As Philadelphia Phillies fans were easing into the holidays last year at this time, the team's front office was working as hard as Santa's elves on a North Pole workshop deadline. On Dec. 22, 2024, Phillies president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski announced the trade with the Miami Marlins that brought left-hander Jesús Luzardo to Philadelphia.
Even before Luzardo had thrown a pitch in red pinstripes, it looked like a steal of a deal for the Phillies. The at-the-time 27-year-old came over from the Marlins with catcher Paul McIntosh. The Phillies sent No. 4 prospect Starlyn Caba and No. 23 prospect Emaarion Boyd to Miami.
After the 2025 season Luzardo put together, it will be difficult to find anyone in Philadelphia who can say with a straight face that the Phillies didn't straight up fleece the Marlins in that deal.
On this date in Phillies history, they fleeced the Marlins by trading for Jesús Luzardo
Luzardo tied a career high with 32 starts and set highs with 183 2/3 innings and 216 strikeouts. He posted a 15-7 record with a 3.92 ERA, 1.22 WHIP, 10.58 K/9, and 2.79 BB/9, with some memorable strikeout performances along the way. Utilizing an absolutely nasty sweeper, he had seven double-digit strikeout games, including his 11-strikeout Phillies debut and a 12-strikeout start in August.
Talk about a good first impression.
— MLB (@MLB) March 29, 2025
Jesús Luzardo strikes out 11 in his @Phillies debut! pic.twitter.com/KgiQw8JpK7
It wasn't all roses however. Luzardo endured some bizarre struggles with pitch-tipping and throwing from the stretch a couple of months into the season. In back-to-back starts, he allowed 12 runs to the Milwaukee Brewers in 3 1/3 innings on May 31 and then got manhandled by the Toronto Blue Jays for eight runs in just 1/3 of a frame on June 5.
It was ugly, but he recovered and was so good the rest of the season that he managed to get his ERA below 4.00 again. If you remove those two pitch-tipping-tainted starts, Luzardo had a 3.03 ERA in 178 innings.
And to top off his debut season in Philadelphia, Luzardo was a beast in the postseason. He turned in a stellar start in Game 2 of the NLDS, allowing just two runs on three hits and one walk while striking out five in six-plus innings. He followed that with a two-inning relief appearance in extras in Game 4, in which he recorded five outs including striking out Shohei Ohtani.
The only problem the Phillies have with Luzardo is that he's only under contract through the 2026 season. MLB Trade Rumors projects that he'll get $10.4 million in arbitration this winter before hitting free agency next offseason. It would be great to see the front office pony up a contract extension to keep the 28-year-old southpaw to keep him in Philadelphia through his prime years.
Either way, the Jesús Luzardo trade will go down as an absolute winner for the Phillies.