Bryce Harper weighs in on Kyle Schwarber’s future in Philadelphia

You know your free agent stock is sky-high when both the president of baseball operations and Bryce Harper, the face of the franchise, publicly campaign to keep you around.

First, it was Dave Dombrowski saying the Phillies “would love to keep him as part of the organization.” Now, it’s Bryce Harper — team captain, city legend, unofficial co-GM — making it crystal clear how much Kyle Schwarber means to this team.

“Yeah, I mean, I don’t see him playing anywhere else,” Harper said during an episode of Phillies Extra with Scott Lauber of The Inquirer. “Obviously, I don’t make those decisions. But as a team leader and a captain and everything else, he brings so much value to our team. Not only on the field, but off the field as well.”

Bryce Harper isn’t stupid.

He knows he’s not signing the checks or negotiating the contracts, but let’s not pretend his word doesn’t carry real weight in the Phillies’ front office. When Harper speaks like this — especially in the middle of a season where Schwarber is again raking — it’s more than just a nice quote.

It’s a message.

Schwarber is hitting bombs at his usual pace — 19 homers already, with a chance to surpass his previous career high. And while he’s pretty much locked into a DH role at this point, his value isn’t just in moonshots. He’s the emotional engine of the team. The guy who keeps the vibes right and sets the tone every night.

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Bryce Harper knows it.

“We have such a good clubhouse and he’s one of our main guys of why we do,” Harper said. “We bounce stuff off each other all the time. I have so much respect for Kyle and what he’s done in this game.”

The Phillies are going to have some tough calls in the coming years with aging contracts. Harper and Trea Turner are locked in long-term. Schwarber is 32 and doesn’t play the field anymore. That matters when you’re trying to build out a roster that has to keep getting younger, faster, and more defensively competent.

But sometimes, you just figure it out.

Losing Schwarber would be brutal. Not just because of the home runs, but because of everything else he brings that doesn’t show up in a box score. He’s one of the core pillars of this era of Phillies baseball. Dombrowski knows it. Harper knows it. The fans damn sure know it.

He belongs here. Always has. Always will. Now it’s just a matter of making the numbers work.