Dave Dombrowski says Phillies won't run it back, but they should feel confident about keeping Kyle Schwarber

ORLANDO, Fla. — Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski doesn't play on the winding roads. In a sport where execs hedge, posture, overthink the value of a trade, and talk in circles, he usually tells you exactly where he's going. 

He sticks to the same lane. The lane that he believes will achieve the most success for his club. So at the start of the 2025 MLB Winter Meetings on Monday, Dombrowski made it clear what the plan was for his Phillies. 

"We're not running our club back," Dombrowski said from his suite an Orlando hotel. 

Yet what does that look like? 

Dombrowski, true to form, laid it out without being asked. Left-handed-hitting Max Kepler isn't coming back. And Nick Castellanos won't be either, with the Phillies still working on a move that gives both sides a fresh start. The Phillies are bullish on the upside of younger, unproven players like Otto Kemp and top prospect Justin Crawford. That's a shift for Dombrowski, who's built his reputation on leaning toward established, star-level talent when it's time to push a team to its ceiling.

"We've talked about Crawford, we're going to give him that opportunity to make the club and feel good about it," Dombrowski said. "Some people think he's a better left fielder. Some people think he's a better center fielder, or at least going to be a better center fielder as time goes on. So there's really a difference of opinion [within the organization]. I don't think he's a right fielder. So he'll play either left or center." 

Brandon Marsh, who played 84 games in center and another 62 in left field last season, historically has struggled against left-handed pitching. Dombrowski sees Kemp (who had a .786 OPS against lefties in 2025) as a means to possibly combat that. Top infield prospect Aidan Miller is viewed as close to big-league ready with shortstop, second, and third base all in play. 

A new-look Phillies team will rise or fall on two things: the growth of their young players and their superstars, like Bryce Harper, playing to their ceiling.

But there are pieces Dombrowski would still like to keep in place, namely current free agents J.T. Realmuto and Kyle Schwarber. Elite catching is almost impossible to replace, especially when it comes with a bat like Realmuto's, even despite his down year at the dish. 

Realmuto has been linked to clubs like the Red Sox, Mets, and Rangers -- all of them searching for a catching upgrade. That's a position the Phillies can't gloss over, and one that won't come into focus until the market settles.

Schwarber, however, is widely believed to be the name that helps, perhaps, not set the market but help assist in getting it moving after a slow start to the winter. 

The Pirates reportedly made Schwarber a four-year offer. The Orioles have interest as do the Red Sox. But, according to one source, Boston is viewed as a long shot.

The Mets are in the mix, too, but New York might prefer to use its money elsewhere. The Reds are around the edges of the conversation, but the question lingers: are they truly ready to win right now?

Many within the industry are confident that ultimately Schwarber ends up back with the Phillies. 

"There's probably not nearly as much out there as he thought he would get," said one high-ranking member of a front office. "I'd call his bluff on going to Pittsburgh or Cincinnati. I'm sure he wants to win. He's almost certainly going back to Philly." 

Certainty, though, didn't sit with Dombrowski. Or at least that was one of the hands he was reluctant to show.

"The one thing I want is for those guys to know how much we respect them, how much we like to have them back," Dombrowski said, referencing Schwarber and Realmuto. "But there's a time frame too that you can just doesn't mean you have to do something else, but at some point you need to move some things forward. So I think that's been properly communicated."

Still, what does that shift even look like? How do you replace a Kyle Schwarber? And where does the power come from? Dombrowski said he prefers a doubles-oriented club because it usually points to a sound approach. But the league runs on slug. Outside of Schwarber, the Phillies didn't have much of it in 2025. Only two hitters cleared 20 homers last season, Schwarber with 56 and Harper with 27.

Dombrowski knows he needs Schwarber. And Schwarber, who has never cared for the attention or the noise that comes with free agency, knows Philadelphia is the right fit for him. It's still early in the process, and Dombrowski has given Schwarber and his camp space to see what's out there before coming back to the Phillies with the final word.

"There's optimism [that we will re-sign Schwarber], but the reality is you just don't know," Dombrowski said.

This Phillies club isn't running it back. It will look different. But in order for it to raise that World Series banner, some things probably still need to look the same.