The Phillies signed Kyle Schwarber to a $150-million deal. (Photo by Emilee Chinn/Getty Images)
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The news hit Philly like a Schwarbomb.
Slugging free agent Kyle Schwarber will reunite with the Philadelphia Phillies after both sides are reportedly finalizing a five-year, $150 million deal on Tuesday.
For the past couple weeks, rumors swirled around Schwarber’s free agency, linking him to various teams, including the New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, Baltimore Orioles and even the small-market Pittsburgh Pirates and Cincinnati Reds. But the Phillies locked it down by handing out the rare (and massive) long-term contract for a designated hitter.
Life in Philadelphia without Schwarber looked bleak. He’s the clear locker-room leader and a cult hero to Phillies fans who pleaded all summer long for the team to resign him, shown here doing Schwabarian things:
At age 32, Schwarber looks to be peaking after hitting 56 home runs and 132 RBI and finishing second in MVP voting in 2025. He also became the 21st player in MLB history to hit four home runs in a game and was one of just five players with at least 100 walks.
Schwarber signed a four-year, $79 million deal with the Phils before the 2022 season, averaging 47 home runs and 109 RBI per year over the span of that contract.
The Schwarber signing will have an immediate impact on the Phillies for good and maybe for bad. In the short term, it possibly boosts their chances in resigning Schwarber’s best friend: free-agent catcher J.T. Realmuto, whose signing now becomes the Phils’ top priority.
However, the Schwarber deal also leaves the Phils with little capital to pursue big free-agent targets like Cody Bellinger, Bo Bichette, Alex Bregman or one of the three Japanese stars heading to MLB.
So now Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski must leverage his creativity in redesigning a big-league roster that’s mostly remained unchanged for three years and repeatedly flops in the postseason. That may mean Dombrowski offloads mid-priced contracts (Alec Bohm and Bryson Stott) to find a few extra dollars to buy a free agent, specifically a centerfielder. It also means the team likely will commit to low-cost rookies (Justin Crawford, Andrew Painter and Aidan Miller) to patch some holes during the 2026 season. It also guarantees that the team will find any takers for dead-weight contracts belonging to Nick Castellanos and Taijuan Walker, even if it means the Phils will eat the majority of remaining money.
But the repercussions of the Schwarber signing are for tomorrow. Today is for the Phillies and their fans to rejoice in the deal that will keep their beloved star in Philly.