CLEARWATER, Fla. — After the Phillies came off the practice fields Tuesday, Bryce Harper spoke with owner John Middleton and the front office about the state of the roster.
“I was just letting them know how I feel,” Harper said.
Sure enough, shortly after arriving in the clubhouse Wednesday morning, Harper learned from the media that the Phillies reached an agreement on a four-year contract with free-agent slugger Kyle Schwarber.
Schwarber’s deal, confirmed by a major league source after being reported first by NBC Sports Philadelphia, reportedly will be worth about $20 million annually once it’s finalized. Phillies officials were unable to comment on the 29-year-old left fielder because the agreement is pending a physical.
“He’s a proven winner,” Harper said. “Everywhere he’s gone he’s done a really good job. He gives us a huge opportunity to fill that void out in left field and a huge opportunity to get that much better.”
With the additions of Schwarber, outfielder Odubel Herrera (one-year deal for $1.75 million), and relievers Jeurys Familia and Brad Hand (one-year deals for $6 million apiece), the Phillies’ projected payroll for luxury-tax purposes is roughly $220 million, $10 million short of the 2022 tax threshold in the new collective bargaining agreement.
Two days ago, Harper stumped publicly for the Phillies to sign Schwarber or fellow free agents Kris Bryant or Nick Castellanos. The Phillies were in contact with all three before and after the 99-day lockout that froze transactions.
All along, though, they targeted Schwarber to fill their need for another big bat.
It’s unclear where Schwarber will slot into the lineup. With Paul Bunyan strength and light-tower power, he’s a prototypical middle-of-the-order bat. But he also had success in the leadoff spot last year for the Washington Nationals. The Phillies lack an obvious candidate to lead off.
One area where Schwarber doesn’t particularly help: defense. The Phillies have below-average defenders at almost every position, including now in left field. But the strategy, which didn’t work out last year, will be to outhit their deficiencies in the field.
In their pursuit of a big bat to join Harper, J.T. Realmuto, and Rhys Hoskins, the Phillies indicated early in the offseason that they preferred a lefty-hitting free agent who wasn’t attached to draft-pick compensation. Based on those criteria, all signs seemed to point more to Schwarber.
Hitting coach Kevin Long further tipped the Phillies’ hand in a November interview with MLB Network. Asked if Schwarber would be a good fit, Long pressed his index finger to his lips and shushed the camera.
In seven seasons with the Cubs, Nationals, and Red Sox, Schwarber has 153 homers and an .836 on-base plus slugging percentage. He also brings considerable postseason experience, having won the World Series with Chicago in 2016 and reached the playoffs in all but one year of his career.
Schwarber is coming off the best year of his career after being nontendered by the Cubs after the shortened 2020 season. Working with Long in Washington, he hit 25 homers in 303 plate appearances for the Nationals, including a stretch of 17 homers in 15 games in June before getting dealt to the Boston Red Sox at the trade deadline.
“It was something like I’ve never seen before in baseball,” said new Phillies reliever Brad Hand, Schwarber’s teammate in Washington. “It’s just not that he was hot. It was just, every ball he was hitting was going out of the park, too. We almost got to the point where we were expecting it. It was like, ‘Oh, Schwarber’s up? He’s going to hit a homer.’ It was special to watch, for sure.”
The Phillies were in talks with Schwarber in November but were unable to close the deal before the owners locked out the players. With the designated hitter slated to come to the National League in the new collective bargaining agreement, it’s possible Schwarber preferred to wait to sign until after the lockout.
Schwarber is a selective hitter with a .343 career on-base percentage. His rise to the leadoff spot with the Nationals coincided with the home-run binge. A year ago, the Phillies used 11 leadoff hitters who combined for a .302 on-base percentage, worst in the National League and second-worst in baseball after the Texas Rangers (.280).
“Leading off a game, [Schwarber] exceled because he was able to get fastballs and able to kind of set the tone for our offense,” Long said in November after getting hired by the Phillies. “That, in my opinion, was a good move. We didn’t really change anything about Kyle. That was just a spot in the order where he was able to fit in a little bit better.”
