As was expected, both Philadelphia Phillies free agents rejected their qualifying offers ahead of Tuesday's 4 p.m. ET deadline. Both designated hitter Kyle Schwarber and left-hander Ranger Suárez turned down their $22.025 million qualifying offers from the Phillies for 2026, per MLB.com's Todd Zolecki.
In all, nine of the 13 players who were extended qualifying offers rejected them. Trent Grisham with the New York Yankees, Gleyber Torres with the Detroit Tigers, Brandon Woodruff with the Milwaukee Brewers and Shota Imanaga with the Chicago Cubs all accepted their offers.
Schwarber and Suárez are looking at multi-year deals on the free agent market and the qualifying offers were more of a formality. The good news is that the Phillies will get compensation if/when their former players sign with new teams this offseason.
Phillies will be compensated if Kyle Schwarber, Ranger Suárez sign with new teams after rejecting qualifying offers
Players who reject qualifying offers cost their new teams more, in international bonus pool money and draft picks, while providing their former teams with compensation, in the form of a draft pick after the fourth round.
While the Phillies appear to be the favorites to sign Schwarber this winter, if he does sign elsewhere the Phillies won't go home empty-handed. Although a fourth-round pick certainly won't help soothe the sting of seeing him leave Philadelphia.
The other piece of good news is that the Phillies can re-sign Schwarber without paying any qualifying offer penalty.
Schwarber, who will be 33 next year, will be using his career season in 2025 to cash in on a lucrative contract that should take him to retirement. He could get something int he range of five years and $150 million. There's every chance that his annual salary pushed higher than $30 million per season.
The Phillies' veteran clubhouse leader hit .240 with a .928 OPS and led the NL with a career-high 56 home runs while driving in an MLB-best 132 runs. He finished second in NL MVP voting.
Suárez, on the other hand, is a good bet to sign with a new team and provide the Phillies a compensatory draft pick in return. After spending his entire professional career with the Phillies, the 30-year-old is expected to sign a deal that could reach anywhere from four to six years while fetching an annual salary of $23-$28 million.
After a late start to his year, Suárez made 26 regular season starts and threw a career-high 157 1/3 innings. He went 12-8 with a 3.20 ERA, a 1.22 WHIP and set a career high with 4.0 fWAR. Since his MLB debut in 2018, the fan favorite is 53-37 with a 3.38 ERA and 1.27 WHIP.