Aaron Nola is staying put.
Nola and the Phillies have reached an agreement on a seven-year, $172 million contract, per multiple reports. (USA Today‘s Bob Nightengale was first on the lenth and the $170-175 million range; ESPN’s Jeff Passan the $172 figure).
The contract will keep Nola with the Phillies — the team that drafted him No. 7 overall in 2014 and the only team he’s ever known — through his age-37 season. And it’ll happen with a $24.6 million AAV that’ll fall short of what the industry mostly expected of Nola’s deal this offseason, as the best right-handed starter on the market outside of Shohei Ohtani and by far the most durable.
That tactic — stretching out the length of the contract to lower the AAV — has become standard practice for the Phillies in the John Middleton Spending Era. They did it with Bryce Harper and Trea Turner for 13 and 11 years, respectively, and now, they’ve done it with the third-largest contract Middleton has given to a member of the current core.
Like Harper and Turner, as well, Nola reportedly could’ve cashed in even more elsewhere. Jon Heyman of The New York Post reported that Nola turned down more money to stay in Philadelphia. He also reported that the deal — like Harper’s and Turner’s — has no opt outs, plus no team option.
The Phillies had other targets to fill a starting pitching need this offseason: Yoshinobu Yamamoto led a list that also featured Jordan Montgomery, Sonny Gray and others. Nola had suitors, too, like the St. Louis Cardinals, New York Yankees and Atlanta Braves.
It did feel like all the aforementioned targets were backup plans in the event Nola became unavailable. For the Phillies, it was always Nola, and for Nola, it was always the Phillies.
Both sides will get what they wanted. For the next seven years.
