The Philadelphia Phillies have a lot of things to take care of this offseason, but the most important piece of the puzzle is deciding what to do with Kyle Schwarber.

Schwarber is the top power hitter available in free agency, and while the prevailing thought is that he will end up back with the Phillies, it doesn't appear to be a slam dunk.

Or does it?

Todd Zolecki of MLB.com provided a bit of an update on Schwarber's market, and he feels there may be reason to believe it may not be as busy as many believe.

"The Phils have time to make something happen with Schwarber. But there will come a time when they have to do something -- unless it's clear there's not much of a market for Schwarber, other than the Phillies," Zolecki wrote.

Zolecki then went on to compare Schwarber's situation to that of J.T. Realmuto five years ago.

"Don't misunderstand me. There is a market for Schwarber. But back in the 2020-21 offseason, it was clear J.T. Realmuto didn't have a bunch of teams beating down his door once the Mets signed James McCann," Zolecki added. "The Phillies could afford to be relatively patient then. Realmuto signed his five-year deal in late January 2021."

Here is the thing with Schwarber: he is essentially strictly a designated hitter. Yes, he has played the field in the past. He has caught, played outfield and even spent time at first base. But the 32-year-old has always been a defensive liability, and in 2025, 154 of his 162 games came at DH.

For that reason, Schwarber may not have a huge market like Kyle Tucker or Cody Bellinger, for example. Some teams already have designated hitters locked in, and not everyone is going to be frothing at the mouth to pay $150-200 million for someone who can't play defense.

Of course, Schwarber's bat should be enticing enough as it is. He smashed 56 home runs to go along with 132 RBI and a .928 OPS this past season, and he has registered 45-plus homers in three of the last four years. Ergo, plenty of teams would make room for the lefty.

But will he carry the same demand as some of the other top position player free agents who also play the field? No.

Philadelphia definitely seems to want to keep Schwarber, and you have to figure that the NL MVP runner up would like to return.

Whether or not the two sides can make the money work, however, remains to be seen.