It has always seemed so simple.
A player who immediately thrived in the surroundings of Fenway Park, while owning a skill set that the Red Sox continue to chase. That has been, and continues to be, Kyle Schwarber. Want proof? Just turn to the first inning of what would be the Phillies' 2-1 win over the Sox Tuesday night.
Fourth pitch of the game. First swing. There it was, an immediate difference-making 386-foot home run barely before most in attendance could be reminded that Schwarber was back in town.
The frustration in the moment was partly due to the way Schwarber was reintroduced, after he hit a home run in his fifth straight game. But there was also the reminder that this is a player who shouldn't be simply swinging through town. Schwarber should be hitting home homers at Fenway.
Sure, maybe it's easy to classify as the one that got away, considering only one player in Major League Baseball (Aaron Judge) has hit more home runs since Schwarber left Boston for Philadelphia after the 2021 season. Being slapped in the face with the lefty hitter's production at Fenway, where he is now hitting .344 while scoring 27 runs, hitting nine doubles and seven home runs with 23 walks in 27 games also easily feeds the narrative. And looking up at a leaderboard that shows the 33-year-old leading all players with 17 homers in a season that has seen the Red Sox hit just 29 total as a team is an obvious gut-punch.
But this isn't a second-guess. This is a first-guess. A two-time first-guess.
For starters, there was the lowball offer the Red Sox made to Schwarber after he hit free agency following his 2021 American League Championship Series run, which was followed by no communication from the team after the lockout ended. That led Schwarber to Philadelphia, where he won 85 more games than he lost while posting an .860 OPS.
Looking back, however, it was actually a more impactful approach than what transpired the second go-round. At least Chaim Bloom and Co. made an offer, because this past offseason, according to sources, the Sox extended none before the Phillies locked him up with a five-year, $150 million deal.
"I wouldn't say there wasn't interest, right? Just because you had such a good experience when you were at one spot," Schwarber explained on the Baseball Isn't Boring podcast. "But, also, (Philadelphia) has treated me so well, and we've been established here. Going into the offseason, you want to respect the whole process of free agency because it's a wild card, going through it three times now. You know it never really goes out as you picture it going out. It's definitely an interesting process. But at the end of the day, I got back to where I wanted and where I thought the best fit would be for me."
It's undeniable that Schwarber is a good fit for Philadelphia. That's why Dave Dombrowski prioritized bringing him back. The Phillies are 10-5 when Schwarber homers this season. That's just one example. Clubhouse presence. Built-in top-of-the-order staple. The hits keep on coming, positively for the Phils and not so much for the Red Sox.
This is a Red Sox team that is starved for someone like Schwarber. They are now 7-13 at home, having scored two or fewer runs in 10 of the last 14 games at Fenway with just six home runs (which is the same number of homers Schwarber has hit in his last five games).
Since April 17, only four teams have played as many as 14 home games, like the Red Sox. The Sox are still dead-last in runs scored among all MLB teams during that stretch, with the Cubs managing 54 more runs at Wrigley than Chad Tracy's club has at Fenway in those two weeks of games.
It was a not-so-gentle reminder. Kyle Schwarber could have been part of the solution. Instead, he just added to the Red Sox's problems.
