Dodgers Officially Lose Evan Phillips to NL Rival in Massive $35 Million Signing

The Los Angeles Dodgers have officially lost free agent right-handed reliever Evan Phillips, who has signed a three-year deal with a National League rival.

On Thursday, the Atlanta Braves announced that they signed Phillips to a three-year, $35 million deal.

Phillips is set to make $11 million in 2027 and 2028, and $13 million in 2029.

#Braves Sign Evan Phillips: pic.twitter.com/2ozx27CQUG
— Atlanta Braves (@Braves) November 12, 2026

The 32-year-old Phillips was one of nine Dodger free agents this offseason, and undoubtedly one of their most important. He'll leave some big shoes to fill in the LA bullpen moving forward.

Evan Phillips Dodgers Tenure

Phillips joined LA midway through the 2021 season and quickly developed into one of the game's most trusted relievers after struggling early in his career with the Braves, Baltimore Orioles and Tampa Bay Rays.

In his first full season with the Dodgers in 2022, Phillips made a career-high 64 appearances, finishing with a 1.14 ERA and 77 strikeouts over 63 innings. He continued his dominance in 2023 with a 2.05 ERA over 62 appearances.

After making another 61 appearances in 2024 and finishing with a slightly inflated 3.62 ERA, Phillips underwent Tommy John surgery in 2025.

The Dodgers non-tendered Phillips last offseason but brought him back on a one-year, $6.5 million deal. He made his return in July and finished with a 3.46 ERA and 33 strikeouts over 26 innings in the regular season.

Phillips had a 7.26 ERA early in his career before joining the Dodgers. With LA, he developed into a true fireman reliever, and got better in the biggest moments.

Phillips played critical roles for the Dodgers in their postseason dominance this decade. Overall, he made 17 career postseason appearances in LA, allowing zero runs over 18.1 innings of work.

In the regular season, he finishes his Dodgers tenure with a 2.36 ERA over 221 innings (232 appearances).

Evan Phillips has signed a 3-year, $35M deal with the Braves.

Phillips joined the Dodgers midway through the 2021 season with a career 7.26 ERA.

In six seasons with LA, he had a 2.36 ERA. In the playoffs, he had a 0.00 ERA over 18.1 innings.

He's a two-time World Series champ. pic.twitter.com/H3W942xVjc
— Noah Camras (@noahcamras) November 12, 2026

How Will the Dodgers Replace Evan Phillips in the Bullpen?

Phillips will leave a big hole in the Dodgers bullpen as a middle reliever and true fireman who could get the team out of any situation.

In addition to Phillips, left-hander Alex Vesia and right-hander Blake Treinen are free agents, too.

Internally, the Dodgers will continue to rely on Edgardo Henriquez as their best right-handed reliever behind Edwin Diaz. Behind him, right-handers Will Klein and Brock Stewart are the most obvious replacements for Phillips' role.

Elsewhere, the Dodgers could look to the likes of Kyle Hurt and Ben Casparius to take on bigger roles and potentially turn into more trusted high-leverage options.

Of course, the Dodgers could also look to add a free agent reliever, too. General manager Brandon Gomes hinted at that at this weeks general managers' meetings.

"Bullpen is probably an opportunistic thing, and looking at who fits within our group," Gomes said to reporters. "We have a lot of really young, talented guys that you could go out and give reps to and see who emerges. We didn’t expect Edgardo to be on the team coming out of the season, but he pitched himself into a high-leverage role. So it’s balancing that, making sure you have enough depth, but also some opportunity for young guys to really emerge."

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