Its January 29th, the Philadelphia Eagles just clinched the NFC to go to the Super Bowl, Pitchers and Catchers report on February 16th, and Dombrowski has a major decision to make. Is it time to pay our 2nd longest tenured Philadelphia Phillie, Aaron Nola? The Phillies recently exercised Nola’s option for the 2023 season where he will be making $16million for the upcoming year, however, Nola is due to hit free agency for the first time in his career, right before his age 30 season. It is imperative to lock up Nola before he hits free agency next year, where he will easily command over $20million a year.
Aaron Nola, one of the more recent “home grown” pieces of the Phillies farm system, was drafted in the 1st round of the 2014 draft out of LSU and quickly grew through the Phillies system before making his debut in 2015. Since his call up to Philadelphia, Nola has done everything the team has asked and exceeded expectations. Most recently, Nola finished 4th in Cy Young voting, where he finished 3rd in the National League in Ks as well as top 5 in WHIP in the NL. This wasn’t the first time that Nola has flashed brilliance, also finishing top 3 in the NL Cy Young voting in 2018, representing the Phillies at the All-Star Game, as well as finishing with a 2.37 ERA in over 200 innings. The Phillies rewarded this previously with a 4 year extension which leads us to where we stand currently. If we let Nola hit the market, he will be priced similarly to where Carlos Rodon just landed, 6 years $162million with a $27million AAV. Although Montgomery has opened the checkbooks, does this price range scare Philly off from locking up our #2 pitcher?
Dave Dombrowski has done a phenomenal job of retooling the Phillies farm system, where we currently sit on 3 golden arms in Andrew Painter, Mick Abel, and Griff McGarry. With the recent signing of Taijuan Walker and the growth of Ranger Suarez, we are currently rich with arms, an unexpected turn of events after where we were with the previous regime. With a staff set of Wheeler, Nola, Suarez, and Walker, I expect to see Painter win the 5th job, with Mick Abel and Baily Falter set as backup options should an injury come up. It now falls on Dombrowski to decide, do we go with the young guys and let Nola walk after the year, or do we lock up Nola for 4-6 more years, fitting into the timeline this team currently has set with Turner, Realmuto, Harper, Schwarber and Castellanos.
My prediction: Dombrowski attempts to lock up Nola before the end of this 2023 season for 3-5 years with an option, allowing us to continue going for a ring with the core that got us there this year. It’s time to lock up Nola, our 5th straight opening day starter, and go get us our World Series Ring.
Rina
January 29, 2023 at 9:47 PM
Couldn’t agree more 👏🏼