Tuesday Signings Help Reset Free-Agent Market as Phillies Look to Add an Arm

If you're itching for baseball and the sights of spring training, well, so are the many unsigned players across MLB still eager to find a new home, get to camp and begin working in earnest for the 2026 season.

Pitchers, in particular, tend to get antsy as camps open in the Grapefruit and Cactus Leagues. This was further demonstrated on Tuesday as three free-agent starting pitchers came off the board during the Phillies' search for rotation depth.

Quintana, Civale, Verlander sign

Jose Quintana agreed to a one-year, $6 million contract with the Rockies. Aaron Civale agreed to a one-year, $6 million contract with the Athletics. And future Hall of Famer Justin Verlander is headed back to Detroit for one year and $13 million.

Top arms left

Starting pitching is the deepest remaining free-agent group and the Phillies still have plenty of options. The top remaining arms include Chris Bassitt, Zac Gallen, Lucas Giolito, Zack Littell, Max Scherzer, Nestor Cortes and Walker Buehler.

From that group, Littell, Cortes and Buehler would be the likeliest to sign for less than the $6 million offered to Quintana and Civale. Scherzer is highly unlikely to sign for a dollar less than Verlander, unless he waits until midseason. Every dollar matters for the Phillies, who are past MLB's highest luxury tax threshold with an estimated payroll north of $300 million.

Bounce-back candidates

There are a few more bounce-back candidates like German Marquez, Tony Gonsolin and Anthony DeSclafani. All three dealt with injury and performed poorly in 2025.

For Marquez, it was the first year back from Tommy John surgery and he went 3-16 with a 6.70 ERA for the worst team in baseball. He'll be excited to finally see what he can do away from Coors Field. Once upon a time, mainly from 2018-20, Marquez owned one of baseball's best curveball-slider combinations. The curveball has remained effective and though his velocity was a career-low last season, it still averaged 94.8 mph. Perhaps his stuff plays better outside the thin air of Denver.

Gonsolin underwent an internal brace procedure on his right elbow/flexor last August and was initially expected to miss 8-to-10 months, putting him on track for a return somewhere around May if all goes well with his rehab. That timeline doesn't exactly fit with the Phillies, who could use more starting pitching out of the chute with Zack Wheeler sidelined early. Wheeler will be behind other pitchers in camp as he recovers from September thoracic outlet syndrome surgery and is highly unlikely to pitch before at least late April.

Signing complications

DeSclafani latched on late last season with the Diamondbacks after a stint at Triple A in the Yankees' system. He was a swingman with Arizona, starting four games with nine in relief. That sort of versatility could appeal to the Phillies because they can't truly guarantee a rotation spot for the entire season. And when all offers are similar, it only makes sense for a pitcher in the Quintana-Littell tier to accept the one that comes with the best chance to start.

In a perfect world, Wheeler returns for the Phils in the first or second month and Andrew Painter establishes himself in March as a big-league pitcher. If both are in a healthy Phillies rotation, someone would be bounced out, at least temporarily. Taijuan Walker could also be moved to the bullpen in that scenario.

The Phils continue to look and will find at least one more arm before the regular season begins. But between their financial situation and inability to guarantee 32 starts without affecting others on the staff, they don't exactly have their pick of the litter.