The question marks surrounding Jesús Luzardo when he came to the Phillies were not insignificant. Most trades have to make someone happy, and the Miami Marlins came away from the Luzardo deal having acquired Emaarion Boyd and Starlyn Caba, believing they had given up a volatile, injury-prone player for one lottery ticket in Boyd and a consensus top-100 prospect in Caba.
We now know the deal was a coup by the Phillies. Sure, Luzardo had only two years left on his deal, but after the 2025 season, it became clear Caba was not a player to pin the future of a franchise on. Luzardo had shown he could stay healthy for a 162-game season, delivering elite value aside from two shaky starts as the calendar turned from May to June.
So, Phillies president Dave Dombrowski took a swing that could turn the deal from a steal to a dud. He inked Luzardo to a five-year, $135 million deal starting in 2027, with a sixth-year team option that could extend into 2032.
With the benefit of hindsight, the offer was easy to make. Luzardo had his best season in 2026, posting a 2.86 ERA in 179.2 IP. A line that could have been even better if shoulder stiffness hadn't sidelined him for most of September after a complete-game shutout on Labor Day.
Luzardo has battled injuries his whole career, some more severe than others. In 2016, he underwent Tommy John surgery. In 2019, with plans to make his Major League debut in just a few weeks, he strained his lat. In 2021, he fractured his pinky by slamming his hand on a table while playing video games. In 2022, a left forearm strain put Luzardo out of the Marlins rotation for 82 days in the middle of summer. In 2024, he was placed on the IL with a lumbar stress reaction in June that caused him to miss the remainder of the season.
The Phillies have been remarkably lucky with his health, a testament to their training staff led by Paul Buchheit. It has allowed Luzardo to reach his full potential, building on his start-after-start success since pitching coach Caleb Cotham helped him add a sweeper to his repertoire in 2025. It’s since become his best pitch.
In 2026, Baseball Savant ranked Luzardo’s sweeper the best in MLB by run value. The pitch was worth 23 runs; the next best, Shohei Ohtani’s, was worth only 12.
The Phillies are thankful Luzardo never hit the open market
Earning $27 million a year to pitch at his level is a near anomaly. When a starting pitcher of Luzardo’s caliber hits the open market, they typically make over $200 million. Last offseason, the Toronto Blue Jays signed Dylan Cease to a seven-year, $210 million deal after a campaign in which he posted a 4.55 ERA. In 2025, Max Fried signed an eight-year, $218 million deal with the Yankees. At the time, he was a year older than Luzardo and coming off a 2.86 ERA season. That same year, the oft-injured Blake Snell signed a $36.4 million-per-year deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers; he had a 3.12 ERA in 2024. In fact, we need only look at Aaron Nola to really understand how pitchers are valued. Dombrowski signed him to a seven-year/$172 million deal before 2024. The prior year, Nola pitched to a 4.46 ERA.
The best comparison for an extension of Luzardo’s ilk also comes from the Phillies. After a Cy Young runner-up season, Sanchez signed a six-year/$104 million contract with the club.
Between him and Luzardo, the Phillies have two of the sport’s best pitchers, in their primes, locked up on team-friendly deals.
The team has pulled off the same sort of team-friendly extension twice for a reason. Between pitching coach Caleb Cotham's fantastic work and the Phillies' perennial contender status, pitchers want to compete in Philadelphia. Say what you will about the offense, but across the league, players know that coming to the Phillies is a surefire way to get coaching that can spark a career resurgence. The evidence is all there: look at Tim Mayza or Jeff Hoffman, Matt Strahm or Alex MacFarlane, Zack Wheeler or Tanner Banks, and, of course, Jesús Luzardo.
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