Sep 21, 2024; New York City, New York, USA; Philadelphia Phillies designated hitter Kyle Schwarber (12) rounds the bases after hitting a home run during the first inning against the New York Mets at Citi Field. Mandatory Credit: Lucas Boland-Imagn Images Lucas Boland
As he prepares for his contract season, Kyle Schwarber says he's hopeful that his fourth season with the Phillies won't be his final one in red pinstripes.
Earlier this week, Schwarber participated in the WM Open Pro-Am golf tournament in Scottsdale, Arizona. There, he spoke with Kyle Odegard of Sports Talk Philly about his future with the final year of a $79 million deal looming.
"I’ve enjoyed my time so much," Schwarber said. "I was with the Cubs for how many years, and then I signed the one-year deal with Washington. Being here, it feels like home now. I’d love to keep that going for as long as I can. Hopefully we can win multiple World Series in the years to come."
In three seasons with the Phillies, Schwarber has established himself as the defacto captain of the team, while swatting 131 home runs and drawing 318 walks, which each rank third in baseball since the start of the 2022 season.
Schwarber does strike out quite a bit, and at this stage of his career, is pretty much exclusively a DH. But he's no doubt been one of the better free-agent signings in Phillies history, and it's hard to imagine a scenario where the team wouldn't want to retain him beyond 2025.
Well hello there Schwarbs!#RingTheBell pic.twitter.com/YHoUWeP7yE
Perhaps an extension could be reached during Spring Training, which happened with Zack Wheeler a year ago.
"I haven’t gone down to Spring [Training] yet, but there’s interest on my side, and we’ll see if there’s interest on their side," Schwarber said. "We’ll go from there."
Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski was non-committal when asked by On Pattison about a potential extension for Schwarber at the outset of the offseason.
"Well, we like Kyle Schwarber a lot," Dombrowski said. " ... But we haven't gotten into any offseason projections on who we are going to sign or not sign at this point."
It's possible that with an aging team the Phillies will have both Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto play out their contract years in 2025 and reassess where things stand after the season. The guess here, though, is that one or both will still be on the team at this time next year.
Something like a two-year/$47 million extension for Schwarber — who will turn 32 in March — would seem to be fair for both sides. Maybe such a pact will come together at Clearwater in the coming weeks.
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