The Philadelphia Phillies did not make any big splashes during the offseason, but that certainly was not because of a lack of push from Bryce Harper.
Harper revealed that he had encouraged the Phillies to pursue first basemen and offered to move back to right field if one of them turned out to be a fit. The former MVP singled out Pete Alonso as one name he had been thinking of.
“I talked to (the Phillies) this offseason about that, just in case a guy was available (at first) that we needed to have, needed to get,” Harper said, via Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. “I’d be more than open to it if we had a guy like that, who was going to change our lineup or change the demeanor of our team. They like me at first base. But I’d go out there to have a guy who was going to play first base and hit 35 or 40 homers.
“When Pete (Alonso) was on the block still, I kind of sat there and was like, ‘Hey, why not?’ When we talked about it, I kind of just reiterated to (the Phillies) and Scott (Boras) that I’m willing to move out there if it’s going to help us. I love playing first base. It’s been great. But if it’s going to help us win, I’d go back out there.”
The Phillies moved Harper to first base permanently last season, largely to reduce the wear and tear on his surgically-repaired elbow. With that reason in mind, it is understandable why the team would not be eager to put him back in the outfield.
Harper wants to win a World Series and would happily embrace players like Alonso, who wound up back with Philadelphia’s NL East rival. The Phillies never seemed terribly eager to spend that sort of money this offseason, though, so this was probably never a realistic outcome.
Harper hit .285 with 30 home runs for Philadelphia last season. Most importantly, he played in 145 games and remained largely healthy. The team is not going to do anything that could jeopardize that going forward.
