Jul 18, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; 2025 all star game MVP Philadelphia Phillies outfielder Kyle Schwarber (12) walks with his trophy past manager Rob Thomson before a game against the Los Angeles Angels at Citizens Bank Park. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images Bill Streicher
Writers from across the country — Anthony SanFilippo and myself included — will arrive in Orlando Sunday for the 2025 MLB Winter Meetings. The stove should really heat up Monday, with Dec. 8-10 the real action days of the annual event.
Here's a few Phillies-related items I'm monitoring as we approach one of the busiest weeks on the MLB calendar.
The Pittsburgh Pirates, San Francisco Giants and Baltimore Orioles have all been connected recently to Schwarber. I have a difficult time believing any of those teams will ultimately prove to be the top competition as the Phillies try to retain the NL MVP runner-up.
But in a post on Threads over the weekend, ESPN's Jeff Passan suggested there could be a resolution to the Schwarber sweepstakes in the not-so-distant future:
For Phillies fans, the Mets emerging as the top suitor for Schwarber would be a nightmare scenario. It may not be quite as hard to imagine as Pete Alonso in red pinstripes, but Schwarber suiting up for the Mets would be a difficult pill to swallow.
The guess here is that the Red Sox and Reds are more realistic possibilities.
Boston employed Schwarber for the second half of the 2021 season, and given that he hit 187 home runs over the lifetime of a four-year/$79 million deal with the Phillies, the Red Sox surely regret not finding a spot for him a few years ago. Now that they seem to be a cleanup hitter away from being a World Series favorite, could the Red Sox circle back on Schwarber?
Perhaps the scariest scenario for the Phillies would be if the Reds — the team that Schwarber, a native of Middletown, Ohio, grew up rooting for — make a serious push for Schwarber. The good news is that the Reds finished last season 23rd in payroll at $119 million, per Spotrac. Spending $125+ million on Schwarber would be uncharacteristic. But while the Phillies have much more financial might than the Reds, they may struggle to compete with the possibility of Schwarber getting to put on the uniform of what is essentially his hometown team.
By the time we leave Orlando, we may very well know what Schwarber's plans are. While the Phillies do risk running it back to some degree if they re-sign Schwarber, expect panic among the fanbase if the three-time All-Star chooses to leave.
Last week, Jen McCaffrey and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported that the Boston Red Sox were "showing interest" in J.T. Realmuto. Jon Heyman added in The New York Post that the Pirates were "pursuing" Realmuto as well.
Realmuto's camp has done a good job of getting the word out about other suitors as they try to establish leverage for the three-time All-Star. Will the Phillies counter in some way? Their options might be limited.
Adley Rutschman is entering his age-28 campaign and is two years away from free agency, the same profile that Realmuto had when the Phillies acquired him from the Miami Marlins in February of 2019. But Rutschman is coming off of the worst season of his career, so it might be difficult to determine his value in a trade. Also, the Orioles just traded for only one guaranteed year of Taylor Ward, so it would seem they are all in on 2026, meaning they'll almost certainly hold onto Rutschman.
Last week, I wrote about Sean Murphy as a potential alternative to Realmuto, if the Phillies are looking for one. He comes with his own set of concerns, though, and it's unclear if the division-rival Atlanta Braves would trade him to the Phillies.
Go down the list of other alternatives via free agency or trade — Jonah Heim, Christian Vázquez, Victor Caratini, Joey Bart, Keibert Ruiz — and none of them are particularly inspiring. That's one of the reasons it still feels like the most likely scenario is circling back to Realmuto.
Then again, just because there's not a great alternative doesn't mean that re-signing Realmuto will necessarily prove to be the right choice. He's going to turn 35 in March, has declined as a framer and posted just a .700 OPS in 2025. At the very least, it wouldn't hurt the Phillies in the leverage department to give off the impression that they are willing to walk away at a certain price.
It seems like things have gone radio silent on the bench coach vacancy the Phillies created after the season when they shifted Mike Calitri to the newly-created role of MLB field coordinator.
Are the Phillies still waiting on a decision from Don Mattingly? "Donnie Baseball" and the Toronto Blue Jays parted ways after the World Series when his contract expired, seemingly the choice of the 1985 AL MVP. At 64, does Mattingly want to slow down, or is he ready to chase the World Series title that has alluded his grasp? He and Rob Thomson were on the same staff with the New York Yankees under Joe Torre from 2004-2007. His son, Preston, is the general manager of the Phillies. It almost makes too much sense.
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If not Mattingly, the Phillies should still be able to pick from a slew of former MLB managers, with Dave Dombrowski saying in his year-end press conference that the ideal bench coach candidate would have prior managerial experience.
Former Orioles manager Brandon Hyde was hired by the Tampa Bay Rays this week as a senior advisor. Hyde's ex bench coach Fredi Gonzalez — who previously managed the then-Florida Marlins and Braves — resides in the Philadelphia area and isn't currently employed.
Long-time backup catcher David Ross clearly wants a second shot at managing after leading the Cubs from 2020-2023. He didn't seem to garner much interest this cycle, and perhaps getting back on a staff would help his prospects for 2027.
Rocco Baldelli, Ron Washington and Bud Black are other former managers that are available right now.
In his year-end press conference, Dombrowski said that the Phillies would look at adding a year onto the contract of Thomson, whose contract expires at the end of the 2026 season. Dombrowski has previously said that he prefers not to have managers operate as lame ducks.
To this point, there hasn't been a year tacked onto the deal of Thomson. The Phillies have a slew of free agents — not only Schwarber and Realmuto, but also Harrison Bader and Ranger Suárez — and still have not named a bench coach. At the same time, there's no reason they couldn't walk and chew gum too. A one-year extension for Thomson was ready to go before the 2024 end-of-season press conference, so it presumably wouldn't take a Lane Kiffin-esque negotiation to get a deal done.
Until a deal is announced, though, it invites speculation. Do the Phillies not want to add a year onto Thomson's contract because there's uncertainty about the fate of the 2027 season with the collective bargaining agreement set to expire next winter? Is Thomson uncertain that he wants to manage beyond 2026? Are the Phillies unsure if they want to commit to Thomson for more than another year?
Thomson has repeatedly talked about how he is comfortable operating on one-year deals and has never worried about his job status. He's genuine when he says that, although things could get loud early on if Thomson is a lame duck and the Phillies start slow.
