Phillies

Phillies Roundup: A Full List of Free Agents, Arbitration Eligibility, and Big Decisions to Make

By Luke Arcaini

Published: Oct 14th, 2025 · 10:30 AM EDT

---

For the third straight year, the Phillies season ended earlier than expected. Rob Thomson will return in 2026, but Dave Dombrowski has some serious decisions to make. They can’t continue to run this team back and just hope it works.

The Phillies have a combined 20 players that will either hit free agency, have an option, or be arbitration eligible.

Phillies who will hit free agency

• Ranger Suarez
• JT Realmuto
• Kyle Schwarber
• David Robertson
• Max Kepler
• Jordan Romano
• Tim Mayza
• Walker Buehler
• Lou Trivino

The three biggest names here are Suarez, Realmuto, and Schwarber. If you asked every Phillies fan who was the most important player to bring back six months ago, I don’t think a single person wasn’t saying Schwarber. With the way the postseason ended, it feels like the tides have turned a little bit.

Out of these three, the two most likely to return are Schwarber and Realmuto. Suarez, who is coming off another great year as a starting pitcher, is represented by Scott Boras and will get some serious money thrown at him. The Phillies have a current rotation of Zack Wheeler (injured), Cristopher Sanchez, Jesus Luzardo, and Aaron Nola. They have Andrew Painter ready to fight for a spot in AAA. Their #1 priority probably won’t be Suarez, even though he’s been a Phillie for more than 10 years, and a postseason warrior since 2022.

How much money should you give a designated hitter who will be 33 years old on Opening Day in March of 2026? That’s the question with Schwarber, who finished up a 4-year, $79M deal that began in 2022. He’s certainly going to want more money per year after crushing 187 home runs in four regular seasons with the Phillies, with 14 postseason bombs. Shohei Ohtani makes $70M per year, which is far and away the biggest contract for a DH. He also pitches every five days and is Shohei Ohtani. The next highest AAV for a DH is a 28-year-old Yordan Alvarez at $19.1M per year. At what point does Schwarber and his camp throw a number out that the Phillies have to hesitate? That’s for the Phillies to decide.

I don’t believe there’s a better option out there than bringing back Realmuto on a “team-friendly” deal, if he’s willing to take that. Realmuto made $23.875M over the last four years. The Phillies can’t give that AAV to a 35-year-old catcher if they want to bring him back. But Realmuto is still one of the best catchers in the league when he’s at his best. Nobody knows this elite pitching staff better than Realmuto. The veteran behind the plate deserves a lot of credit for the pitching success this year. What type of contract would he want, and is he at the point where he understands the Phillies can’t throw out huge money to a “declining” catcher?

Max Kepler said that he’d love to be back with the Phillies in 2026 following the postseason loss to the Dodgers. Kepler, who had a rough start to his Phillies career, really turned it around the last two months of 2025, and took some of the best at-bats of the NLDS. I don’t expect Kepler back, but shoutout to him for turning it around late in the season and giving the Phillies good innings in right field as Nick Castellanos struggled.

David Robertson, Jordan Romano, Tim Mayza, and Walker Buehler will all probably leave. No real loss there. Robertson was a good late-season signing that gave the Phillies some innings when they needed it. We all know what happened to Romano in 2025. Buehler may go and try to get another contract as a starter.

Players with an option

• Harrison Bader (mutual option)
• Jose Alvarado (club option)

Harrison Bader completely sparked the Phillies from the moment he got here. Bader hit .305 with an .824 OPS in 50 regular season games in Philadelphia, cracking five homers, 16 RBIs, and 54 hits. He played incredible centerfield, brought a new look into this Phillies clubhouse, and fit in the second he got here.

Here’s the good thing for Bader:

2025 was the best season he’s played since 2021 with the St. Louis Cardinals, and it’s an argument that 2025 may have been the best season of his career. That’s the best-case scenario for a player with a mutual option. When a player has a mutual option, both the team and player have to accept the number that’s stated in the contract, which is $10M for 2026. The Phillies would love to get Harrison Bader at that price, but Bader knows he can get more money in a multi-year deal. Bader is expected to decline the mutual option and hit free agency in search of that multi-year deal.

Bader was a godsend for this baseball team after the trade deadline. But how much money can you give to a guy that has a career .714 OPS in the majors, and before 2025, didn’t have a season with an OPS above .700 since 2021?

Jose Alvarado was due for a big 2025 season, then he got suspended for PEDs and was ineligible to pitch in the postseason. Alvarado posted a 3.81 ERA in 2025, and was coming off an iffy 2024 season with a 4.09 ERA.

The Phillies have a $9M club option that they have to decide on for Jose Alvarado. At the beginning of 2025, I think this club option probably would’ve been a no-brainer for a hard-throwing lefty reliever. After everything that’s happened over the last seven months, I don’t think it’s a guarantee anymore.

Players that are arbitration-eligible this offseason

(Numbers are projected by MLB Trade Rumors)

• Jesus Luzardo ($10.4M)
• Alec Bohm ($10.3M)
• Jhoan Duran ($7.6M)
• Bryson Stott ($5.8M)
• Brandon Marsh ($4.5M)
• Edmundo Sosa ($3.9M)
• Tanner Banks ($1.2M)
• Rafael Marchan ($1M)
• Garrett Stubbs ($925,000)

Jesus Luzardo is entering the his last year of arbitration. Luzardo had a great first season with the Phillies, even with a few blow-up starts throughout. Don’t be surprised if the Phillies start talking about a contract extension with the 28-year-old lefty soon.

Do the Phillies want to pay Alec Bohm $10M next year? That’s the question. Bohm is a possibility to be a trade piece this winter. If they’re going to do it before his contract is up, it’s smarter to do it earlier in the arbitration process than later.

Edmundo Sosa is entering his last year of arbitration and a contract year with the Phillies. Sosa has turned into one of the best utility players in baseball, specifically against left-handed pitching. He’s a perfect bench bat to have.

Jhoan Duran will certainly be back. Tanner Banks, probably the Phillies’ most valuable left-handed reliever throughout the entire 2025 season, is under team control through the 2028 season.

Nick Castellanos

I wanted to put Nick Castellanos in his own category. He’s still under contract for the 2026 season, which will be the last year of his 5-year, $100M contract with the Phillies. Castellanos is probably the biggest question mark of this entire offseason. Will the Phillies look to ship the right fielder? It seems so. How much of his contract will they have to eat? Nobody really knows.

Other players under contract

• Zack Wheeler ($42M)
• Aaron Nola ($24.5M)
• Taijuan Walker ($18M)
• Cristopher Sanchez ($3.5M)
• Matt Strahm ($7.5M)
• Bryce Harper ($27.5M)
• Trea Turner ($27.2M)

The biggest name to watch out of this group, other than Castellanos, is Taijuan Walker. The Phillies would have to eat some sort of the last $18M remaining on Walker’s deal if he’s shipped out. The Phillies are going to need that money to spend elsewhere to improve this lineup. Matt Strahm’s deal was guaranteed a few weeks back once he hit 60 innings on the season.

They can’t just “run it back,” right? No. Changes have to be made. Maybe those changes are to Rob Thomson’s coaching staff, which we’ll find out more about on Thursday when Thomson and Dave Dombrowski speak to the media. Maybe it’s the lineup, maybe it’s the bullpen. It should probably be all of those things.

The biggest group to watch: the outfield. If you told me that on Opening Day 2026, one or none of the current outfielders are on the team, I wouldn’t be incredibly surprised. The Phillies have to upgrade that unit. They need playable everyday pieces, along with complementary players that you feel confident in if they have to step into a role due to an injury.