The Phillies announced that Harrison Bader has declined his end of a $10MM mutual option for 2026. He will now return to free agency, collecting a $3MM buyout on his way back to the open market.
Bader, 32 in June, is coming off a strong season. One of the top outfield defenders in the game, his offense has been inconsistent. 2024 was his third straight season with subpar offense, by measure of wRC+.
He settled for a one-year, $6.25MM deal with the Twins coming into 2025. That broke down as a $750K signing bonus, a $4MM base salary and a $1.5MM buyout on a $10MM mutual option. He could also increase the value of the buyout via plate appearance bonuses. By making 501 appearances this year, he hit all the bonuses and added another $1.5MM to the buyout value.
Those plate appearances were split between the Twins and Phillies, as Minnesota fell out of the playoff race and turned into deadline sellers, flipping Bader to Philadelphia. Bader’s deal also had a $500K assignment bonus for getting traded, so he unlocked that as well.
Overall, he performed well. He hit .277/.347/.449 for a 122 wRC+. Thanks to that offense joining forces with his typically strong baserunning and defense, FanGraphs credited him with 3.2 wins above replacement on the year.
The offense probably isn’t wholly sustainable. He had a .359 batting average on balls in play this year. That’s higher than his .305 career rate and the .291 league average in 2025. Regardless, he may have played himself into a nice multi-year deal this winter. It’s possible that could come with the Phillies but they are reportedly looking to make an outfield shake-up, which figures to include moving on from Nick Castellanos. Whether Bader can fit into the plans might depend on how that shuffle plays out.
Photo courtesy of Bill Streicher, Imagn Images
Did he do that while on the IL?
I mean, he’s not worth much more in my opinion (per year) but he likely can get a multi year deal worth north of $10 mil.
Good to know that’s what you mean.
Easiest 3M he’s made. He probably gets a 2/16 to a 3/36 deal from someone else. I don’t think the Phillies go above 2 years and I think they would factor that 3M into the new deal… 2/17 or something along those lines. I think he gets a 3rd year option from someone else tho.
Why would they factor in the buyout when no other team would? It was essentially 2025 salary, something they knew they’d have to pay under the contract when they traded for him.
They can factor it in but the other teams bidding against them won’t. He’ll sign elsewhere
I think it will be factored into their calculus which is why I don’t think he’ll be back. Other team won’t a 10M a year deal is just 10M to them, and in reality a 10M to the Phillies is 13M in 2026. If they have to top some other team that offers him say 2/20 they’re going to be asking themselves is Bader really worth more than 10M a year and the 3M buyout hit to our luxury bill or do we go with a similar maybe not as good if a fielder but similar bat option for less money AVV and maybe only a 1 year deal.
If they don’t go after Tucker or Bellinger… I don’t see them spending more than 10M per season or 13M if you factor in the buyout to Bader to fill one of the OF spots. On top of paying Casty to go away? For a guy that will turn 32 and had probably his best offensive year as a pro?
So ultimately I think they go elsewhere and trade for an OF, they bring up Crawford and split Marsh/Kemp.
The buyout counts towards the 25 tax, so not sure why they would factor that into the next year contract
Cards need him back
In this year’s free agent market, Tots is easily going to cash in better than any other player.
2/16 or 2/17 seems reasonable, I think 3 years could happen but only if a team gets desperate and has lost out on their top choice. I hope you can stay healthy. He seems like a good fit for the Orioles
That’s quite a low AAV since he turned down 1/10. Kevin Kiermaier got more than that at the same age.
I figure he’ll get $20MM over 2. No less than that.
I have doubts he’s going to get much more.
Royals
I’d like to see the Cubs make a run for him. He’d be able to give Happ and PCA days off against LHP as well as play some RF when Suzuki is DHing. (I’m assuming Tucker will not re-sign..)
He would also be a serious upgrade as the “bench RH PH” over Justin Turner. He may not be willing to settle for a 4th OF roll, but the Cubs have to improve their three non-C bench positions over the Jon Berti/Vidal Brujan/Willi Castro nonsense of 2025.
Castro really turned into a pumpkin in Chicago after a couple quality years in Twins Territory. Leaves me some hope he might come back, even with Rocco not being there
His market is, for me, more variable than most. His age and history would indicate a one or possibly two year deal, but last season was an outlier. Combine an incredibly weak CF supply with high demand; add a strong dose of optimism by some GM out there; add a few tequila shots and he will potentially be priced far out of a comfortable range.
I would love to see him back in Philly, but his real value is closer to that of a top 4th OF / platoon guy rather than that which we saw for two months. At a certain point a sane GM will have to punt.
Might have been the worst at bat that I’ve ever seen against the Dodgers. 10 pitches and not one swing at a strike with a tying run on 2nd.
Let him go. Traditional journeyman.
Mistake on his part. He will not get a multi year contract that’ll pay him more then 10M he shoulda agreed on his mutual option