5 biggest MLB starting pitcher contracts in Phillies franchise history
After Shohei Ohtani agreed to his mammoth $700 million contract, the largest contract in MLB history, where do Philadelphia Phillies starting pitchers land on the scale of biggest contracts in history?
Aaron Nola's recently signed deal comes in as the 13th-largest contract ever given to a starting pitcher, per Spotrac. If you filter the results to currently active players, he moves up to sixth — not too shabby.
But what about the Phillies as an organization? What are the largest contracts the various iterations of the front office have doled out to starting pitchers over the years?
With a quick reminder that we're looking at the total value of the deals, not the annual value, let's dig in — with a familiar name to kick things off.
No. 5: Aaron Nola, $45 million/4 years
Aaron Nola's first appearance on our list sees him come in with the fifth-largest contract for a starting pitcher in Phillies history. He signed his four-year, $45 million deal in February of 2019, which was technically an arbitration extension, and how could they not ink him to a multi-year contract?
There's no way the Phillies general manager at the time, Matt Klentak, wanted the homegrown talent to get a sniff of free agency after the 2018 season he put together. The former first-round pick went 17-6 for a Phillies squad that finished below .500 at 80-82. He threw 212 1/3 innings (which still stands as his career-high) across 33 starts, striking out 224 batters and finishing the year with a sparkling 2.37 ERA and 0.96 WHIP. The 25-year-old earned an All-Star nod, finished third in NL Cy Young voting, and even received MVP votes.
This deal carried him through the just completed 2023 season after the team exercised its $16 million club option following the 2022 campaign. From 2019 to 2023, Nola went 49-43 with a 3.97 ERA and 1.12 WHIP. More importantly, he helped the team return to the postseason in 2022 for the first time since their 2011 NLDS appearance.
No. 4: Taijuan Walker, $72 million/4 years
A more recent signing, Taijuan Walker inked his four-year, $72 million deal as a free agent at the 2022 Winter Meetings, even though Trea Turner's huge signing somewhat overshadowed it.
After breaking in with the Seattle Mariners in 2013, Walker spent time with the Arizona Diamondbacks, Toronto Blue Jays, and finally, the New York Mets, where he had an All-Star season in 2021 despite finishing with a 7-11 record.
After going 12-5 and lowering his ERA to 3.49 over 157 1/3 innings in 2022 for the Mets, Walker hit free agency for the third time in his career, and Dave Dombrowski and general manager Sam Fuld jumped on the opportunity to secure the middle-of-the-rotation arm to back up Zack Wheeler and Nola.
So, how did the right-hander fare in his first season in Philadelphia? Despite having his troubles early on, he settled in and had a strong middle of the season before hitting a bump in September, which led to the team opting to keep him on the bench in the postseason. Regardless, he made his 31 starts, going 15-6 and throwing a career-high 172 2/3 innings. He struck out 138 and finished the year with close to league-average ERA of 4.38.
Despite the rocky end to his first of four seasons in red pinstripes, Dombrowski and manager Rob Thomson gave Walker a vote of confidence at their year-end press conference.
"I love Taijuan, I really do," Thomson said. "This guy gave us 15 wins. Every time he goes out to the mound, he competes until we take him out and then he never wants to come out. I want a guy like that. That type of thing doesn't bother me. I love him, I love his demeanor, I love his toughness. I'm sure everything will be fine."
The next three years and the team's success over that time will determine if Walker's deal of $18 million per year was worth it for this front office.
No. 3: Zack Wheeler, $118 million/5 years
In another big Winter Meetings move, the Phillies front office inked Zack Wheeler to a five-year, $118 million contract in 2019. And what a brilliant move it turned out to be for the franchise. Thanks to then-general manager Matt Klentak's foresight, Phillies fans have seen Wheeler evolve into the prototypical ace.
