Phillies

The Most Important Free Agent the Phillies Need to Bring Back

By Nick Piccone

Published: Nov 7th, 2025 · 2:01 PM EST

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As Major League Baseball hits the free agency period, we won’t likely see the Phillies making any splashy moves out of the gates. That’s how baseball off-season tends to work nowadays, and it’s very unexciting.

But the Phillies have a slew of free agents that would behoove them to re-sign, whether it be short-term or long-term. Harrison Bader already declined his mutual option and is now a free agent. Kyle Schwarber, Ranger Suárez, and J.T. Realmuto are the big-namers who will be fielding offers from different MLB teams. We’ve heard how Dave Dombrowski and John Middleton want to bring Schwarber back by any means necessary, and that might still be priority number one. But if Schwarber signs elsewhere, they’ll still have an opportunity to sign a DH or another player that could play the field as well as DH among the other available free agents. They might even swing a trade to surprise us all. But there’s one player who I think is more important to the overall team that needs to be back.

While his offensive numbers have dipped the last few seasons, there’s nobody close to being able to replace J.T. Realmuto on this team. The catchers on the current roster can’t do it. They traded Eduardo Tait, the guy people thought might be able to do it down the road, in the Jhoan Durán deal. If they want to trade for a starting catcher, they’re probably going to have to give up one of Justin Crawford or Aidan Miller. Maybe even Andrew Painter. And with Suárez likely gone and the team’s hesitance to include Painter in any deadline deal this past season, I doubt Painter will be dealt this offseason.

Realmuto is still a serviceable bat in the lineup, given he bats sixth or below. His defense is still among the elites in the game. The way he handles the pitching staff is always a topic of conversation. While he can’t frame pitches for the life of him, he still remains the constant in this elite pitching staff.

I don’t think just anyone can replace that. Zack Wheeler became one of the best pitchers in the league with Realmuto. In 134 games with Realmuto behind the plate for his starts, Wheeler has a 2.78 ERA. Cristopher Sánchez just had his best season with Realmuto. I can deal with the dwindling offensive numbers if Dombrowski makes up for it elsewhere in the lineup. I just think Realmuto is too valuable to this team behind the plate to replace him with a stopgap. The Phillies don’t have that catcher for the future. So why not buy a little more time to figure out that plan?