100% from him in every regard.”

That should be true for at least the next five springs.