Report: Phillies sign SP Zack Wheeler to three-year, $126 million contract extension

As they look to finally get over the hump and capture another World Series title, the Philadelphia Phillies are making sure the top of their rotation remains intact for years to come. A few months after signing Aaron Nola to a seven-year, $172 million contract at the start of free agency, the Phils have now reached agreement on a multi-year extension with ace Zack Wheeler, per a report from ESPN’s Buster Olney. According to The Athletic’s Matt Gelb, it’s a three-year, $126 million deal, slotting Wheeler behind only Shohei Ohtani, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander in terms of average annual value among starting pitchers.

Wheeler might not be as big a name as those other three, but his production on the mound matches up with just about anyone. The righty, who’s set to turn 34 in May, is entering his 10th MLB season and his fifth with the Phillies. He’s put up an 87-63 record and a 3.45 ERA for his career, but he’s blossomed into a true ace over his time in Philly: 43-25 with a 3.06 ERA and Cy Young votes in three of four seasons, including a sixth-place finish last year. He finished with an ERA below 3 every year from 2020 through 2022, and while his 2023 mark was a bit inflated (3.61) that has more to do with bad batted ball luck than anything else. Wheeler’s FIP (3.15) and expected ERA (3.18) are more indicative of his talent, and he ranked in the top 25 percent of all pitchers in strikeout rate, walk rate and average exit velocity.

He is, by every available metric, among the handful of very best starters in the game, and he’s cleared the 180-inning mark in four of the last five full seasons (not including the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign). Of course, no pitcher is without risk, especially one entering his mid-30s. But Wheeler has been very healthy ever since Tommy John surgery (and a string of bizarre complications afterward) wiped out all of his 2015 and 2016 seasons with the Mets, and he shows no signs of slowing down any time soon — his fastball sat around 96 mph last season, right in line with his career mark.

For a Phillies team desperate to win while Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Nola and the rest of the gang are still in their primes, keeping Wheeler around was a no-brainer, one the team wasn’t shy about endorsing publicly. “Zack would not mislead you. Of course we’ve talked. It is a priority. We would love to get that deal done,” top baseball operations executive Dave Dombrowski recently told the Associated Press. “… He’s a guy we would love to have in our organization for a long time.”

Had Philly chosen to let Wheeler walk next winter, it would’ve left a hole atop their rotation that would’ve been very difficult to fill either on the market or internally. Earlier this offseason, we ranked Wheeler fourth in the free-agent class of 2025, behind only Juan Soto, Corbin Burnes and Alex Bregman. The names behind Wheeler carry huge question marks: Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer are in their 40s, Max Fried has cleared 180 innings just once in his career, we’ve still yet to see Walker Buehler make his return from Tommy John surgery and Shane Bieber appears to be on the decline. Every one of those pitchers would represent a significant downgrade from Wheeler, one the Phils could scarcely afford as they try to keep pace with the Braves and Dodgers. Top pitching prospects Andrew Painter and Mick Abel were supposed to have arrived in the Majors by now, but injury (Painter) and command issues (Abel) have muddied their timelines.

This deal allows the Phillies to project a championship-caliber rotation into the near future, paying Wheeler a price commensurate with his skills without tying themselves to him into his age-38 or -39 season. This was a deal they had to get done, and Dombrowski deserves to be commended for doing so in a way that is both fair and not overly onerous for the long haul.