Former Cubs OF Kyle Schwarber has a new MLB team again

The Chicago Cubs made a big splash on Wednesday morning. They added Seiya Suzuki out of Japan to come to North America and try and continue being elite at the MLB level. Unfortunately, it came less than 12 hours after Anthony Rizzo signed with the Yankees and right before the Philadelphia Phillies signed Kyle Schwarber.

There were rumors that the Cubs were trying to pursue Schwarber after he was amazing in 2021. The Cubs let him go after 2022 in favor of Joc Pederson which was a terrible move. He was clearly motivated by the Cubs not wanting him back so he came out and dominated.

They regretted it hard when he hit .266/.374/.554 for an OPS of .928. He also hit 32 home runs and had 71 RBIs. All of this equated to a 3.2 WAR for a year split between the Washington Nationals and Boston Red Sox. With Boston, he went all the way to the ALCS.

Now, he is going to be with the Phillies in a four-year deal with an average annual value of around 20 million per year. It is a great deal for both sides as they look to have some success together in the future.

Kyle Schwarber headed to the Philadelphia Phillies on a four-year contract.

The Phillies have underachieved over the past few years. They had an MVP-winning Bryce Harper, a Cy Young runner up in Zack Wheeler, and multiple other stars at the top of their game and they still couldn’t even make the Wild Card Game.

Now, adding Schwarber might be the slugger that they need. As good as Harper was in 2021 (he literally won the MVP), he wasn’t able to produce runs like he should have been able to with this team. Most of his home runs were solo shots and his RBI total only reached 84.

Schwarber should be able to help with that. If he plays like he was able to last year, this is a great move for the Phillies. He brings a lot to the table and there are things there that have nothing to do with the actual game on the field.

For one, based on his cup of coffee with the Red Sox, people seem to really like him. He also now has deep postseason experience with multiple MLB franchises (Cubs, Red Sox). That is something that the Phillies need as most of their team has never made a deep run or even made the playoffs at all. Even though he isn’t returning to the Cubs, he deserves this opportunity.