Aug 28, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber rounds the bases after his third home run of the game against the Atlanta Braves at Citizens Bank Park. (Grace Del Pizzo/On Pattison)
If the Phillies want to re-sign Kyle Schwarber, they'll likely have to commit to another half decade with the slugger.
ESPN's Jeff Passan said that's the perception around the sport during his MLB Winter Meetings preview with colleague Buster Olney:
When does the Kyle Schwarber dam break? Several teams' fortunes -- from Philadelphia to Cincinnati to Pittsburgh to Boston to Baltimore to the New York Mets -- depend on where Schwarber goes. The belief among teams is that it will take five years to secure the 32-year-old, and once that happens -- perhaps sometime during the meetings -- teams will start pivoting, and the action will pick up demonstrably.
The timeline part of this checks out, as Passan suggested last weekend that a Schwarber resolution could happen by the end of next week's MLB Winter Meetings in Orlando, which run Monday through Wednesday.
As for the five years, that does seem to be the way things have been trending so far this offseason. Maybe a team can convince him to sign for four years on a higher average annual value — that hasn't been how the Phillies have structured their larger contracts in recent years — but it does seem after a 56-home run season that Schwarber is going to get five years.
Certainly, you can make a case against doing that. Schwarber will turn 33 before Opening Day, and at this stage of his career, is basically only a DH. That could become more problematic as Bryce Harper, Trea Turner and others age.
On the flip side, Schwarber seems to be getting better with age, as evidenced by him finishing runner-up in NL MVP voting in his age-32 season, after never previously having finished higher than 15th. Schwarber is arguably the biggest leader in the Phillies' clubhouse, and it would be almost impossible to replace the MLB-best 132 runs he drove in this past season. The other reality is that some of the options the Phillies could pivot to if they don't re-sign Schwarber — like Alex Bregman (32 in March) and Pete Alonso (31 in December) — aren't particularly young themselves, and will likely command a similar term.
It is possible that the right move here proves to be letting Schwarber walk, although there's a good chance the Phillies would take a major step back next season from the 96 wins they posted in 2025 if they did so. In any event, it appears Schwarber's decision isn't far away.
