Phillies Manager Gabe Kapler: Bryce Harper ‘Easy to Talk to, Especially Competitive’

By Matt Rappa, Sports Talk Philly editor

This Saturday will mark one week since Philadelphia Phillies brass — including manager Gabe Kapler — met with superstar free agent outfielder Bryce Harper in his hometown of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Thursday on MLB Network, when asked of Jon Heyman's Wednesday morning report that he and Harper "really hit it off" at the meeting, Kapler agreed, saying he thinks they bonded "over stuff like training" and "food."

"[Bryce] loves food and Philadelphia has an incredible food scene, among the best in the country if you ask me," Kapler said. "Yeah, I think we just hit it off; he's an easy guy to talk to. He certainly is especially competitive."

Kapler said that at the meeting, he and Harper joked over a mid-September moment at Citizens Bank Park, where the perennial All-Star "was able to get an umpire to change a call."

"Now I think it's kind of funny, [but] then I was really upset," Kapler said. "I was joking with Bryce about that and I think we both got a good laugh out of it — lighthearted."

Entering his second season as Phillies manager, Kapler will manage an already entirely different-looking roster. He said he is "really impressed and happy" what Vice President and General Manager Matt Klentak has done.

"We bring in Andrew McCutchen to play left field, [and] obviously acquire Jean Segura to come in and play shortstop for us. What that does is it allows Rhys Hoskins to move to first base," Kapler said. "It remarkably improves our defense on the left side of the infield; Rhys had some struggles out there in left field, and if he was sitting right next to me he'd say the same thing."

Kapler said moving Hoskins from left field to first base allows the Phillies to play McCutchen in left field, which subsequently allows their pitchers "to deliver their best pitches, induce ground balls and fly balls, and have the defense behind them gobble those balls up."

The Phillies will report to spring training in Clearwater, Florida, in less than a month. Who exactly will be on the roster alongside McCutchen, Segura and Hoskins is surely yet to be known.