The Philadelphia Phillies hope the dynamic duo of Bryce Harper and Trea Turner can get them back into the World Series. After Harper led the team there last season, Turner is teaming up with him to make the squad a more serious contender.

Harper was an obvious person to help lure Turner to the Phillies given their previous history playing together with the Washington Nationals. But somewhat surprisingly, Harper opted to let the Phillies and Turner work it out on their own and stayed away from recruitment initially, according to Jesse Rogers of ESPN.

“I didn't want to talk to Trea,” Harper said, via ESPN. “I didn't want to have any influence on what he was going to do. He was like three to four days away from signing with the team, and he finally called me and asked certain things about where to live and things like that. I told him to enjoy it and hopefully you make the right decision for your family. The city, the fans, they sold it for us last year. I didn't have to.”

Harper knows the stress of deciding where to sign long-term as a free agent and seemingly wanted to give his old teammate some space. Armed with the confidence of the Phillies' strong roster and passionate fanbase, he only had to play a major recruiting role until Turner asked him directly for his input.

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Despite all the rumors and betting odds linking Turner and the Phillies, he said that he had numerous good options. In the end, he decided to join former teammates Harper and Kyle Schwarber (who played just a half-season with him). Through his first 23 games with Philly, the star shortstop has a slash line of .293/.340/.434 along with 29 hits, 16 runs, seven RBI and four stolen bases with no times caught stealing.

Harper has yet to play with Turner on the Phillies but is taking some big steps to get back into action after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He is expected to be back around June. Having the two stars in the lineup should help Philly continue the progress it has made recently and get the team back into playoff contention.