The first major free agent chip fell this morning with Kyle Schwarber returning to Philadelphia on a five-year, $150MM deal. The reunion seemed likely from the start, though the slugger had several other suitors, including at least one willing to match the $150MM price tag. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported the Orioles offered Schwarber the same deal he ultimately accepted with the Phillies.
President of baseball operations Mike Elias has made it clear the team is looking for an impact bat, even after acquiring Taylor Ward. The Orioles still have a significant gap between last year’s payroll and their financial outlook for next season, giving them the potential flexibility for a large expenditure. The club has already spent some money this offseason, though it’s all gone to the bullpen. Baltimore added Ryan Helsley on a two-year, $28MM deal and picked up the $9MM option on Andrew Kittredge after acquiring him from the Cubs.
Camden Yards would’ve been a fun fit for Schwarber. Statcast’s Park Factors ranked it as the third-best home run venue for left-handed hitters. Citizens Bank Park tops the list, so Schwarber isn’t missing out on much by spurning the Orioles.
Baltimore will now turn its attention to the remaining free agent bats, including Pete Alonso. The Orioles and Red Sox are expected to meet face-to-face with the former Met this week. Baltimore’s lineup is strong up the middle and behind the plate, but there should be room to make additions at the corners and DH. Youngsters Samuel Basallo and Coby Mayo will likely factor in at first base and DH, but they wouldn’t preclude the club from adding a player like Alonso. Rosenthal noted the club is also considering Kyle Tucker in its pursuit of an elite hitter.
Pittsburgh’s interest in Schwarber was met with skepticism, but the club came through with a legitimate offer. Rosenthal had the Pirates’ proposal at four years and $120MM, while Alex Stumpf of MLB.com reported the club offered $125MM. Pittsburgh’s offer either met or exceeded the Philles’ deal in terms of average annual value, according to those reports. The fifth year could’ve been the trump card, but it’s hard to scoff at an offer worth upwards of $30MM per season.
Landing Schwarber for anywhere near those reported numbers would have easily set a franchise record for a free agent signing. The current mark is $39MM for Francisco Liriano in 2014. Pittsburgh’s last multi-year signing was a three-year deal with Ivan Nova heading into the 2017 campaign.
GM Ben Cherington previously touted the team’s increased financial flexibility this offseason, and the front office is doing what it can to make a big splash. Pittsburgh was also in on Josh Naylor before he re-signed with Seattle. Stumpf noted that the club will now turn its attention to another former Mariner, Jorge Polanco. The Pirates are expected to have an offer to him soon, per Stumpf.
Cincinnati had been connected to Schwarber given its proximity to his hometown. Rosenthal had the Reds’ offer at five years, but closer to $125MM. C. Trent Rosecrans of The Athletic reported that Schwarber and his wife met with Cincinnati brass before Thanksgiving.
Unlike the Orioles and Pirates, the Reds are not expected to redirect the money offered to Schwarber elsewhere. Their pursuit of the slugger was driven by the idea that signing him would benefit ticket sales, per Rosenthal. Schwarber is from Middletown, Ohio, less than an hour from Great American Ball Park.
Photo courtesy of Bill Streicher, Imagn Images
Garbage pr. You can’t match it. He wanted to stay with Philly. You need to destroy their offer. 5 165 6 180
Is was a worthy offer obviously. Orioles have a few other high end options to go after with that money.
AI – What probably happened is the O’s made their final offer and Philly matched it, similar to Judge & the Yankees.
No sense in going crazy high if the Phillies will match anything. O’s still have other options, they mean business finally. Bad news for Red Sox.
150 is what I expected. I wanna see you signed him or he turned down drastically more $. Pirates Orioles made fair strong offers but wasn’t going to be enough. Got their names in media. Made Philly paid. But if you wanted him you don’t make it your final offer. No biggie. I don’t give a it. Just not giving them credit for it playing out just like I and many others expected.
