The baseball offseason already feels like it's in full swing despite being just days old. The Philadelphia Phillies have already cleared up their contract options for next year and on Thursday announced that they are officially extending qualifying offers to their two eligible free agents, Kyle Schwarber and Ranger Suárez.
The Phillies front office had until Thursday at 5:00 p.m. ET to extend their offers. This year the offer was set at $22.025 million, averaged from the salaries of the top 125 highest-paid players. Schwarber and Suárez have until Nov. 18 to accept ot reject their offer.
We know that the Phillies will have to forfeit international bonus pool money and draft picks if they choose to sign a player who rejected a qualifying offer. But what do Schwarber and Suárez's offers mean for the Phillies this offseason?
Phillies only stand to benefit from extending Kyle Schwarber and Ranger Suárez qualifying offers
Both are expected to sign lucrative long-term deals this winter, so they'll definitely each reject their offer. This means they will come with an extra price tag for any other team that signs them in free agency.
This works in the Phillies' favor in two ways.
First, if either player signs elsewhere, the Phillies will be reimbursed with a compensatory draft pick in next summer's draft, after the fourth round.
Second, this rule doesn't apply to teams who re-sign their own free agents. The Phillies can re-sign Schwarber or Suárez (or both!) without incurring any qualifying offer penalty.
Schwarber will be 33 next year, but after his career season he's still staring down a contract of up to five years that could reach $150 million, or $30 million per season. He led the NL with a career-high 56 home runs and drove in 132 runs, the most in the majors. You can bet he'll have plenty of deep-pocketed suitors competing for his services.
Suarez, 30, has spent his entire career with the Phillies. With starting pitching always at a premium in the offseason, the lefty will be looking at a contract that could go as long as four or five years at $23 million per season. He went 12-8 this season, posting a 3.20 ERA in 26 starts, compiling a career-high 4.0 fWAR.
Unfortunately, the likelihood that they both return is minuscule. Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has said that even with another hefty payroll in 2026, being able to bring back all of their top free agents (which also includes catcher J.T. Realmuto) will be next to impossible.
Schwarber is clearly the front office's priority, with Realmuto likely second in line to return. So there's a good chance that Suarez will be starting for a new team in 2026. But hey, at least the Phillies will get something in return for seeing him walk.