Phillies Star Pitcher Has One of Worst Contracts in Baseball With Diminishing Arsenal

The Philadelphia Phillies have done a wonderful job with handling their payroll over the last few years and will have some difficult decisions to make this upcoming winter.

Designated hitter Kyle Schwarber and catcher J.T. Realmuto are both free agents. Do the Phillies want to commit long-term money to them at this stage of their careers?

There is some risk in paying players who will be 33 and 35 years old once Opening Day rolls around in 2026.

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Sometimes it can work out, such as in the case with ace Zack Wheeler, who remains one of the most dominant starting pitchers in baseball despite being in his age-35 campaign.

Other times, it can lead to some troubling results, like in the case with fellow starting pitcher, Aaron Nola.

Ahead of the 2024 season, Philadelphia agreed to a massive seven-year, $172 million extension with the right-handed veteran.

It was a deal that Nola had earned with his production, consistently taking the ball every time it was his turn through the rotation.

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From 2017-2024, he didn’t land on the injured list once. He was arguably the most consistent starting pitcher in baseball, making at least 32 starts in six consecutive 162-game campaigns.

Unfortunately, that streak is coming to an end in 2025 as the workload and innings may have finally caught up to him.

Nola landed on the injured list with an ankle ailment originally, but his timeline to return got pushed back and became more murky when it was revealed he was also dealing with a stress fracture in his rib cage.

Could those injuries have been impacting his performance on the field?

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The Phillies certainly hope so, because Nola was ineffective virtually every time he took the mound, surrendering at least four earned runs in five of the nine starts he has made this year.

That performance alone was enough to land him on the top 10 cringe contracts in baseball, put together by Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report. But, there are other long-term concerns that are developing with his arsenal beginning to regress.

“In those first nine starts, though, neither his knuckle-curve nor his four-seamer were anything close to the lethal offerings they used to be, and he's only one-and-a-half years into a hefty seven-year deal,” Miller wrote.

There is still some hope that Nola can get things back on track when healthy.

But keep an eye on his velocity.

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A concerning drop was occurring with his entire repertoire compared to how hard he was throwing in 2024. Was that injury related or just Father Time catching up with him?

If it were injury-related, he could still provide value during the life of his contract. If it is diminished performance, this contract is going to become an albatross to deal with.

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