Kyle Schwarber’s fit with the Philadelphia Phillies is immaculate, but 29 other teams will get the chance to bid on him this winter anyway.
Schwarber couldn’t have picked a better year to hit 50 home runs for the first time (with three weeks to spare). He is on his way to a top-three Most Valuable Player finish as well, and even as a designated hitter entering his mid-thirties, he’s setting himself up for a huge contract.
The Phillies have done well to keep their own in free agency over the past few years, but that could be a tougher task than usual this winter. On top of Schwarber, catcher J.T. Realmuto and starting pitcher Ranger Suárez represent tough contract decisions as well.
However, Phillies president of baseball operations, who made overtures to Schwarber last offseason that ultimately weren’t accepted, is pledging to at least give his best effort in keeping the three-time All-Star.
On Thursday, Dombrowski made his interest in a Schwarber-Phillies reunion clear to Jon Heyman of the New York Post.
“We want to retain him now, and we wanted to retain him then,” Dombrowski told Heyman.
Heyman also reported that Dombrowski said Schwarber “was right” in making his decision to pass up on deals offered to him last offseason. And “another Phillies person” told Heyman the team would “do everything we can” to keep its star in house.
Schwarber has played each of the Phillies’ 147 games this season, putting up a career-best .929 OPS and leading the majors with 123 RBIs.
It’s going to take more than the four years, $79 million Schwarber signed for in 2022 to keep him around (probably by a standard deviation or two). But the star also expressed his own interest in a reunion to Heyman, meaning the Phillies likely have to just not get hopelessly outbid.
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