Aaron Nola re-signs with Phillies: Pitcher returns to Philly for seven years, $172 million
The Philadelphia Phillies and right-hander Aaron Nola have agreed to terms on a seven-year, $172 million deal. according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan. Jim Bowden of CBS Sports headquarters confirmed the deal.
Nola, a longtime rotation linchpin, is coming off a 2023 season in which he pitched to a 4.46 ERA (96 ERA+) and a 4.49 strikeout-to-walk ratio in 193 2/3 innings. Those run blocking numbers are well below his established standards, so there is hope for a rebound on those grounds alone. In general, the Phillies are betting on Nola’s history as a front-end workhorse and against concerns with his declining abilities. They certainly know it better than any other team.
Coming into the season, CBS Sports ranked Nola as the fifth best free agent available in the 2023-24 class. Here’s what we wrote at the time:
Nola has a Saberhagen back thing going on. He has been excellent in recent even years and only average in odd years. There is no predictive power to be found in that observation, but the awareness of patterns in the desert certainly excites the lizard brain. Regardless, several talent evaluators expressed their preference to sign Nola over Blake Snell regardless of the financial aspect. The reasoning is simple: Nola’s ERA has been up and down over the last handful of seasons, but he throws a lot of strikeouts and has missed just one stint on the injured list since 2018. We suspect that teams will be interested to see how Nola performs. in front of another defense, too.
Nola, a three-time top-10 finisher in NL Cy Young voting, will enter his age-31 season in 2024.
With Nola back in tow, the most notable departure the Phillies have suffered this winter is first baseman Rhys Hoskins. It would be unlikely that Hoskins would have a place in the lineup because Philadelphia has indicated that they intend to use Bryce Harper at first base going forward. Hoskins, of course, missed the 2023 season after tearing his ACL in the spring.
