One of the Philadelphia Phillies’ top priorities this offseason will be to bring back Kyle Schwarber. Considering the 31-year-old was an MVP finalist in the National League and slugged 56 home runs with a .928 OPS, he’ll be at the top of many teams’ free agent boards, which could cause his future contract to skyrocket. 

ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel recently projected the contracts that each of the top 50 free agents would sign, and they are predicting Schwarber to sign a four-year contract worth $128 million, with an AAV of $32 million a season.

At first glance, this deal may look slightly low for a player who has hit 45 or more home runs in three of the last four seasons, but there is a good reason for that.

“I polled the industry on Schwarber's deal, and expectations are roughly around four years at $30 million per year, though both figures could end up a bit higher,” wrote McDaniel. “Because he has played just 13 games in the field over the past two seasons and is a soon-to-be 33-year-old designated hitter, his market will be much lower than you might expect for those power numbers.”

Compared to other top-designed hitters around baseball, this is right on par with what their contracts look like. For example, Giancarlo Stanton’s annual salary is around $29 million a season, and Yordan Alvarez’s is around $26 million.

Schwarber is clearly better than each of these players, but he still doesn’t hold the same value as a Juan Soto-type player. 

One of the most interesting pieces of Schwarber’s free agency outlook is what opposing front offices expect from the 32-year-old moving forward.

McDaniel continued, “One way to read the industry projections is that there's an expectation that Schwarber will be very productive for the next two seasons (maybe three), and to get him under contract, you'll have to either pay as though he will definitely be good or toss in a fourth year.”

Plus, outside of his torn ACL in 2016, Schwarber has avoided any lengthy trips to the injured list and has played in 150 games in his fourth season in Philadelphia. In 2025, the designated hitter appeared in all 162 games.

As cliché as it sounds, availability is the best ability, and Schwarber has proved that.

If this truly is the type of contract Schwarber gets on the open market, there is no reason for the Phillies not to dish out the money to bring back one of the core members of their team of the last few seasons. Philadelphia knows better than any other organization the value of having Schwarber in