If money was the only concern, Kyle Schwarber might be a member of the Baltimore Orioles. According to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, (subscription required) the Orioles offered the slugging All-Star the same deal that he reportedly got from the Philadelphia Phillies.
On Tuesday afternoon (Dec. 9), news broke that Schwarber was heading back to the Phillies on a five-year, $150 million deal, and that is good news for the Toronto Blue Jays.
Blue Jays may have caught a break as Kyle Schwarber lands outside of the division
The Orioles were not a good team in 2025. They struggled offensively, scoring 677 runs, 24th in the league. While they had the same amount of home run as the Blue Jays (191, 11th in the league), they weren’t able to do much else. They had a combined slash line of .235/.305/.394 with an OPS of .699.
But the Orioles should have a bounce back season as they have too much young talent to be this bad again. It’s also plausible that they go the way of the Chicago White Sox and none of their young players actually turn into competent MLB players. Baltimore though was in the postseason just two years ago with many of the same characters who were on the team in 2025, so it’s not unreasonable to think they could play better than their 75-87 season.
One way they could have helped improve on that record would have been by adding Schwarber, which would have made the Blue Jays job to repeat that much tougher. The Orioles were 6-7 against the Blue Jays last year, with a +10 run differential in those 13 head-to-head games. While Schwarber himself hasn’t been exactly dominant against Toronto, he has hit some of their current starters well.
He is 4-for-14 lifetime against Kevin Gausman with all four of hits against him going over the fence. He’s also 3-for-10 against Dylan Cease, with two home runs. And specifically at Rogers Centre, he has slashed .243/.275/.595 with four home runs in nine games. Playing with the Orioles for five seasons, Schwarber would have plenty of chances to improve on those numbers.
The Blue Jays, thankfully, don’t have to worry specifically about Schwarber, as they may have dodged a bullet there. But the fact that the Orioles are willing to spend to increase their power production will be something that should have the Blue Jays somewhat concerned as yet another division rival looks to assert themselves as a big player in this years free agent market.
