In a way that felt expected, — almost guaranteed — Kyle Schwarber homered in his first at-bat of the Philadelphia Phillies' series at Fenway Park. The blast, his fifth in as many games, gave him 17 home runs on the season, the most by any hitter in MLB through the first quarter of the season.
Schwarber has dominated at Fenway throughout his career, including during his half-season tenure with the Boston Red Sox. He's batting .337/.479/.653 with a 1.132 OPS over 28 appearances. He has seven home runs and 16 RBI in that time.
But none of that was enough for chief baseball officer Craig Breslow and the front office to pursue Schwarber over the offseason, when he hit free agency for the second time in his career. He returned to the Phillies on a five-year, $150 million deal and if he continues his current home run pace, it'll undeniably be worth the money.
After the series opener between Boston and Philly, Schwarber told Tim Healey of The Boston Globe that the Red Sox's pursuit of him in free agency "started and ended" with a phone call (subscription required). They never made an offer after the chat. Given Boston's offensive struggles this season, Breslow probably should've tried harder to bring the slugger in.
Kyle Schwarber's Fenway Park homer reminds Red Sox fans what they could've had this offseason
The Red Sox have no reliable source of power in their lineup and it's plagued them early in the season. The offense usually isn't deep enough to string multiple hits together in the same inning to score enough runs to overcome even a two-run deficit in any given game — the ability to score a run on one swing is critical to a good baseball team. The Red Sox have hit the third-fewest home runs in the league (31), they have the second-lowest slugging percentage (.354) and the fourth-lowest OPS (.667). Schwarber, alone would do wonders for those numbers.
Schwarber's fit on this year's Sox team is questionable, however. The Red Sox have so many outfielders that their designated hitter spot is always occupied by one of them. Boston would've had to trade one of their outfielders, most likely either Jarren Duran or Masataka Yoshida, to accommodate Schwarber.
Schwarber also bats left handed and Boston's roster is already packed with lefties. Breslow made a point of becoming more right-handed over the offseason and Willson Contreras has been a perfect addition in that regard.
The Red Sox had the entire offseason to make a fit for an impact player like Schwarber by trading from their outfield, but instead took the controversial "run prevention" approach. Schwarber is a favorite in Boston and he would've gone a long way toward keeping fans happy and keeping the Sox in competition with the best teams in the American League, both of which are in the AL East.
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