It didn’t take much for the Philadelphia Phillies to spend some money in free agency this offseason.
How wild has this free agency offseason been so far? According to MLB Trade Rumors, the Philadelphia Phillies have spent the second-most money in free agency and have signed one free agent to a guaranteed contract.
A contract tracker of every free agency activities is kept up to date on the website. These rankings only include players who signed MLB contracts after the Nov. 6 deadline for initiating free agency talks with other teams in order to track free agency expenditures. Additionally, the website does not include extensions and trades in these rankings.
The Phillies have only signed pitcher Aaron Nola to a seven-year, $172 million contract as their own free agent. That is the only MLB free agency move the team has undertaken.
The Phillies are now ranked second, ahead of the Arizona Diamondbacks, who have invested a total of $122 million on two players: outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. ($42 million over three years) and pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez ($80 million over four years).
The Los Angeles Dodgers are the only team, obviously, to have outspent the Phillies. In free agency, they have invested $1 billion in pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto ($325 million over 12 years) and hitter Shohei Ohtani ($700 million over 10 years).
Additionally, the Dodgers have inked pitcher Joe Kelly to a one-year contract worth $8 million, outfielder Jason Heyward to a one-year agreement worth $9 million, and pitcher Ricky Vanasco to a one-year contract worth $900,000.
The Phillies did have a meeting with Yamamoto, but their efforts were in vain. Following that, Dave Dombrowski, president of baseball operations, declared that the organization will prioritize signing pitcher Zack Wheeler to a contract and “work around the edges” for the remainder of free agency. Wheeler is in the latter year of a $118 million, five-year contract.
It could be argued that by keeping Nola, the Phillies achieved their main free agent objective.
Nola had a 12-9 record, a 4.46 ERA, 202 strikeouts, and 45 walks in 2023. In his last five complete seasons, he has struck out at least 200 times. A pitcher with a 90-71 record and a 3.73 career ERA will undoubtedly have many suitors, even though the Phillies might want him back.