The New York Yankees have responded well to the loss of Juan Soto.
After Soto opted for a record-breaking contract with the New York Mets this past winter, the Yankees leveraged the salary that might have gone to him to add the likes of Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt and Max Fried.
Even without one of the best hitters in baseball beside him in the batting order, Aaron Judge has been on a tear to open 2025. Judge is slashing an insane .400/.491/.750 so far and his 12 homers are tied for the most of any player in Major League Baseball this season to date.
But the Yankees could make their offense even more dangerous ahead of next season, given the contract situation for another 12-homer slugger, Kyle Schwarber.
Since joining the Philadelphia Phillies in 2022, Schwarber has been one of the most productive hitters in baseball. And after initial extension talks seemed to lead nowhere, he could be set for free agency at the end of the 2025 campaign.
The situation drove former Philadelphia Phillies executive Ruben Amaro Jr. to speculate that Schwarber might end up with the Yankees.
“How many home runs in New York is he going to hit? In Yankee stadium, right field?” Amaro asked, during a recent episode of “The Phillies Show.” “I’m just looking at the reality… It would be great to have him in Philadelphia for a long time, but, hey man, there’s a lot of different factors when guys are making these decisions.”
Two of the biggest factors will surely be the total dollar amount and total length of the contract Schwarber can secure, and that might all fall in the Yankees’ favor. The latest update on Schwarber’s potential contract value saw ESPN’s Jeff Passan report that he’d easily earn $25 million per season over four years.
With that $100 million update, it seems the Yankees could opt to pair Judge with Schwarber for 2026 and beyond while the Phillies regroup around the veteran sluggers who are already locked onto the books for several more seasons to come.
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