Phillies lock up Aaron Nola with monster seven-year, $172 million deal

One in every of MLB’s high free agent arms is off the market.

Aaron Nola and the Phillies are in settlement on a seven-year, $172 million contract, The Submit’s Jon Heyman confirmed on Sunday, setting him as much as spend the remainder of his profession in Philadelphia.

The deal is pending a bodily, per ESPN’s Jeff Passan, who reported that it’s the biggest deal for a Phillies pitcher in franchise historical past.

The 30-year-old was a first-round choose of the Phillies in 2014 and has developed into one of many recreation’s most dependable starters, averaging 200 innings per season since 2018.

In 2022, he completed fourth in Cy Younger voting however underwhelmed a bit in 2023, going 12-9 with a 4.46 ERA, although the underlying statistics pointed towards him being unfortunate moderately than falling off.

Nola is the primary of the free-agent hurlers to money on this offseason.

Two-way star Shohei Ohtani is predicted to command $500 million though he received’t return to the mound till at the very least 2025.

Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto is ready to be posted early subsequent week and shall be among the many most extremely pursued gamers this winter.

The pitcher-heavy market additionally contains the likes of Julio Urias, Sonny Grey, Lucas Giolito, Martin Perez, Jordan Montgomery, Blake Snell and Clayton Kershaw, although he’s unlikely to enterprise away from from the Dodgers.

A number of groups — together with the Mets — are searching for starters to bolster their rotations.