Designated Hitter Kyle Schwarber is returning to the Philadelphia Phillies on a five-year, $150 million deal, according to sources that spoke to ESPN's Jeff Passan. Schwarber chose the Phillies after also receiving offers from the Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, New York Mets, Baltimore Orioles, and Boston Red Sox.
"These guys all know how I feel about them," Schwarber said after the Phillies were eliminated from the 2025 MLB Playoffs. "I got a lot of respect for the guys in here, our organization, the coaching staff. Everyone, top to bottom. This is a premier organization, and a lot of people should feel very lucky that, one, you're playing for a team that is trying to win every single year, and you have a fanbase that cares, and you have ownership that cares. You have coaches that care. You have everyone in a room that cares... We're all about winning, and it's a great thing."
Schwarber is coming off one of his best seasons at the pro level, in which he hit a National League-leading and career-high 56 home runs. On top of that, he recorded an MLB-best 132 RBIs. For his efforts, he finished second in NL MVP voting with 260 points behind only the Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani, who accumulated 420 points.
“This is a slugger. Pure slugger that has turned himself into a really dangerous hitter and pure hitter really,” said Phillies manager Rob Thomson during a September 2025 interview. “Last year, after the ‘23 season going into ‘24, he had decided to change his approach a little bit and really concentrate on using the other left field side of the diamond to keep him on the baseball a little bit longer. So, it's helped him against left-handed pitching.”
Schwarber will be entering his 12th year in the majors when the 2026 season begins. In four years with the Phillies, he has hit 187 home runs and 434 RBIs with a .507 slugging percentage.
The Phillies are committed to remaining competitive
When the 2025 season ended, Kyle Schwarber was viewed as one of the best free agent prospects in all of baseball, alongside guys like the Chicago Cubs' Kyle Tucker and the Boston Red Sox's Alex Bregman. Schwarber also showed that he could elevate his play when the lights were shining the brightest, leading the Phillies in postseason home runs while finishing third on the team in OPS (.903). Now, Philadelphia gets back its most prolific power hitter and sends a message to the rest of the National League: we aren't going anywhere.
After an extremely disappointing performance in the playoffs that featured a loss in the first series they played, there was some speculation that the Phillies were going to move on from their talented core of older players like Kyle Schwarber (32), Bryce Harper (33), Nick Castellanos (33), J.T. Realmuto (34), and Trea Turner (32). However, the re-signing of Kyle Schwarber is proof that Philadelphia will be sticking with this group and will continue to try to compete for a championship with most of the players that are currently on the roster. The fact that Philly is willing to dedicate $30 million annually to a guy who rarely plays defense (only eight starts as an outfielder last year) means that this team believes it has the players necessary to continue to make the playoffs and maybe even win a World Series.
With Schwarber now under contract for the next five years, the Phillies only have two players scheduled to become free agents who played in 100+ games for them last year: J.T. Realmuto and Max Kepler. They'll have to dedicate a lot of money to Realmuto, who was making over $23 million a year, but the average annual value of Kepler's contract will not be too high. If they can lock down those two guys, then they will have the same top eight batters next year that they had this past season. Philadelphia will have tough decisions to make with its pitching staff, but I still expect them to bring back key contributors like Ranger Suarez and Jordan Romano, while letting David Robertson walk to save $15 million.
The Phillies clearly believe that their best shot to win a World Series is right now. They cannot expect to be competitive with this core of players after that because the average age of those guys will be almost 36 years old. By comparison, the average age of the 2025 Los Angeles Dodgers' starting lineup was 31. I doubt that team would be nearly as good if their starting nine had five additional years of wear and tear on their bodies. The Phillies and the league have been put on notice with this signing. Ownership is saying that they want to win a World Series within the next three years. Otherwise, big changes will be coming to the City of Brotherly Love.