Truth
Exactly this, he’s not going to mull over an offer of equal value unless he had predispositions to Baltimore or had some sort of ill will towards Philly which he doesn’t. I like the willingness for my O’s to go that high a price for him, but it just wasn’t enough for his consideration.
I said below at least say Baltimore offered 160m. Baltimore fans will see it as well he turned down more $ to stay where he was. Philly fans would see he loves us so much he took less $ to play here. Win win. MLB stinks at pr marketing salesmanship.
I don’t blame Baltimore or any team for not beating this offer. Just like duh if you only offer the same amount of $ they are going to choose where they live or previous played for. If you want to make them go somewhere that isn’t their 1st choice you gotta bribe them.
Unless where they played sucked ;D
Both teams got the same PR benefits with the deal as it went down. O’s fans see their team made a serious offer for a major FA, and understand his heart was with Philly when they matched it. Philly quickly matched the offer and retained a fan favorite and clubhouse leader. No need for extra wrinkles and fabrications.
So you knew in advance what Schwarber would say? And I guess in Phillies hasn’t matched your argument is Os would have backed out? Here’s an idea – chip in $1 million of your money and top the bid.
The. Orioles. Made. The. Offer. First. And. Philly. Matched.
Garbage schtik you’ve got here.
Truth be told, I made the first five-year, $150MM offer to Kyle Schwarber.
All right, that- that’s it. I have to get this off my chest. Earlier today, when I was waiting to use the private bathroom at the Winter Meetings, I witnessed someone revealing the Orioles as the mystery team of pumping up Kyle Schwarber’s salary.
I’ve been conflicted about whether to say anything, because I feel like the Philadelphia Phillies could have signed Schwarber for 5/150 even without the Orioles.
His agent didn’t need to include the Orioles. And that is why this is so tough… for me to tell about the Orioles.
Thank you for your honesty.
@differentbears,
What I actually meant to say was, oh, man, that’s a bummer. Might muck this whole thing up.
Ok, but how big was Scott Boras’s p*nis??
I could see that and it makes sense but not what article says.
“including at least one willing to match the $150MM price tag. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported the Orioles offered Schwarber the same deal he ultimately accepted with the Phillies.”
They were willing to match it. Not they offered him that contract as a final offer and Philly matched it.
Same exact deal he was obviously going to return to Philly.
Nope. From Rosenthal verbatim in the article:
“However, the Orioles’ push essentially forced the Phillies to offer the same terms.”
Well didn’t say that in mlbtr article at time of commenting. I am team Charlie mlbtr so if it ain’t here it didn’t happen.
And I don’t care. They didn’t get him. Didn’t offer more $. I don’t reward for finishing 2nd.
I really don’t care. Just putting on a show for entertainment purposes. I happened to be first to article so instead of typing “First” or “Wow” I figured I would try to create some traffic. I’m a company man.
I am serious about the marketing part. Why not give a win to Baltimore and Philly both saying Baltimore offered more $. Beneficial for all parties. Not a huge win but you should always do what you can. You’re selling a product.
It is not beneficial for Baltimore to look like guys don’t want to sign there even for more NPV.
Yeah it is. There fans believe they offer Burnes the most $ and he just wanted to live in Arizona his home. They would like to believe the same with Schwarber and the we offered and Philly matched is probably good enough. Eat it up. Me I want to know my team offered more but player rather be somewhere else as expected.
Nobody wants to sign for Baltimore unless they live there or can have a legacy because they were drafted by them. Players want to play where they live or want to live. Or be in playoffs every year. Or a mega city with more endorsement opportunities. Or a state with low taxes. Baltimore most of the time will need to pay the most and not just a lil but a significant amount. Just like most teams.
Make up your mind, before you argued that they were only losing players because the owners “decide” where they go strictly on dollars.
Schwarber told Philly all they had to do was match whatever Baltimore’s best offer was. It doesn’t get more clear than that re money ain’t the only thing and Elias isn’t holding back.
