We now know that the Philadelphia Phillies offered close to $100 million for ace Aaron Nola before negotiations stalled between the two sides.
Recall that the finalists of the last World Series and the 29-year-old pitcher stopped discussions aimed at agreeing on the parameters of a new agreement a few weeks ago.
The team’s offer, which is now known, would be greatly insufficient considering that the Nola clan would rather aim for a contract that would be more in the order of $200 million.
Even though Nola has said a few times that he wants to continue his career in Philadelphia, you have to be aware that if the gap between supply and demand remains too big, he might be tempted to look elsewhere.
Nola is entering his ninth season in a Phillies uniform, having averaged 200 innings since 2018. He is one of the few pitchers in major league baseball to show such consistency over the years.
The next batch of freelance gunners will be high quality and Nola could be one of them. If he decided to stay in Philadelphia in 2024, he could discuss with the other teams and the Phillies would lose this privilege.
Besides Shohei Ohtani and Nola, the Julio Urias, Sonny Gray, Jack Flaherty, Marcus Stroman (if he asserts his option), Lucas Giolito, Martin Perez, Jordan Montgomery, Blake Snell and Clayton Kershaw could all change tunes.
This season, the number 27 will receive a salary of 16 million dollars. So far, he has a career record of 80 wins and 64 losses in Philadelphia. His earned run average is 3.64.
Aaron Nola wants to continue his career where it began, but he will not remain insensitive to higher offers and coming from other Major formations.
The Phillies are playing a dangerous game and it is hoped that their plan will work for them as it did with JT Realmuto in 2021, who became a free agent at that time. The two parties then agreed on the details of a new five-year contract, worth $115.5 million.
