Phillies Take Stance On Aaron Nola Free Agency

The Philadelphia Phillies met an untimely end to their season, losing Game 7 of the NLCS to the Arizona Diamondbacks. Though it was through no fault of Aaron Nola, who pretty much held up his end of the bargain in three of his four postseason starts.

Now entering free agency, Nola, one of baseball's top starters over the past seven years, will have plenty of teams bidding for his services. And it will get costly. Are the Phillies ready to drop another huge bag on their homegrown, former first-round selection?

President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski insisted that he is.

A few takeaways from Dombrowski press conference:

-Said Nola is the priority and if he signs elsewhere, finding top-end starting pitching to replace him is a priority

-No question they want to extend Wheeler (FA after 2024)

-Johan Rojas will have to earn the everyday CF job
— Corey Seidman (@CSeidmanNBCS) October 26, 2023

The Phillies' head man said it’s “our priority to try to sign” Nola, and they'll be "aggressive" in their pursuit of keeping him in Philly.

However, he does leave the door open for some disappointment for Phillies fans, as he lamented their inability to get an extension done back before the season, and acknowledges that it won't be easy to get something done now, as they weren't even close to a deal back in spring.

“Unfortunately we didn’t sign him in spring training,” Dombrowski said. “We would’ve liked to have done that. We didn’t get it done. So, I can’t tell you I feel 100% confident we’re going to get it done [now]. But we would like to sign him, and we’ll be aggressive in trying to make that happen.”

He added that they'll look to find another top-end starter if he heads elsewhere.

And if they can't get the job done, there are at least two other teams that top the list of many prime suitors for Nola.

Nola, 30, is 90-71 with a 3.72 career ERA, and has made more starts (175) and logged the second-most innings (1,065) of any pitcher in baseball over the last six years.

Photo: Bill Streicher-USA TODAY Sports