Phillies Will Have To Break the Bank To Re-Sign Star Slugger This Winter

Will the Philadelphia Phillies be able to re-sign their star slugger this winter?

Aug 18, 2024; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Former Philadelphia Phillies president Dave Dombrowski during Phillies Alumni Weekend and the 20th anniversary of Citizens Bank Park before game against the Washington Nationals at Citizens Bank Park. | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

As the Philadelphia Phillies continue to try to establish themselves as the team to beat in the National League East, they have a lot of looming decisions to make in the coming months.

It has been a strong season so far for the Phillies in 2025. They have been battling with the New York Mets for most of the year for control of the division, but the team appears to be in a good spot.

As expected, Philadelphia has leaned heavily on what has been one of the best starting rotations in baseball. This unit has covered up a lot of flaws in other areas.

One of those areas of struggle has been the bullpen. However, the recent signing of David Robertson and the trade to bring in Jhoan Duran might be enough to turn the unit around.

Phillies Must Sign Kyle Schwarber

The Phillies have been a regular in the playoffs of late, but this is a roster that is starting to get older, and their opportunity to win is now. However, they do have a key player who will be hitting free agency at the end of the year that they must keep.

Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report recently predicted that the Phillies would be locking up their star slugger, Kyle Schwarber, to a massive four-year, $140 million deal this winter.

“As vitally important as he has been to their cause this season, they almost have to find a way. Maybe they borrow a page from the Dodgers' deferrals playbook to get it done, but there should be many more Schwarbombs in Citizens Bank Park for what's left of the 2020s.”

Despite several key players entering the final year of their contracts for Philadelphia, arguably none is more important than Schwarber.

It has been a fantastic contract season for the star slugger, and he is positioning himself very nicely to be paid well this winter. 

Even though the offense of the Phillies has struggled at times overall this campaign, it has been Schwarber who has been their leader. In 112 games, the three-time All-Star is slashing .258/.382/.593 with 40 home runs and 94 RBI.

Those numbers for Schwarber are fantastic, and even if the season ended today, he would have had a strong year. However, there are still a lot of games left to play, and the slugger could be hitting 50 home runs this campaign.

With improvements across the board, it’s no surprise to see that his bWAR is currently the highest it’s been in his career.

Due to him primarily being a designated hitter, it is hard to figure out his value. However, he is certainly going to be landing a massive contract, and Philadelphia would be wise to bring him back.