The Philadelphia Phillies achieved their main offseason goal by re-signing starter Aaron Nola to a seven-year, $172 million deal extension.
There was conjecture that the Phillies’ standout right-hander would leave free agency. Dave Dombrowski, president of baseball operations, reinforced that idea several times.
Finally, they were able to keep Nola and place him at the top of their rotation for the foreseeable future.
Now, there is another priority on the to-do list.
Zack Wheeler is scheduled to hit free agency following the 2024 season and Philadelphia would like to extend him before he ever hits the open market.
While they were able to get Nola back, they might not be so lucky with Wheeler, who has not had up-and-down performances in a Phillies uniform like Nola had.
So, with that in mind, where does Philadelphia stand on getting that extension done?
Well, it doesn’t seem like much has happened on that front according to Dombrowski.
“We know we’d like to keep him in the organization for a lengthy period. But it’s not always easy. So it’s something that I’m sure we’ll pursue at some point. But I’m not sure, at this point, how important it is for them at this time,” he told Todd Zolecki of MLB.com.
There’s more questions than answers that came out of that statement from the Phillies’ boss.
Based on that, it doesn’t seem like an offer has been made and the timeline to do so is unknown. Dombrowski also makes it seem like Wheeler and his agent are willing to test free agency after the season.
That should be something that Philadelphia avoids at all costs.
His current five-year, $118 million contract could be viewed as one of the best free agent signings of all time considering what Wheeler has done for the Phillies during his tenure.
The star righty’s 19.3 fWAR the past four seasons is the best in the league among pitchers and his 2.42 ERA in the playoffs is the sixth-best in MLB history across a minimum of 10 starts.
The organization appears to want to keep Wheeler and Nola together for years to come as they compete for World Series titles.
Dombrowski should start thinking about extension discussions this offseason while he navigates the rest of the winter to keep Wheeler from leaving.
