The Phillies re-signed Kyle Schwarber, but Dave Dombrowski says they won't run the same team back

ORLANDO, Fla. — Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski doesn't play on the winding roads. In a sport where execs hedge, posture, overthink the value of a trade, and talk in circles, he usually tells you exactly where he's going. 

He sticks to the same lane. The lane that he believes will achieve the most success for his club. So at the start of the 2025 MLB Winter Meetings on Monday, Dombrowski made it clear what the plan was for his Phillies. 

"We're not running our club back," Dombrowski said from his suite at an Orlando hotel. 

But there are exceptions to that, of course. 

Late Tuesday morning, Philadelphia brought back one of its cornerstone superstars in Kyle Schwarber, agreeing to a five-year $150 million deal pending physical.

Kyle Schwarber re-signing with Phillies: Slugger headed back on record five-year, $150 million contract

Dayn Perry

This was always the Phillies' plan. Even after the Pirates jumped in with an offer north of $100 million, it's rare that Dombrowski loses out on the player he wants. And the sense around the industry never changed: few believed Schwarber was actually going anywhere.

"There's probably not nearly as much out there as he thought he would get," one high-ranking member of a front office said Monday night. "I'd call his bluff on going to Pittsburgh or Cincinnati. I'm sure he wants to win. He's almost certainly going back to Philly." 

With Schwarber, the team retains the thump in the middle of the order that the team desperately needed in a league that runs, in part, on slug. Outside of Schwarber, the Phillies didn't have much of it in 2025. Only two hitters cleared 20 homers last season, Schwarber with 56 and Harper with 27. 

Additionally, they get their clubhouse leader back. 

"Good for him," said Red Sox manager Alex Cora. "He earned it. I mean, the guy -- he's really good at what he does and what he brings to the equation on the field, off the field, to the community is probably second to none. 

"He's just one of those that I had the pleasure to manage him in '21. And in a short period of time, the way he impacted the Red Sox organization, the city, I haven't seen too many of those in our environment, in our market."

J.T. Realmuto is the other veteran free agent the Phillies want to bring back. He has been linked to clubs like the Red Sox, Mets, and Rangers -- all of them searching for a catching upgrade. That's a position the Phillies can't gloss over, and one that won't come into focus until the market settles.

Dombrowski and Co. would prefer to run it back with him, too. 

But that's where it stops. Dombrowski will always look to improve his roster and made it evident that there were a couple of names that won't be back in a Phillies uniform next year. 

Left-handed-hitting Max Kepler isn't coming back. And Nick Castellanos won't be either, with the Phillies still working on a move that gives both sides a fresh start. The Phillies are bullish on the upside of younger, unproven players like Otto Kemp and top prospect Justin Crawford. That's a shift for Dombrowski, who's built his reputation on leaning toward established, star-level talent when it's time to push a team to its ceiling.

"We've talked about Crawford, we're going to give him that opportunity to make the club and feel good about it," Dombrowski said. "Some people think he's a better left fielder. Some people think he's a better center fielder, or at least going to be a better center fielder as time goes on. So there's really a difference of opinion [within the organization]. I don't think he's a right fielder. So he'll play either left or center." 

Brandon Marsh, who played 84 games in center and another 62 in left field last season, historically has struggled against left-handed pitching. Dombrowski sees Kemp (who had a .786 OPS against lefties in 2025) as a means to possibly combat that. Top infield prospect Aidan Miller is viewed as close to big-league ready with shortstop, second, and third base all in play. 

A new-look Phillies team will rise or fall on two things: the growth of their young players and their superstars, like Bryce Harper, playing to their ceiling.

Their success hinges on Schwarber (and potentially Realmuto), too. But Dombrowski isn't afraid to pivot.

There's a time frame too that you can just doesn't mean you have to do something else, but at some point you need to move some things forward," he said. "So I think that's been properly communicated."

Dombrowski knew he needed Schwarber. And Schwarber, who has never cared for the attention or the noise that comes with free agency, knew Philadelphia was the right fit for him. 

"There's optimism [that we will re-sign Schwarber], but the reality is you just don't know," Dombrowski said Monday. 

He had a good feeling.

This Phillies club isn't running it back. It will look different. But in order for it to raise that World Series banner, Kyle Schwaber had to be a part of it.