December 10, 2025
Kyle Schwarber is taken care of.
The star slugger signed his reported five-year, $150 million deal to stay with the Phillies on Tuesday.
With arguably the Phils' biggest box of the winter checked off, the club can move on to its other offseason priorities.
The most urgent among them now: A new contract for catcher J.T. Realmuto.
As Schwarber did for a bit, Realmuto is sitting in free agency and listening to offers as MLB's Winter Meetings continue this week down in Orlando.
The 34-year-old has caught a lot of games for the Phillies over the years, and while his bat might be on a decline with age, he's still regarded as one of the smartest and most durable catchers in baseball.
The Phillies would like to keep him as their backstop, and in a video call with the press on Wednesday, Schwarber said he'd be lying if he said he didn't send a text to Realmuto coaxing him a bit to stay after the ink dried on his own new contract.
"I mean, we've all been in constant communication throughout the offseason. Not just J.T., a lot of different guys on the team," Schwarber said. "We all have great relationships with each other. I think that's been a great thing that we've had in Philadelphia here, is that we've all really come together and felt like we're all going to have some really good friendships throughout the end of our days here."
But they don't want it to be the end just yet.
The star core of Schwarber, Realmuto, and first baseman Bryce Harper has been together since the beginning of the 2022 season, and launched the Phillies on to a miracle run to the NL pennant and regular postseason contention after Philadelphia had not seen any playoff baseball for more than a decade prior.
Each passing October, however, has knocked the Philllies a step further down the playoff ladder, which has brought building fan frustration and a growing demand for change.
Schwarber and the Phillies, though, don't believe the prospect of losing Realmuto is the kind of change that presents a step forward.
They need him, but on the other side of the coin, Realmuto has to make the decision to stay.
And that carries no guarantees, not even that he'll make one quickly.
"But obviously, at the end of the day, I just went through the process," Schwarber said of Realmuto and free agency. "I know the process he's going to be going through, and you want to be respectful to that as well, right? You want him to feel like he's making the best decision for himself, his family.
"Selfishly, I think that we would all love to have J.T. back, because we know what he brings to the table and how important he is to, not just our clubhouse and on the team, but what he means to Philadelphia, and how he's carried himself, and how he prepares and how he makes sure that he's going to be available to catch as many games as he can."
The problem is that's all known about Realmuto across baseball, which draws the interest of a lot of other clubs hoping to land him.
Phillies president Dave Dombrowski has submitted an offer to Realmuto, per MLB.com's Todd Zolecki. But there might be a bit more work and some competition to navigate to ensure that it ends up the right one.
While the Phillies worked to keep their big-time bat, the Mets lost theirs as first baseman Pete Alonso signed a five-year, $155 million deal with the Baltimore Orioles, per ESPN's Jeff Passan.
Simply put, this one's all on the Mets.
Alonso was a homegrown star, and when the time came to figure out a long-term contract for him, the Mets looked like they never even wanted to pretend to try and entertain a discussion.
Then they collapsed down the stretch last season and missed the playoffs, and now they're down a 40-home run caliber bat without having shown any kind of urgency over it.
Oh yeah, and closer Edwin Díaz left for the Dodgers on a record deal for a reliever.
Hey, a Mets fumble is always a Phillies gain, and a good laugh for Philly fans.
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