Philadelphia Phillies Division Rival Signs Elite Pitcher in Free Agency

The Philadelphia Phillies made a splash earlier in the offseason and their division rivals tried to do the same by signing an elite pitcher of their own.

The Philadelphia Phillies kicked off the player free agency portion of the offseason by re-signing their ace Aaron Nola to a seven-year contract.

Dave Dombrowski had repeatedly said that this was his No. 1 priority. He delivered on his goal of getting him back into the mix as they push for a World Series championship.

One team who has been thwarted in the playoffs the past two years by the Phillies is their division rival Atlanta Braves, despite having dominant regular seasons.

Reports were out there that the Braves were heavily pursuing Nola to add him to their rotation and take him away from Philadelphia.

Ultimately, that did not come to fruition and Atlanta was forced to pivot elsewhere.

According to Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY, they signed right-handed pitcher Reynaldo Lopez to a three-year, $30 million deal on Monday.

Originally a starting pitcher, Lopez moved into the bullpen for the majority of his 2021 appearances with the Chicago White Sox. In 2022, he had a 2.76 ERA in 61 games.

Since becoming a reliever, the righty emerged as a coveted piece and was acquired by the Los Angeles Angles at the trade deadline for their playoff push in 2023.

The Braves brought him in knowing he could be a weapon out of their bullpen, but it seems like that's not the only reason why they signed the 29-year-old.

Justin Toscano of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports, "He’ll prepare as a starting pitcher this winter and will be stretched out in spring training to give the Braves another option for the rotation. They think he can potentially help in both roles."

That's an interesting caveat.

Atlanta was clearly looking to add a starting pitcher this offseason and might view Lopez as a possible back-end guy for them.

Either way, Philadelphia was able to keep Nola and not let him out of the building, forcing their rivals to go in another direction.