Major League Baseball’s Winter Meetings began on Sunday, and the Philadelphia Phillies have some questions to answer.

It remains uncertain if J.T. Realmuto and Kyle Schwarber are going to make a decision during the Winter Meetings, but it seems very likely that the Phillies will get an answer from both of their veterans at some point over the next week or so during the meetings.

Advertisement

Regarding what the Phillies are focused on during that time, it seems very clear that the biggest focus will be on Schwarber at the moment. Perhaps that changes depending on how things go at the meetings.

“What more can be said about the Phillies’ pursuit to re-sign Schwarber? They want him back. He wants to return. So far, the sides haven’t agreed on anything. Reports continue to pop up about other interested teams, but none of them make as much sense as Philadelphia. We still think Schwarber will re-sign with the Phils. Next week would be great, because it would allow the Phillies to move to the other items on their to-do list. The worst-case scenario for Philadelphia is that negotiations with Schwarber drag into 2026 as the Phillies’ Plans B, C and D fall off the board. If somebody else steps up and signs Schwarber next week, at least the Phillies will have options to replace him, like Alex Bregman and Bo Bichette,” Todd Zolecki wrote.

It’s important to look at some of the other plans if the Phillies were to lose out on Schwarber.

Advertisement

It sounds like there’s a real possibility for them to go after someone like Bo Bichette, Alex Bregman, or anyone else on the board they might love.

However, from the Phillies’ perspective, it’s even more important to understand that replacing Schwarber’s 56 home runs from a year ago will be very unlikely.

There’s a scenario where somebody like Bregman could come in and play an impactful role, as well as Bichette, but there would still be a lot of offensive firepower missing in terms of home runs if they were to lose Schwarber.

Hopefully, Dave Dombrowski and the front office understand that.