Philadelphia Phillies star first baseman Bryce Harper seemingly hasn’t forgotten president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski’s comments from last October based on the “Not Elite” shirt seen worn during a batting practice shown on his TikTok.

On Oct. 16, soon after the Phillies were eliminated from the playoffs, Dombrowski had this to say on Harper, per ESPN News Services.

“He’s still a quality player. He’s still an All-Star-caliber player,” Dombrowski said in part. “He didn’t have an elite season like he’s had in the past. I guess we only find out if he becomes elite or he continues to be good.”

“Can he rise to the next level again? I don’t really know that answer,” Dombrowski added. “He’s the one that will dictate that more than anything else. I don’t think he’s content with the year that he had. Again, it wasn’t a bad year. But when I think of Bryce Harper, you think elite, you think of one of the top-10 players in baseball, and I don’t think it fit into that category.”

That answer was in response to this question from a reporter: “What is the club’s view on [Harper’s] season … performance-wise? And also why do you believe maybe that it was a down season for him and not the start of maybe a downward trend?”

Dombrowski later clarified his remarks in an appearance on Foul Territory (h/t Todd Zolecki of MLB.com).

“First of all, to me, Bryce Harper is one of the best players in the game of baseball,” Dombrowski said. “They asked me, ‘What type of year did you think he had?’ And I said, ‘He had a very good year; I don’t think he had an elite year.’

“When I say that, when I think of Bryce Harper, it’s a compliment. Because the reality is there are eight to 10 players in the game of baseball every year, when they’re not let’s say in the MVP consideration for whatever reason — sometimes it can be an injury factor, sometimes they just have a bad year — but it’s not an elite year for them.”

Harper will be entering his 15th MLB season. He should be a future Hall of Famer and has two National League MVP awards, eight All-Star Games and four Silver Sluggers to his name through a decade-and-a-half in the bigs. Per Baseball-Reference, Harper sports a per-162 game average of 33 homers and 95 RBI. He has also hit .280 lifetime with a .905 OPS.

Those are great numbers. The 2025 season represented a downturn from that, although Harper missed time and dealt with right wrist inflammation that landed him on the injured list. He sat nearly all of June with the injury. Still, he did well overall with a .261 average (.844 OPS) with 27 home runs and 75 RBI in 132 contests.

Dombrowski is correct in that Harper didn’t put up elite production, though one wonders if it was worthwhile putting that thought out there in public.

Harper also made clear to Matt Gelb of The Athletic that he was hurt by the exec’s comments.

“All players get hurt,” Harper said Saturday. “I hurt my wrist this year and missed a month. Of course I don’t have full-year numbers.

“It’s disappointing to hear me being questioned about my contribution to the team. Just really hurt by that notion because I love Philly so much.”

The comments also led to some trade talk and speculation, which Harper didn’t love either.

“I have given my all to Philly from the start,” Harper told Gelb. “Now there is trade talk? I made every effort to avoid this. It’s all I heard in D.C. (with the Nationals). I hated it. It makes me feel uncomfortable.”

Dombrowski did shut down trade talk during his interview on Foul Territory, so it’s safe to say Harper, who signed a 13-year, $330 million deal before the 2019 season, will be back in Philadelphia to help a team looking to improve upon its 96-victory, NL East-winning season that ended with an NLDS loss to the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.