The Philadelphia Phillies had a massive decision to make this offseason.
With Aaron Nola hitting the open market after extension talks failed, they had to decide if it was worth offering him a lucrative long-term deal for him to return.
Throughout much of the year, it looked like they might be willing to move on.
Nola was putting together one of the worst seasons of his career after he allowed the most earned runs and homers out of any year he's pitched.
He finished the regular season with a 4.46 ERA and ERA+ of 96.
However, he took his game to the next level in the playoffs with an ERA of 2.35 and two scoreless outings.
The Phillies ultimately decided to hand him a seven-year, $172 million deal to keep him paired with Zack Wheeler at the top of their rotation for the upcoming year as they attempt to win the World Series.
Beyond that though, there are questions if this will be the one-two punch going forward.
Wheeler is set to hit free agency after the season and it will likely cost Philadelphia a lot of money to keep him.
Their ace has been one of the best pitchers in the entire MLB since coming over from the New York Mets in 2020.
The Phillies would like to get an extension done.
Dave Dombrowski has talked about that being a huge priority for them, but there has been no word on when it might come.
Jon Heyman of The New York Post spoke with one player on Philadelphia about what contract they think the superstar should get.
"When I asked one Phillie what ace Zack Wheeler should get as a salary in his new negotiations, that Phillie pointed to Wheeler's uniform number — yes, $45 million," he wrote.
Only two other pitchers, Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, have a received a contract that has an average annual value of $40 million or higher, and they were much more decorated in their careers at that point than Wheeler.
Based on the production from the Phillies' ace, his agent could argue that he deserves that much, or at least something similar.
His WAR of 19.3 is the highest in the league since 2020 according to FanGraphs.
He's been a workhorse for them, starting 101 games in the regular season and throwing 629 1/3 innings during that time with an ERA of 3.06. In the playoffs, Wheeler has added 11 more games, 63 1/3 more innings, and lowered his ERA to 2.42.
Philadelphia wants to keep him here.
How much it will cost them to do so will be seen.
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