Kyle Schwarber is keenly aware that this could be his last season with the Philadelphia Phillies.
Schwarber has bounced around with three teams since he was non-tendered by the Chicago Cubs. He was great for the Washington Nationals, but they traded him. He was great for the Boston Red Sox, but they let him walk in free agency. And now, he’s been even greater in four years as a Phillie.
Before the 2022 season, Schwarber got a four-year, $79 million contract. He’s worth at least that this time around, as he’s in the middle of the best year of his career, and though the Phillies are a big-market team with the league’s third-highest payroll, one never knows how they’ll value him until the offseason begins.
So with free agency only a couple of months away, Schwarber recently reflected on his previous departures from other teams, and hoped he had done enough already to leave a lasting impression on Philadelphians.
“When I first came into the big leagues with the Cubs, even when you make the playoffs and win the World Series the next year you think, ‘Oh, I’m gonna be here for forever. We’re gonna be here for forever. We’ve got such a great core,’” Schwarber told USA Today’s Gabe Lacques.
“And then the business side happens, right? I think as a player, you want to make an impression, a lasting impression on a fan base and an organization. And I don’t think that’s something you take lightly.
“I hope I did it in Chicago. I hope I did it in Washington and Boston, for a short amount of time. And I hope, if this is it after the year, that I did that here.
“Because you pour so much of everything you have on a daily basis into the organization, into the city, into your teammates and trying to win. You just hope that people – I don’t want to say appreciate it, because that’s what we do – but I know how much we pour in that it becomes home.”
Schwarber has been great on the field, but if there’s anything that would really make losing him tough to stomach, it’s the fact that he’s become the heartbeat of the Phillies’ clubhouse.
The 32-year-old always knows just what to tell the demanding Philadelphia fan base. And as three other fan bases know all too well, it could sting for a long time if the Phillies let him get away.
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