Aaron Nola has earned a contract extension and the Phillies should make it happen sooner than later
Aaron Nola is one of the best pitchers in all of baseball.
The Phillies picked up Nola’s $16M club option just a few days after the World Series. Nola is set to hit the free-agent market after his 9th season in Philadelphia after the 2023 season, unless Dave Dombrowski and company decide to extend their homegrown ace at some point this season.
Nola has a career 3.60 ERA with the Phillies, with over 1,200 innings in red pinstripes. He’s totaled 1,380 strikeouts to just 326 walks in his career, equaling out to a 4.2 K/BB, one of the highest in all of baseball. Aaron Nola has a career 29.9 WAR and holds the highest WAR in one season by a Phillies’ pitcher in the entire 2000s (9.2, 2018).
Last season, Nola bounced back after a shaky 2021 campaign, throwing 205 innings, the most in all of baseball. He finished with an 11-13 record and a 6.0 WAR, logging a 3.25 ERA and 235 Ks.
The Phillies prioritized pitching this offseason, specifically to the starting rotation by adding Taijuan Walker on a 4-year, $72M contract. The starting rotation now has a Top 4 of Wheeler, Nola, Suarez, and Walker, with Andrew Painter making his MLB debut at some point in 2023.
Extending Aaron Nola is extremely important
No one is denying that Nola has struggled at times, and Phillies fans who don’t watch the team play baseball throughout the season love to say how inconsistent Nola is when in reality, it’s actually the complete opposite.
Take away the 2022 shortened season and Nola has averaged 200 innings each season. He’s the longest-tenured Phillie and has been through the absolute ringer with this team.
The market of the 2022 offseason was very favorable for pitchers, meaning Aaron Nola is going to make a lot of money once he eventually gets paid, whether that’s by the Phillies or not. The biggest pitching contract on a long, multi-year basis was Carlos Rodon, who signed a 6-year, $162M contract with the New York Yankees.
Nola, younger than Rodon, tops him in almost every stat throughout his career.
You have to be willing to spend the money to compete for the big names in today’s MLB, and Phillies’ President of Baseball Operations knows that. After signing Trea Turner to an 11-year, $300M contract, the Phillies are proven to be a team that competes for a long time…but Aaron Nola is going to need to be here for that to happen.
Join The Chase
