MIAMI -- It is a fear of Phillies fans everywhere.

The Phillies are wasting the best years of Bryce Harper’s career.

Harper doubled and walked in Sunday’s 5-4 loss to Miami in the season finale at loanDepot park. It completed one of the best individual seasons in Phillies history. Harper slashed .309/.429/.615 with 42 doubles, one triple, 35 home runs, 84 RBIs, 101 runs, 100 walks, 13 stolen bases and a 1.044 OPS. He is only the fourth outfielder in baseball history to have at least 100 runs, 100 walks, 40 doubles and 35 home runs in a season, joining Babe Ruth (1921, 1923), Stan Musial (1949) and Barry Bonds (1998). It could win him the National League Most Valuable Player Award.

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But it could not get the Phillies to the postseason. They finished 82-80. It is their 10th consecutive year without a postseason appearance, including the last three with Harper.

“You sit here and think, ‘What’s going on? Why are we not playing better?’” Harper said afterward. “The opportunities have been there, and we haven’t capitalized on those opportunities. … I think that’s mentality, I think that’s wanting it, I think that’s putting in the work to do that, and I just think as a team we just need to get better in every aspect that we play. If that’s bullpen, if that’s pitching, if that’s defense, hitting, timely hitting, everything that comes along with winning organizations.”

But is Harper also worried that he is toiling away while the Phillies work to recover from a botched rebuild that required Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski to overhaul the entire Minor League system?

“I tell you what, man,” Harper said. “I have all the faith in Dombrowski. I have all the faith in Sam Fuld. We have a great staff in Joe Girardi and [bench coach Rob Thomson]. I’m going to come in and play my game every year to the best of my ability. I can’t really sit here and say I’m not going to do that, right? I want to stick it out, I want to play here, I want to be here. I said that at the beginning: I want to go through the good and the bad.”

The Phillies are more than one player away from making the postseason. They need a closer. They probably need a left fielder and center fielder. They have to figure out what they’re doing on the left side of the infield. The need better relievers and bench players, too.

“You go into every offseason wanting an opportunity to get a top guy,” Harper said. “But we can't just keep going out and buying and buying and buying. We need homegrown talent. When you look at teams that have homegrown talent, those are the teams that have success. I think as a whole, we need our Minor Leagues to be better. We need guys to come up from the Minor Leagues and have success. Not have to go up and down. Have success in our bullpen. Have success in our lineup. We need right-handed bats on our bench. We need a good bench. Guys that can play every single day. We need dogs, man. I'll tell you what: We need some dogs.”

But it will take time to fix everything that ails the Phillies’ farm system. Is it a timeline that might not coincide with Harper’s prime?

“It’ll line up if certain guys step up, right?” Harper said. “I thought [Matt] Vierling did an incredible job coming up. I think that puts him in a place to possibly play next year. Bryson [Stott], possibly sticking him somewhere, wherever that may be, and [Alec Bohm] Bohmer as well, sticking him wherever that may be. If these guys step up and do their job, then I think we’re going to be OK, we’re going to be right where we need to be.

“My wheels are kind of turning. That’s why I’m blabbering a little bit. My wheels turn because I just want to be better. I just love this team, I love this organization, and I just want to be so good for them and the city of Philadelphia. … We all want to end that drought. I think coming into next year we just really need to figure out who we're going to be, what our identity as a team is going to be. I know Dombo wants to win, and I know that we have the right guy leading us up top to make that happen. I trust in him, I trust him to do his job, and I'm excited to see what's ahead.”