Time to send a message: The Phillies should bench Kyle Schwarber

Kyle Schwarber’s my favorite Philadelphia athlete since Brian Dawkins. I just like the dude. Like his vibe. He’s a complete professional. Fit. Prepared. Focused. Accountable. Talented.

Bench him.

Not forever. Not even for a week. But at least for a few days. He’s been the worst player on a wildly underachieving, overpaid, 25-31 Phillies ballclub that’s eight games out of first place in the NL East and one game out of last. Schwarber is making $20 million, and he’s been the biggest thief on a team that, so far, has seen Aaron Nola, Trea Turner, and J.T. Realmuto steal a combined $67 million.

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Schwarbs needs a moment. Let him reset. Set some realistic goals ... like, say, a .200 batting average. You know. Baby steps.

His batting average after Thursday’s loss to the Mets stands at, ahem, .160. One. Sixty. That’s the worst average among all qualifying hitters. His OPS — the offensive stat that dominates the stat scene, combining total bases and on-base percentage — is .731, which ranks 105th. That stat is buoyed by his 39 walks, third-most in baseball. Schwarber isn’t paid to walk. He’s paid to rake.

It’s hard to remove a quarter of the team’s home runs from a club that’s hit just 56, which ranks 22nd out of 30 teams despite paying for power and playing in a hitter’s park. The thing is, while Schwarber’s 13 homers rank around the top 10 in the majors, he’s become less valuable as an overall player.

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He plays defense like the French. His outs-above-average number in left field, according to baseballsavant.mlb.com, is minus-7, tied for worst among outfielders. This is a cellar with which he is familiar, since he has dwelt there for six years.

But Schwarber was not signed in 2022 for four years and $79 million to win Gold Gloves. He was signed to win Silver Sluggers, which he did last season despite hitting .218, thanks to his 46 home runs, ranking second in baseball. He was signed to occupy the designated hitter role, which has been impossible for much of his tenure here. Bryce Harper injured his elbow last year and couldn’t play the field most of the season, and now, since surgery, Harper remains the DH because he remains unable to throw. So does Schwarber, but that has nothing to do with injury.

Maybe it’s fatigue. Schwarber tuned 30 during spring training, and he’s played all 56 of the Phillies’ games, 27 of the last 28 in left field, thanks mainly to Harper occupying the DH slot.

Schwarber still made the All-Star team last season, when he had 29 homers in 90 games at the break despite hitting .208. His OPS was .820, and he surged.

In his nine seasons, Schwarber has hit .258 with a .959 OPS as spring turns to summer. He blossoms, as it were.

Schwarber isn’t the Phillies’ only problem, but he’s the biggest one. Their starting pitching has been less consistent than hotel oatmeal, and just as bland. They miss Rhys Hoskins’ right-handed power and even-handed leadership beyond measure.

» READ MORE: The Phillies would be a winning team with Rhys Hoskins. Miss him yet? | Marcus Hayes

Popular manager Rob Thomson’s genius wore thin just about the time Turner and Realmuto fell into their current, consecutive, combined, two-week slump, in which they are 7-for-96. For them, this is a brief slump. For Schwarber, it’s May, in which he’s 10-for-91.

So no, it’s not all Schwarber, but any good boss in any industry will tell you that you don’t solve a big problem all at once. You solve the smaller problems one at a time. Thomson, in his first full season as a major league manager, has a problem. His team is playing sloppy ball, his stars are failing, and he needs to send a message.

Benching Schwarber would establish that no one is bigger than the team. No one is above the law of proficiency. If any other player who personifies defensive liability hit .160 for two weeks with impunity, it would set off alarm klaxons. Schwarber’s been doing it for two months, not two weeks.

This isn’t primarily a punitive suggestion. It’s therapeutic. Give him a blow. Put Dalton Guthrie in left field; he played outfield in 46 professional games the past two seasons. Put Kody Clemens at first base and Edmundo Sosa at third and have a viable defense for a change. Schwarber can be their secret weapon: a pinch-hitting threat extraordinaire.

A $20 million pinch-hitter? If that doesn’t get my dude going, then nothing will.