PHILADELPHIA — Rob Thomson seemed to be slapped awake Monday with the question.
The Phillies manager had been cruising along, talking about how Bryce Harper’s return to the Phillies lineup was a long-awaited boost of good news. Harper was back at first base for a series opener against the San Diego Padres Monday night. He had been out since June 5 with right wrist inflammation.
All was good again, or at least Thomson thought so.
Then came the question about what Harper had said shortly before in a clubhouse interview, including his characterization of progress on the injury being “at a standstill.”
“I don’t know what that means,” Thomson said. “‘Progress is at a standstill.’ … It sounds like he’s fine to me. So, we’re just going to have to monitor him.”
In a way, that’s where the Phillies are with their superstar first baseman – at a standstill. But that’s a better place than where they’ve been with Harper before.
He’s overcome his fair share of usual baseball ailments, including Tommy John surgery in late November of 2022, which would only keep him sidelined for a little more than five months. That was indicative of how quick a healer Harper can be, but there was and is much concern over this problem, since he had a very similar issue with right wrist inflammation last season which to some degree he played through.
To that, Thomson has much the same answer.
“It sounds like he’s fine to me, so we’re just going to have to monitor him every day,” Thomson said. “It’s not just his wrist, it’s his legs. He can do all the conditioning he wants, but once he gets out on the field and hits four doubles tonight, then we’ll check his legs tomorrow.”
After missing 22 games, during which the Phillies went 12-10 but managed to elevate one spot into the National League East lead, Harper was clearly tiring of inflammatory checkups.
He said that “progress” point had gone greatly positive in recent weeks, though that wasn’t the case the past few days.
“I didn’t think I was going to take any other steps forward of feeling better or anything like that,” Harper said. “I thought we were kind of at a standstill of feeling the same the last couple of days.”
Oh, the “s” word. … Never what a manager wants to hear.
“It feels way better than where I was three weeks ago or four weeks ago, whatever it was, so I’m happy with where we are,” Harper had added. “Ultimately, it’s going to come down to how I feel each day. If I need to take days off or figure those days off – I know we have Thursdays all the way to the middle of August off, so that’ll be good for it – I’m just not sure yet.
“It’s been at a standstill the last couple of days of feeling good. So hopefully it stays there.”
See, standstill can be a good thing, too.
But the overreaching question should remain whether or not these Phillies, who have had a .500ish June (13-13 in the month heading into Monday night’s game) and are in first place mostly because the Mets have stunk up the joints lately, are in a standings standstill a month away from the July 31 trade deadline.
Always active team president Dave Dombrowski is sure to add back-end bullpen help, since Jose Alvarado won’t be eligible to return until Aug. 19 from his PED violation, and under a harsh MLB rule is not eligible to pitch in the playoffs, anyway.
But the Phillies’ offense suffers from a not only inconsistent, but weak bottom of the order and bench. And now the realization is settling in that Harper is no longer a sure thing. He’s gone from durable to being monitored every day the rest of the way. Shortly before he went on the IL this last time, Harper had missed five games after being plunked on the elbow by a Spencer Strider fastball. He only played three games after return from that but said the wrist inflammation had little or nothing to do with it.
Asked if he thinks he’s going to have to manage the inflammation and pain the rest of the season, Harper said, “I would imagine so. I’m not sure yet what that’s going to feel like. … So as I go I think we’ll do that.”
Harper, of course, will only profess great things about his team’s ability to win a championship this season. But there was a hint of a caveat that also came through Monday.
“I think if you look at our team, we’ve done a great job to this point, with where we are right now,” Harper said. “Obviously we’ve got to keep playing our game, understanding that we’re a better team than what we show sometimes. But I think there’s parts of the game that we can get better in. Dombrowski knows that. A lot of guys over in that (coaches) room over there and also in here know that, too.”
Harper could certainly include himself in that mix … no matter how much that right wrist hurts from time to time the rest of the way.
Contact Rob Parent at rparent@delcotimes.com
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