Bryce Harper seemed like a lock to join New York Yankees a few years before that star-studded winter following the 2018 season where he and Manny Machado were available. Both seemed like perfect fits.
Both ended up elsewhere, though, with the front office opting instead to bolster their offense with DJ LeMahieu.
The First Harper Pass
LeMahieu was good, for a time, even garnering MVP votes in his first season in the Bronx. The problem was that his production didn’t last long. He immediately regressed once the ink dried on his six-year deal with the Yanks before 2021, while Harper and Machado crafted Hall of Fame resumes.
The Harper pass was an especially unsettling one because here was a generational lefty who grew up with a poster of Mickey Mantle in his room. It seemed he was destined for New York.
The front office had different plans. They felt their outfield was full with Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton, Aaron Hicks, Clint Frazier, and Brett Gardner in the mix. Only two are Yankees today, and Stanton is more of a DH than an outfielder at this point in his career.
A Disgruntled Star
We’re a few years removed from that winter. Harper and the Philadelphia Phillies are in a different place and in 2025, the two parties are well beyond the honeymoon phase.
Joel Sherman reported on a potential Harper trade, which kicked up a firestorm of speculation, and Harper even responded.
“I have given my all to Philly from the start,” Harper told Marc Carig of The Athletic. “Now there is trade talk? I made every effort to avoid this. It’s all I heard in D.C. I hated it. It makes me feel uncomfortable.”
If there is a world where Harper is moved, there are only a few teams that would be willing to take on the remainder of his six years and $150 million. One of them could conceivably be the Yankees.
How Harper Could Fit on the Yankees
The problem is what to do with Ben Rice. He probably wouldn’t be involved in a trade for Harper. He is much too valuable, and at this point. It’s not like Philly could demand the Yankees to send them a valuable slugger with control like Rice. This is a big-money salary dump and they would have little leverage.
If the Yankees do keep Rice in this deal — which they obviously should — there is still a Rice problem. The question shifts from whether you would move him in a Harper deal to where he would play.
Harper has seen most of his reps at first base since his Tommy John surgery in 2022. If the roster doesn’t change, that would get in the way of Rice’s playing time. However, if the Yankees are serious about getting their best players on the field, the person who could lose playing time is Austin Wells. At that point, Rice could be the everyday catcher.
Despite 21 home runs and a 3 WAR according to FanGraphs, Wells did have a disappointing sophomore season at the plate. He hit .219/.275/.436 with a 94 wRC+. There were points this year when Wells lost his job to Rice, and a trade of Harper could mark the second time this happens.
The DH Shuffle
Another thing to consider is just how injury prone Giancarlo Stanton is. Stanton’s only full season was his first in the Bronx. He played in 158 games that year. Since then, the second-most games he has played are 139 in 2021, and he has struggled to play more than 100 games every other season. In 2025, he played in 77 games.
Rice, Harper, and Aaron Judge would realistically be shuffled around as the DH while the team lives through another regularly scheduled Stanton IL stint. The playoffs would be the biggest issue, but given how Wells has underwhelmed, he shouldn’t be a priority until he proves otherwise.
This is all hypothetical, of course. Things are tense, but it doesn’t seem like Philly and Harper are at such a point where the relationship totally disintegrates and the Yankees can even think of swinging a trade. Crazier things have happened, though.