Schwarber went to where they paid him the most $.
Get the sense that the Phillies upped their offer to match the highest bid. But we can’t know
Probably and according to a commentator the actually Ken article said so. Am I the only one who just goes off the mlbtr article? I come here so I don’t have to follow a 100 1000 people on Twitter and read all these other websites articles.
Not to pile on mlbtr but article still says.
“The first major free agent chip fell this morning with Kyle Schwarber returning to Philadelphia on a five-year, $150MM deal. The reunion seemed likely from the start, though the slugger had several other suitors, including at least one willing to match the $150MM price tag. Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported the Orioles offered Schwarber the same deal he ultimately accepted with the Phillies.”
We should have known never to trust Ken Rosenthal after he knocked over that cameraman and didn’t help him up lol
I missed that one
Just watched. Never would guess Ken was such a beast. Total a hole look after he did.
Imo if Ken takes you down you deserve it.
I mostly use MLBTR, but I also click on the links in the articles. I do that because I find sometimes MLBTR doesn’t give the full picture from the article they cite (not knocking them, all news aggregators do this). In this case, one source in the Ken article notes that the Orioles push to sign Kyle is the reason the Phillies upped their offer to match the $150m
If Cherington swoops in and snags Alonso because John Henry thinks Boston is a AA city, I swear to god…
Phil – Sox will probably make a trade for someone like Marte, they will fill their need for a good hitter. Still a good chance Bregman returns too.
Pirates should go after Alonso. If they do I can see why they didn’t offer Schwarber 6 years 175m. Alonso similar talent and just as big if not even bigger star.
Why would Os want Alonso? He’s a terrible defender, strikes out 1/3 of the time and obviously didn’t help the Mets win. Fine he’ll hit 35 homers but Mayo’s second half and especially September, along with all of his minor league credentials suggests he breaks out next year.
The only move left for Os is roll out the big $ for Tucker. Still need a CF but then they’d have pieces to deal.
Agreed – Alonso is a poor fit and not worth what he’ll get. O’s need to sign Tucker and then get King or trade for a top SP. Unfortunately most of their young trade pieces have lost value.
“Why would Os want Alonso?”
135ish wRC+, 3ish WAR
Hope that helps your confusion
No real confusion. Overrated because he played in NY and definitely not worth 5 years/$155 million he just got. Glad to see the O’s trying again, but not a great signing IMO.
And here we are.
While being willing to match said offer isn’t nothing, do you really think he’s going to pick a new team over a team he’s very familiar with for the same deal? Not to mention the Phils have been competing at a far more consistent playoff level while he’s been there.
scruff – Where did I say that?
Players will almost always stay with a team they like if the offers are identical or even just close.
Wouldn’t you want to beat the Phillies’ offer to try to pry Schwarber away from his incumbent team?
Informed – The current team will almost always get final chance to match the top offer from other teams, assuming the player really likes their current team. Which was the case with Schwarber.
@Fever
Fair point.
Baltimore likely made the offer and Philly was given the opportunity to match it.
Not with Alonso on the board.
I think Baltimore and Schwarber agent should have agreed to say Baltimore offered 160m. Baltimore can say hey we offered the most $ he just wanted to stay with Philly. Schwarber could say without saying actually saying it he turned down more $ but he just loves Philly and Philly fans so so much. I swear nobody who works in mlb ever took a pr marketing class.
The O’s beat the Phillies offer. Kyle S. Took the O’s offer to Philly and they then matched it so he agreed to deal.
I would hope Alonso thinks Boston has the best potential to win, but I don’t think Boston will match 5 years.
If Pittsburgh wants Alonso they will get them. They have a million seats to sell and a awful TV deal. Obviously Nutting shows little signs of intelligence so I won’t count on it. But much of Alonso salary would be free because of the revenue signing him would create.
Alonzo needs more line-up protection/depth than the Pirates have to make an investment in him pay off.
