Philadelphia Phillies fans may not like to hear this.
The Philadelphia Phillies are smack dab in the middle of a pivotal offseason after being bounced from the NLDS for the second straight year.
The Phillies remain one of baseball's best teams, but it's becoming abundantly clear that their roster could use some tweaking.
But will Philadelphia actually make any big moves this winter?
The problem is that the Phillies' most lucrative decisions may simply be re-signing Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto, and if those things happen, Philadelphia may not have enough money remaining to make significant moves elsewhere.
Matt Gelb of The Athletic provided an update on the situation at the Winter Meetings this week.
"The great unknown is what course the Phillies will take once they have clarity on Schwarber and Realmuto," Gelb wrote. "Until this point, they have poked around on free-agent and trade targets but portrayed most of those quests only as alternatives should they not retain Schwarber or Realmuto, according to agents and rival clubs that have spoken with the Phillies. They need to know how much of the payroll will be allocated to their re-signed players before mapping out the rest."
This is where the problem lies.
If the Phillies retain both Schwarber and Realmuto and essentially stand pat elsewhere, all they are doing is maintaining, and it's entirely possible that both Schwarber and Realmuto decline in 2026.
Schwarber just smashed a career-high 56 home runs, but he will be 33 years old on opening day, and his 2025 campaign may have been somewhat of an anomaly considering he OPSed between .817 and .851 in each of his first three seasons in Philadelphia between 2022 and 2024 (he posted a .928 OPS in 2025).
Meanwhile, Realmuto already displayed significant signs of decline this past year, posting his worst offensive campaign in a decade and also continuing to slide defensively.
Schwarber is the real issue here. Realmuto is replaceable. Schwarber really isn't. If the Phillies allow Schwarber to walk and sign one of Kyle Tucker or Cody Bellinger, for example, it doesn't actually improve the offense.
Now, if Philadelphia is able to keep Schwarber will still adding impactful pieces, then all bets are off, but it doesn't seem like the Phillies want to do that because of payroll concerns.
"The payroll is always a factor, even if it keeps climbing on an annual basis for the Phillies," Gelb added.
We should get a whole lot more clarity on the situation in Philadelphia over the coming days.