Bryce Harper is in the fourth season of a 13-year/$330 million contract with the Philadelphia Phillies, and after Friday morning’s dismissal of Joe Girardi, he’s on to his third manager in Rob Thomson.
Prior to the Thomson Era starting with a three-game set against the Los Angeles Angels Friday, Harper was asked what responsibility players bear for Girardi’s firing.
“I mean, I think it falls definitely partly on the players,” Harper told the collective media, including Howard Eskin of SportsRadio 94 WIP. “That’s all of sports, right? Any sport that you think of, a coach who gets the dagger or he leaves, it’s usually partly on the players and partly on the staff as well. I mean as much as it’s on us, it’s on him as well. It’s on both of us at this point, and he took it.”
At 22-29, it’s hard to make a case that the Phillies haven’t underachieved as a team. Is the roster flawed? Sure, the Phillies have -25 defensive runs saved, the second worst mark in the league. The bullpen has struggled recently, with closer Corey Knebel blowing three saves and posting a 5.40 ERA in May. The 2022 Phillies don’t have a World Series-caliber roster.
But at the same time, is this roster so poor that the Phillies should be 12 games back of the New York Mets in the National League East on June 3? Not only are the Phillies seemingly out of the division race, but they are 5 1/2 games back of the third Wild Card spot in the National League. What was billed as one of the game’s elite offenses has already been shut out on five occasions.
There are systemic problems that have existed in the Phillies organization long before Girardi arrived, and they won’t be fixed by just turning the page on another disappointing era in team history. But are the Phillies going to be a worse team for firing Girardi? That’s hard to imagine.
With Girardi gone, though, even more scrutiny will shift to the players. Harper has more than held up his end of his contract thus far, as the reigning NL MVP is slashing .303/.359/.584 in 2022. But the Phillies unquestionably need more consistent offensive thump from Kyle Schwarber, Nick Castellanos, Alec Bohm, Rhys Hoskins and J.T. Realmuto than what they’ve gotten so far in 2022. And Girardi isn’t with the Phillies to be the first line of blame anymore if results don’t drastically improve for a team with a $230 million payroll.
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