The Philadelphia Phillies haven’t been shy about their desire to retain RHP Zack Wheeler beyond the end of his current contract in 2024, to the point that one insider believes a new deal will be reached at some point this offseason.
Appearing on 97.5 The Fanatic Thursday evening, Hall of Famer Jayson Stark had some pretty telling insight on Wheeler’s future with the Phillies.
“Re-signing Wheeler will be the No. 1 priority for the Phillies once the rest of the MLB offseason rubble clears,” Stark said. “They are more committed to re-signing Wheeler than they were [Aaron] Nola. I think it gets done because Wheeler loves everything about Philly.”
Wheeler has vastly outperformed the five-year/$118 million deal he signed with the Phillies prior to the 2020 season. Since joining the Phillies, Wheeler is 43-25 with a 3.06 ERA and 2.90 FIP. Over that period, his 629 1/3 innings pitched are fourth among all starting pitchers. His 19.3 WAR over the last four seasons leads all pitchers, according to FanGraphs.
In addition to his regular season success, Wheeler has been dominant over two postseason runs with the Phillies. Across his first 11 career postseason appearances, Wheeler has a 2.42 ERA.
In his year-end press conference, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski didn’t mince words when asked by Phillies Nation if the team hopes to work out an extension with Wheeler this offseason.
“Without getting into anything — because just we haven’t had these type of things [conversations] — we would hope to have Zack Wheeler in our organization for years to come,” Dombrowski said.
“He’s been tremendous since he’s been here, and we look at him as a real stalwart of our organization,” Dombrowski continued. “So we would hope that he would be here for a long time.”
While the Phillies did try to work out a long-term contract with Nola last spring and eventually brought him back on a seven-year/$172 million deal in free agency, there does seem to be a more definitive tone when Wheeler is being discussed. With Nola, it really felt like a 50-50 chance he would depart the Phillies after the 2023 season. Perhaps it’s reading too much into one quote, but the deepest-pocketed teams in the sport don’t often let someone they view as a “stalwart” leave in free agency.