Do you think that Alonzo will drive ticket sales in Pittsburgh? Outside of family …who will likely be comped their seats …how many fans will make a decision to spend their own money to see a one-trick hitter like him if he signs there?
“one-trick hitter”
135 wRC+
If you’re just going to have one trick make it that one
No argument here. I just don’t see him selling tickets in Pittsburgh. Not enough to make a real difference anyway.
Now, if they add him (and others) and start winning all of a sudden, that would change the equation.
I think Alonso is a complimentary piece …and the Pirates aren’t there yet.
I think this article has it backwards. I believe the Orioles made that initial offer, and then Schwarber took it back to the Phillies, giving them the opportunity to match it, which they did.
The reporting I read was that Philly matched the Orioles offer, not the other way around.
Either way, I’m not too bothered that we didn’t go any further than 5 years, $150 million for a pure DH heading into his mid 30s.
Makes the most sense. Has to feel good for Os fans !
Pretty sure all other teams (not Philly) were making their bids in the dark, not knowing what total dollar amount other teams offered. Agents normally don’t tell to try to get them to bid against themselves. They don’t tell you the team unless it’s already openly reported. In this case we knew the suitors. Orioles made the highest bid and Philly always had the chance to match it at the last minute because Kyle clearly wanted to stay there. This is very different from saying the Phillies made the offer and the O’s then matched it. If it’s the latter, then shame on O’s.. they needed to beat it. But I’m pretty sure it was the former and your report is misleading, respectfully. I’d love to hear the facts because I’ve seen it both ways. One makes the O’s look good and the other makes them look bad, although not as bad as the Reds or Pirates. Please clarify.
A good agent would give everyone in the running a final chance. Fomo is a very real thing.
Pirates offered highest aav and was first reported offer. They covered themselves. Not getting any credit but nothing to criticize. Baltimore did ok to other than the marketing blunder by them and Schwarber agent.
So lame that the reds won’t use the money they would’ve spent on schwarber on another player/players
They weren’t serious anyway
Yeah where’s the report of their offer?
It’s been reported as 5/125 “with room to grow” or 5/130. And that they felt his hometown ties would raise ticket sales etc.. the same report says they aren’t interested in other free agents and will probably look for a trade to improve the lineup
That’s a insult not a offer.
5/135 is what this site predicted, we also can’t assume they knew what other teams were offering. The insult is a team having money to spend for one specific player and not for anyone else
You can increase the offer
If his agent said hey Philly offered us this you need to beat it, if he wanted to go there for that amount and they offered it then it’s over
How dare you recommend that the reds spend money on a very good player! That means they have a chance against Los Angeles or New York, which is horrible!
Cease be like am I a joke to you
The Orioles made a big offer last season and didn’t redirect those dollars to a comparable pitcher. Instead, they looked to baseball senior citizens and disappointed. Wake me if they take this 150 million and close a deal with a difference maker. In the meantime, it’s just hot air.
No way the Reds were going to beat the Phillies per year but the five years surprised me. I had heard four through the grapevine.
Seems like you always hear teams say that they made a similar offer. Don’t know how true that is. When I heard that the Pirates offered $30 million a year I had to laugh. They won’t even offer that kind of money to Skenes.
The Reds will redirect the money into the owners pocket. That’s all they care about.
As you saw above, it was all about selling more tickets. It wasn’t about their fans. Tells you all you need to know. Of course we knew that from them spending 30 million less than before even when they were supposed to be contenders.
Easy choice, Philly spends the money to compete every year, better shot at playing in the playoffs than most of the other teams in the league
I’m rooting for the Orioles to sign Alonso. There’s nothing better than seeing the Mets falter and lose.
Mets will be fine. They have unlimited money and Alonso will age horribly
There is a longer list of teams that have spent a ton of money and lost than those who spent and won.
Just pointing it out.
Who would want to play for that team? Good decision by Schwarber.
