The Philadelphia Phillies re-signed Aaron Nola to a seven-year, $172 million contract on Sunday. The deal came as a mild surprise. Nola was a widely speculated target of other teams and the Phillies had previously refused to meet Nola's asking price in extension talks.
Alas, Nola stays put with the franchise he has spent his entire career with. If he plays out the full length of his deal, Nola will have 16 years as a Philadelphia Phillie under his belt. That's quite the thought. If he can help deliver a World Series, he is destined for the Phillies' pitching pantheon.
That said, it does appear that Nola was genuinely open to leaving, with the Atlanta Braves reported as Philadelphia's primary competition on the free agency front. The Braves finished last season with the best record in baseball, 104-58, but there is a clear need for upgrades to the pitching staff. Atlanta made room to sign a splashy free agent with a series of autumnal trades, but Nola slipped out of their grasp?
Why? Well, because the Phillies wouldn't have it.
Philadelphia ultimately relented on their prior stinginess, exceeding their usual contract limits to keep Nola in-house. Nola signs the biggest pitching contract in franchise history and the 11th biggest overall, a notable investment in a 30-year-old coming off a 4.46 ERA season.
Phillies jack up price to keep Aaron Nola despite Braves' pursuit
It's difficult to argue with the Phillies' decision. With some of the expensive contracts dolled out in recent years — five years, $185 million for Jacob deGrom; six years, $140 million for Patrick Corbin; etc. — it feels like Nola took a discount. The initial reporting was that Nola wanted $210 million, but the Phillies were able to talk him into a meeting in the middle.
Nola has been an ironman in recent years and he was a consistent presence on the mound during Philadelphia's back-to-back NLCS runs. He appeared in 32 regular season games, posting a 12-9 record with a 1.151 WHIP.
There are still plenty of ace pitchers Atlanta can pursue. Sonny Gray has been connected to the Braves on several occasions, while Blake Snell, Marcus Stroman, and Eduardo Rodriguez are all (various degrees of realistic) targets. The Braves already have a rock-solid top of the rotation with Spencer Strider and Max Fried, while the return of Charlie Morton reduces stress over the depth. Still, the Braves would look much stronger on paper with another Cy Young candidate in the mix.
As for Nola's brief free agency period, it's hard not to read into the entangled relationship between the Phillies and the Braves in recent years. Atlanta is Philadelphia's primary division opponent and arguably its greatest roadblock to a World Series. Perhaps the Phillies were more willing to spend on Nola because it meant keeping him away from the Braves.