The Philadelphia Phillies, who made it a priority to make sure that ace Zack Wheeler wasn’t going to hit free agency in a year, signed him to a three-year, $126 million contract extension Monday morning.
The deal is the highest annual average salary in a contract extension in baseball history.
The Phillies and Wheeler compromised on the deal, with Wheeler accepting a shorter-term contract than he wanted, but in return received the fourth-highest annual salary by any player. The only players who earn more are Shohei Ohtani ($70 million), Max Scherzer ($43.3 million) and Justin Verlander ($43.3 million).
The deal does not contain any opt-outs, while Wheeler will have no-trade rights after the season since he will have 10-and-5 rights being with the organization five years with 10 years of major league service.
The Phillies have now spent $298 million keeping their rotation intact after earlier signing Aaron Nola to a seven-year, $172 million contract after hitting free agency.
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Wheeler, 33, has yielded a 3.06 ERA with 675 strikeouts in four seasons with the Phillies, throwing 629⅓ innings, fourth-most among all pitchers. Only Gerrit Cole, Sandy Alcantara and Nola have thrown more innings.
Wheeler had one year remaining on his original five-year, $118 million contract.
The Phillies privately say they still have potential interest in adding free agent starter Blake Snell on a one-year contract-term contract, but not a long-term deal.
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