Schwarber Had Other Options

The rumors of other teams pursuing Kyle Schwarber have come to light since he re-signed with the Phillies earlier today. As it turns out, other teams were putting forth an effort to have Schwarber come to their city for the next few seasons, although some of those efforts were stronger than others.

The Baltimore Orioles can legitimately claim that they were the closest option for Schwarber. According to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, the O’s offered Schwarber the same deal that the Phillies offered him, five years for $150-million. Camden Yards would have been a good place for Schwarber to launch some of his patented Schwarbombs. The fact that Schwarber is familiar with the team and has enjoyed his time in Philadelphia was an obvious deciding factor in his decision.

The Reds made a push to bring Schwarber to Ohio, near where he was born and lives. Schwarber is from Middletown, OH and would have been playing about 40 miles away from home had he chosen the Reds. Rosenthal reported that they offered five years, but were about $25-million less than the Phillies, although their offer, according to Rosenthal had: “room to grow.” That would have been a lot of money for Schwarber to leave on the table and by signing Schwarber there were no guarantees that the signing would put the Reds “over the top.” The move would have also made it difficult for them to sign any other substantial free agents or to give extensions to any of their young players who form the backbone of their team.

A lot was made of the Pirates pursuing Schwarber and Rosenthal mentions that their offer was in the neighborhood of $120-million over four years, matching the average annual value (AAV) of the Phillies offer, but with one less year. Even more so than in Cincinnati, signing Schwarber would have left the Pirates short of having what they would need to become a top contending team and also left them hamstrung when trying to make any other moves.

The Mets were said to be in the conversation and reportedly were serious about signing Schwarber, but any offer they might have made was not discovered. It was a bad day for the Metropolitans, who lost closer Edwin Diaz to the Dodgers when he signed a three-year, $69-million deal with the two-time World Champions.

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