Sources - Phillies, Aaron Nola agree to 7-year, $172M deal - ESPN

Right-hander Aaron Nola and the Philadelphia Phillies agreed on a seven-year, $172 million contract Sunday, sources told ESPN, locking up their longtime rotation stalwart with a massive deal that comes after nearly three weeks of inactivity in the free agent market.

The 30-year-old Nola, who is in Philadelphia taking a physical that will make the deal official, has spent all 10 years of his professional career with the Phillies, who took him with the seventh pick in the 2014 draft and promoted him to the major leagues barely a year later.

Over that time, he has been their steadiest performer, particularly over the past six seasons, during which he started the most games in Major League Baseball (175) and threw the second-most innings (1,065⅓, just behind Gerrit Cole's 1,076⅔). While the Phillies' National League East rivals, the Atlanta Braves, had spent the early part of the offseason pursuing Nola and hoping to add him to their rotation, he chose to stay in Philadelphia, a reflection of how he'd come to love the city and its rabid fan base.

The negotiations between Nola's agents, Garrett Parcell and Joe Longo, and the teams pursuing him ratcheted up going into the weekend. Despite the fact that no free agents had signed since the market opened, Nola didn't want to dawdle. Philadelphia and Atlanta were the final two suitors, and Nola wound up receiving the biggest contract for a pitcher in Phillies history and the 11th largest overall.

As Nola grew into a pitcher who twice finished in the top five of NL Cy Young voting, the Phillies moved out of a rebuilding phase, added stars around him and followed a World Series appearance in 2022 with an NLCS berth this season.

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