Offseason Review: Philadelphia Phillies

The Phillies running back is largely the same team as last year, but with a few key adjustments.

Major League signing

2026 spending (excluding Pop): $66MM
Total spent (excluding Pop): $227MM

Trade and Applications

Selection Decisions

Notable Minor League signing

• Oliver Peguero, Bryan De La Cruz, Michael Mercado, Bryse Wilson, Levi Stoudt, Mark Kolozsvary, Tucker Davidson, Genesis Cabrera, Tim Mayza, Dylan Moore, Daniel Robert, Lou Trivino, Connor Gillispie

Extensions

Significant Loss

The Phillies went into the winter with a collection of notable players reaching free agency. Kyle Schwarber, JT Realmuto, Guard Suárez again Harrison Bader were among the players who went to the open market. The Phils usually run one of the league’s best players, but it didn’t seem like they would have the money to bring them all back.

Schwarber and Realmuto felt like priorities. Losing Suárez will hurt the rotation, but the Phils can still hope for a good starting lineup without him. It can be more dangerous because Zack Wheeler he required surgery to deal with thoracic outlet syndrome, but is expected to return for the start of the 2026 season. When he returns, four spots will be taken by Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Christopher Sánchez again Jesus Luzardo. The last place may come down to a battle in between Taijuan Walker again Andrew Painter. Painter still has options and could be sent to Triple-A if he doesn’t win that battle. Walker has been thrust into a long relief role in the past and could end up there again.

In center field, the Phils seemed willing to give up Justin Crawford a gun. He wanted a promotion in 2025 until they got Bader at the last minute. He’s not on the 40-man roster yet, but the Phils have offered him a job through 2026. He has a particularly good communication style and speed. He has never hit ten home runs in a season but he puts the ball in play and lets his legs do the work.

There is a risk in relying on prospects with no big league experience but those are better fallback plans than the Phils have had elsewhere. They didn’t have an everyday catcher waiting to take over for Realmuto and they certainly didn’t have a Schwarber-esque bat to plug into the DH spot.

Schwarber’s market was hot, not surprising for a guy who has been effective at the plate in recent years. It seemed like the Phillies would match whatever the other clubs were willing to offer – and they were. The Pirates, shockingly, made an offer in the $120-125MM range over four years. The Orioles reportedly pushed the bid up to $150MM over five years but the Phils got him for that price. It is a historic agreement. Putting it aside Shohei Ohtanino designated hitter has received a nine-figure contract in free agency before. No hitter, at any position, has hit nine figures in his age-33 season.

For a 33-year-old DH to hit past both of those benchmarks and reach $150MM shows just how good Schwarber has been. He just hit 56 home runs last year while continuing to have elite walk rates. He also erased his previous platoon stories, as he was actually better compared to the rest in 2024 and 2025.

Bringing back Schwarber left Realmuto as the main item on the to-do list but the Phils explored a different approach. With Bo Bichette unsigned in January, the Phils tried to take advantage by giving him a seven-year contract worth around $200M. He decided to take the short-term route with a higher average annual value, accepting a three-year deal with the Mets worth $126MM with an opt-out.

The Phils had it too Trea Turner again Bryson Stott in their midfield, it seemed the plan was to put Bichette at third. The Phils could trade up Alec Bohm and his $10.2MM salary, probably a catch. The Bichette offer was worth about $28MM per year, so they would add about $18MM to the payroll if they were able to flip Bohm for a minor leaguer or prospect. When Bichette went elsewhere, the Phils turned to Realmuto immediately and offered him $45MM over three years, or $15MM per year.

Bringing back Schwarber and Realmuto is great, but there’s a bit of risk in continuing to commit to an aging roster. Both of these guys are now signed for their age 37 season. Turner again Bryce Harper they will enter their age-33 seasons and still have the next decade under contract. Wheeler and Nola are also in their 30s. There’s a financial side to the prospect of Crawford and Painter playing roles on the 2026 club, but they also need the younger guys to step up to avoid being blindsided by the aging curve.

Another area where change seemed warranted was the right field. Manager Rob Thomson and Nick Castellanos had collided several times during the 2025 season. The organization seemed to have no question about where they stood on this scandal. A few days after the Phils were eliminated from the playoffs, it was reported that Thompson will return in 2026. He and the Phils will sign an extension in December.