After an abbreviated debut season in 2020, thanks to the pandemic, Wheeler was a workhorse in 2021. He dominated over a major league-best 213 1/3 innings, with three complete games and two shutouts. He finished the year with a 2.78 ERA and 1.01 WHIP, recording an NL-leading 247 strikeouts on his way to earning his first All-Star invitation and finishing as the NL Cy Young runner-up.
Say what you will about Wheeler's 2022 postseason; in the 2023 playoffs he proved himself to be "the man" for the Phillies. His performance was exactly why the team brought him in and paid him $23.6 million a year.
In five games (four starts, one relief appearance), the 33-year-old was lights out. He pitched to a 1.95 ERA and 0.72 WHIP, striking out 35 batters over 27 2/3 innings, picking up a 3-0 record. He certainly wasn't the reason the Phillies were sent packing in the NLCS.
Over his first four seasons in Philadelphia, the former first-round draft pick has compiled a 19.3 fWAR — the best among all pitchers over that span.
Wheeler has more than earned every penny of his deal so far. With one season left on his contract and hope among fans that he gets an extension, all he has left to do is help this win-now Phillies team bring home a World Series title.
No. 2: Cliff Lee, $120 million/5 years
In 2011, Cliff Lee returned to Philadelphia on a five-year, $120 million deal, but sadly was never able to finish out the end of the deal due to an elbow injury.
Over his first three seasons back with the Phillies, the 2009 postseason star was as dominant as ever. He crossed the 200 innings mark in all three seasons, finishing with a 2.80 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, and 667 strikeouts in his 666 1/3 innings. From 2011 to 2013, Lee had a 17.7 fWAR, the fourth-best pitcher WAR in the majors.
The lefty earned two All-Star nods, in 2011 and 2013, and finished third and sixth in NL CY Young voting in those years, respectively.
After barely missing out on a World Series championship during his 2009 stint in red pinstripes, Lee only got one more chance in the postseason with the Phillies, and it didn't go well. Despite his dominant 2011 regular season, his NLDS appearance was one to forget when he gave up five runs on 12 hits to the St. Louis Cardinals.
Lee battled injuries to start the fourth year of his contract in 2014 and only threw 81 1/3 innings for the Phillies that season. Dealing with a flexor tendon tear, Lee didn't pitch at all during the fifth year of his contract and the Phillies declined to retain the former ace for an optional sixth season and bought him out for $12.5 million.
What began as a glorious return to Philly ended up in shambles — but Lee still got paid.
No. 1: Aaron Nola, $172 million/7 years
When Aaron Nola re-signed with the Phillies early in the 2023 offseason, his seven-year, $172 million deal easily became the largest deal for a starting pitcher in Phillies franchise history.
With an AAV of $24.5 million, he's just above Wheeler's $23.6 million AAV and just below Sonny Gray's $25 million AAV three-year deal with the St. Louis Cardinals. So what does the career Phillie have to do to live up to his contract?
First, while he's been an innings-eating monster over his career, with a 162-game average of 206 innings in his nine years in the league, the Phillies will be looking for more than just innings. The team will want some consistency out of the right-hander.
In 2023, Nola ran a 4.46 ERA, and we all know about his home run issues. This was by far his worst season for the long ball, both in total home runs given up (32 in 32 starts) and in his home runs per nine innings rate of 1.5. The season resembled his 2021 campaign, in which he finished with a 4.63 ERA and 1.3 HR/9.
For Nola to earn his money, he'll need to look more like the 2022 Nola, who ran a 3.25 ERA and 0.96 WHIP with 235 strikeouts in 205 innings. He finished fourth in NL Cy Young voting for his outstanding performance.
While he doesn't need to win the Cy Young — although, how nice would that be? — the 30-year-old will need to at least be casually mentioned as a candidate at some point over the next few seasons, both for the team's championship contending window and to hold up his end of the franchise's biggest starting pitcher deal.
Adding a World Series ring to his resume would make this $172 million re-signing worth it, and if he pitches like he did in the 2023 postseason, he has a good shot of helping to make that dream a reality.
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