PHILADELPHIA — Discussion on Bryce Harper's ill-advised decision to try to stretch a single into a double in the fourth inning of Sunday's Phillies loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks continued into Rob Thomson's pregame Monday afternoon.
Prior to the Phillies opening up a three-game series with the Chicago Cubs at Citizens Bank Park, a reporter asked Thomson why — when some fans view it that Harper wasn't held accountable after a baserunning blunder Sunday — he chose to handle it like the did.
"Because 1, he knows that he made a mistake," Thomson responded. "All he's trying to do is get the club going and try to score. He knows that we're scoring in bunches, but we're not scoring in a lot of innings. So he's being aggressive, he's trying to make a play. He knows if he's out by that much, it's probably a mistake. I don't think anything needs to be said, to tell you the truth."
After a pause, Thomson added another thought.
"But to say that I'm not holding people accountable, that's not right," Thomson added. "So, we'll leave it at that."
Rob Thomson: “To say I’m not holding people accountable, that’s not right. So, we’ll leave it at that.” pic.twitter.com/itlwysmBoT
It was a tense moment to end Thomson's pregame availability Monday, though he seemed to be pushing back more against the very real notion than the reporter. The insinuation from Thomson is that just because he isn't benching guys or calling them out publicly doesn't mean conversations aren't being had behind closed doors when a mistake is made.
With Harper specifically, there's a delicate balance here. Yes, Harper did immediately run off the field after being thrown out at second base Sunday, clearly aware that his gamble didn't pan out. But he has at least a handful of these type of plays every year, and while he does end up sliding around the tag a decent number of times, it's not a particularly smart baseball play.
The point is, Sunday wasn't a one-off moment with Harper running the bases. And when asked postgame about the decision, you didn't get the sense that Harper is going to change the aggressiveness with which he runs the bases with.
"Yeah, I mean, I feel like every ball, or most balls, I hit in that spot, I try to get there [second]," Harper said. "So, thought it was a good point in the game, haven't really had anything going the whole day. [He] made a good throw and got me in that situation."
I asked Bryce Harper about what he saw to try to push for a double. @OnPattison pic.twitter.com/4dhWueq6tE
Would Thomson saying something to Harper, or even pulling him from the game, get the two-time NL MVP to change his ways? It's unclear. It makes sense that fans want to see repeated mistakes corrected, but there is a delicate balance being walked with the face of the franchise here. Particularly after Harper didn't take kindly to president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski publicly questioning last fall whether he's still elite or not, the Phillies probably need to pick their battles with him. Certainly, Thomson isn't going to publicly come out and criticize Harper, even if he surely knows that Harper has a tendency to get too aggressive when running the bases.
Whether Thomson had a conversation behind closed doors with Harper — or Brandon Marsh, who also had a late-game baserunning miscue Sunday — isn't known. Thomson, who was mentored by Joe Torre, likes to keep things that happen behind closed doors there. But it is fair to ask in situations like this whether there's a better way to get through to Harper.