Castellanos was out the door. In mid-October, a few days after the news of Thomson’s stay, it was reported that the Phils would move on from Castellanos. They stuck with him all winter trying to see if the job could come together but it never happened. He was released in February, just before camps opened for spring training.

Meanwhile, they replaced him Adolis García. He was non-tendered by Rangers after two years down. Castellanos is one of the worst defenders in the league and García is good with the glove, so he will be better in that department. His offense is highly questionable, as he is coming off a terrible .227/.271/.394 showing. He’s not too far off a 39-homer season in 2023 but he’s 33 now. Helping him get back on track will be critical to the Phillies’ success.

There was some internal drama, but of no real consequence. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski made disparaging comments about Harper’s 2025 season, angering Harper and leading to brief trade rumors. Those rumors were quickly shot down and Dombrowski suggested that the proverbial water has passed under the bridge.

A third note of clubhouse tension appeared to affect the team’s bullpen plans. Left hand Matt Strahm traded to the Royals for a right-hander Jonathan Bowlan on Dec. 19. Dombrowski framed it simply as a product of circumstances. Bowlan is less established than Strahm, but he has big stuff, he’s still a minor leaguer and has been out of control for six years. Strahm had one season left on his deal and will make $7.5MM in 2026. The Phils had three shortstops left at the beginning of the winter, José Alvarado again Tanner Banks to be the other two. But in the days following the trade, it was reported that the Phils were motivated to move Strahm because he was constantly at odds with team officials.

Without motivation, a significant part of the bullpen has been removed. The Phils then used free agency to bolster the team, making signings Brad Keller on a two-year contract worth $22MM. Keller was once a decent starter for the Royals but was in the injury wilderness in 2023 and 2024. He had a great back-to-back season out of the Cubs’ bullpen in 2025, throwing 69 2/3 innings with a 2.07 earned run average, 27.2% strikeout rate and 6% strikeout rate. Other clubs were interested in returning Keller to a starting role but the Phils plan to use him as a trade.

A few notable developments emerged during spring training. The one who plays outside Johan Rojas received an 80-game suspension after testing positive for a performance-enhancing drug. He is the third member of the 2025 Phillies to receive a PED suspension, along with Alvarado and Max Kepler. With the Phils giving Crawford a chance in center field to start the season, Rojas would be a fallback option if Crawford struggled.

It’s not a tragic loss, but it gives the Phils a bit of a safety net at the point where they pose a threat. Perhaps they will look to add more midfield depth in the coming weeks as spring training ends and other clubs make their cuts, which will send some players to the waiver wire or back to free agency.

Another big development out of Phillies camp was the Jesus Luzardo an extension. He and the team agreed to a five-year, $135MM contract that starts in 2027. That doesn’t affect the club in 2026 but it does prevent a potential pitfall a year from now. Both Luzardo and Walker were scheduled for free agency after 2026. The ’27 rotation projects to have a total of four Wheeler, Nola, Luzardo and Sánchez. With Walker’s impending departure, there is a way for Painter or someone else to hold the position for the future. Otherwise, the Phillies never hesitate to spend in free agency.

All in all, the Phils mostly keep the band together. The rotation is losing Suárez, but maybe Painter can somehow make up for his loss. The infield has been shuffled around a bit, with Crawford and García stepping in for Bader and Castellanos. The bullpen has had a few changes as well.

But the core will be very similar. With Schwarber and Realmuto back, those two will be a fixture alongside Harper, Turner, Bohm, Marsh and Stott. It’s clearly a strong team, with a streak of four straight postseason appearances. The playoff results have been very disappointing lately, but the regular season numbers keep getting better. They went from 87 wins in 2022 to 90, 95 and 96 in the next three campaigns.

It seems that the club tried to balance. With most of those key players in their mid-30s and signed for years to come, there is concern that they may have become too old at some point, but they want to continue for now. They will try to get an injection of youth from Crawford and Painter. They almost got more youth in the signing of Bichette but couldn’t get it off the ground, which led to Realmuto’s merger with the big move.

Photo courtesy of Bill Streicher, Imagn Images