Bryce Harper dropping Aaron Judge comment after Phillies drama is catnip for Yankees

Earlier in the offseason, New York Yankees fans dreamed of a Bryce Harper trade after Phillies president of baseball operations suggested the face of the franchise was no longer "elite." When you listen to the clip, there's no malice behind it, but it was a bizarre comment to make knowing what the obvious backlash would be following another disappointing season.

As the months went by, though, Phillies fans thought it dissipated. Instead, on Sunday at spring training, they got Harper responding to it yet again. He claimed it was "wild" Dombrowski had said that and then commented on how his relationship with the Phillies was predicated on keeping these types of things "in house."

While that wasn't enough on its own to get Yankees fans overly excited about an unlikely trade for Harper — a pairing dreamed of since Harper made his MLB debut — then perhaps Harper's commentary on playing in the World Baseball Classic with Aaron Judge will. (Harper also heaped praise on the Dodgers and expressed he believed Kyle Schwarber was going to leave the Phillies for the Reds this offseason.)

It cannot be overlooked, however, that his response to Dombrowski certainly made it seem like there's some ill will there. We'll never know for sure, but this was particularly direct and blunt.

Yankees fans are loving everything Bryce Harper is saying at spring training

And while Harper's comments on the WBC were pretty standard and expected, he did mention Aaron Judge first before listing a bunch of other players he was excited to be teammates with. Maybe Brian Cashman can get a preview of those two hitting back-to-back on Team USA and then give Dombrowski a call to see if Harper's looking to get out of town?

Again, it's a pipe dream at best, but as long as any sort of an opening exists, Yankees fans will not hesitate to try and speak it into existence.

If you've read this far and are thinking, "man, Yankees fans are soooo delusional ... I hate them but I am reading a Yankees blog because I'm a weirdo!", just know that everybody acknowledges how difficult this would be especially given the Yankees have a record-setting payroll, have too many lefty bats, and brought back almost their same exact roster from the 2025 ALDS. The Yankees would have to consider a notable overhaul in order to even think about fitting Harper into the picture.

But injuries happen. Circumstances change. Players regress. We're just keeping tabs and compiling notes for when the 2026 trade deadline arrives and when next year's offseason officially begins. We're not crazy enough to think it'll happen now, but we're also not going to be ignorant to the possibility of it eventually being realistic.