Hope the orioles dont go with alonso. All he is a big name who hits homers. Strikes out a ton, poor defense. His own team doesnt want to pay him, that should mean something. Hope they redirect their aggressiveness to imai and a couple set up relievers
Glad this didn’t happen. Schwarber for 5 years as a DH would have been a big mistake. But they better get someone.
He went from being non tendered to a $150 million dollar contract
Clearly there is a lesson to all the fans and writers who think they are excellent talent evaluators
Baltimore can have Stanton for 3 hot dogs. Stanton contract only 2 years left.
“… lesson to all the fans and writers ….”
I don’t think any fan or writer made the decision to non-tender Kyle. Pretty sure it was Chicago front office and really, based on what was right then – not a wrong move. How long ago was that? He found himself in Philly so that meant he didn’t deserve to non-tendered?
Why blame the fans and writers for it?
Was definitely wrong move by Cubs front office. Non tender based on two month pandemic ball. That’s ridiculous. The season before he hit 38 homeruns with .871 ops.
You don’t get it
@ capteno
? We are better than those guys who call themselves “professionals”!
I knew it! I knew it! I knew it all along!
I said it at the time. “Should have hired the Superfife!”
A lot of us here, have been watching and studying baseball for longer than some of these so called “professionals ” have even been alive!
Hire the Superfife!
Well out of the two the O’s are “in” on, Tucker is obviously the better overall player and will get paid as such. The question is whether you think your future outfield options like Enrique Bradfield Jr. can come anywhere near the talent level overall of Kyle Tucker or if investing in him will make it difficult to retain or extend the younger talented core that you have when the need arises. I would be okay with Alonso or thrilled to have Tucker.
Alonso is the more flawed player but he wont be nearly as expensive. Bottom line for me though is, you better bring in a big time bat, Ward was a solid addition even if the cost was Grayson who is talented but a health risk at this point. If signing Alonso means signing or trading for another TOR starting pitcher, I think you go that way. Not that signing Tucker would preclude the O’s from trading for a great starting pitcher,
Why waste your money. Go get some cheaper veterans with leadership
3B Geno Suarez
DH Polo
Trade for 1B Christian Walker(Astro buy down)
Trade for Luis Castillo+Emerson Hancock to lead the staff(Ms buy down)
That’s about the same price as one Schwarber
We already have a good everyday 3B in Jordan Westburg and 3 guys for 1B in Mountcastle, Mayo, and Basallo, so Suarez and Walker don’t really make much sense for the Orioles.
The mariners aren’t paying Castillo to play somewhere else
I’m sure he went into this offseason with a certain amount of money and years in mind. Once those two goals were met, he chose Philly because heart is with Philly, and has some unfinished business.
Funny Hoyer never made a play for Schwaber, and Schwaberdidnt either. Yet they wanted to reconnect .
Hoyer says alot but never really does anything except bs the fans
Come on Elias, take that $150mil for 5 years and lock up Valdez.
Reds not expected to redirect the money because of ticket sales…I mean yeah who would wanna go see Alonso or a Bregman or any high profile bat in a Reds uni…that is just dumb…sure we wanted Schwarber but we want a winning team more
It’s pathetic
There’s still a lot of off-season left. And many ways to improve.
There is indeed, maybe they make a great trade.. but they could do that and spend the money they would’ve spent on schwarber, the fact that they aren’t is still annoying. Appreciate the optimism though
Sounds like Phillies fans have the Orioles to thank for Philly having to kick in an extra year along with the 30 million AAV.
That being said, considering power usually declines later than most other skills, it’s possible he remains productive through the end of that contract. The extra year makes it a little less likely though.
Wow! Commenting here just sent me to a questionable website. Never again! Goodbye.
So you clicked on a random link? Sounds like a bad idea…
BartSimpsonYouTriedCake.gif
It’s simple……why would he switch it up at his age?!!! It’s time for a player like Kyle to stick to what you know