Braves Sign Evan Phillips To Three-Year Deal

Phillips, now 32 years old, returns to the organization that originally drafted him in the 17th round back in 2015. He made a brief major league debut with Atlanta in 2018, pitching 6 1/3 innings, before being traded to Baltimore alongside Bruce Zimmerman and Brett Cumberland in the deal that brought Kevin Gausman and Darren O’Day to Atlanta.

Phillips spent three years as a depth arm in the Orioles’ bullpen, shuffling between Triple-A Norfolk and Baltimore a dozen times before being released. The Rays signed Phillips to a minor league deal and gave him all of three innings before designating him for assignment. The Dodgers swooped in at that point, claiming Phillips off waivers, and the rest is history.

From 2022-25, Phillips was an absolute powerhouse in the Los Angeles bullpen. He pitched 184 2/3 regular season innings and logged a minuscule 2.14 ERA with a 29.6% strikeout rate, 6.6% walk rate and 43.3% ground-ball rate. He spent time both as a setup man and closer in that window, compiling 36 holds and 45 saves — converting on 90% of the opportunities he received along the way. Phillips sat 96.2 mph on his heater in that time. His opponents averaged an awful 86.7 mph off the bat with just a 33.5% hard-hit rate in that time. His ERA over that period ranked sixth among 253 qualified relieves.

Phillips looked to be on a collision course with a massive free agent contract until his trajectory was derailed by 2025 Tommy John surgery. The Dodgers non-tendered Phillips last winter, but L.A. brass thought highly enough of the righty to eventually re-sign him on a one-year, $6.5MM contract. They made that commitment despite the fact that Phillips would come with a 110% luxury hit and would be sidelined into July at the earliest — a testament to just how strongly L.A. brass believed in him as a potential difference maker.

Early on, Phillips’ return was shaky. He yielded runs in five of his first seven appearances. Phillips slowly began to right the ship, however, and he was practically untouchable down the stretch. Over his final 15 innings, he allowed only three runs on nine hits and three walks — all while punching out 21 of the 57 hitters he faced (36.8%). He followed that with three more shutout innings of relief in the postseason.

Since landing with the Dodgers via that fateful waiver claim, Phillips has quietly been one of MLB’s very best relievers. He has a 2.31 ERA in 210 2/3 innings dating back to 2022, and that doesn’t even include 18 1/3 innings of scoreless relief spread across five postseason pushes. Phillips has 47 saves and 49 holds during his regular season career, plus a playoff save and four more holds during postseason play. Whenever he’s been healthy in the past five years, he’s been a flat-out elite reliever.

Phillips heads to an Atlanta ‘pen that looks to be in the process of experiencing some turnover. Raisel Iglesias has spent the past five years closing games for the Braves, but he’s a free agent now. It’s possible he could re-sign on a one-year deal, but Atlanta is now paying Phillips $11MM in 2027 and also has Robert Suarez signed for $16MM. They certainly have the ability to bring in another eight-figure reliever, but the Phillips addition makes it tougher to see Iglesias returning for what would be a sixth season in Atlanta.

Whether it’s Phillips or Suarez closing games, that pair will be entrusted with high-leverage options in Walt Weiss’ bullpen. Left-hander Dylan Lee, who’s among the sport’s most underrated bullpen arms, will also factor into that mix. Fellow southpaws Dylan Dodd and Ray Kerr are also in line to pitch meaningful innings, particularly after the latter broke through as a postseason star during Atlanta’s run to the NLDS. Between veteran Reynaldo López and young Didier Fuentes, the Braves have a pair of talented righties who could function as either a critical setup arm or a mid-rotation starter. Time will tell which role each ultimately claims.

Regardless, the addition of Phillips improves what already looked to be a formidable Atlanta bullpen on paper. They’ll pay a notable annual price over a medium-range term in order to get the job done, but that’s frequently the case for president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos, who tends to make his biggest free agent splashes in decisive fashion early each offseason. MLBTR’s Payroll Tracker already showed the Braves looking at nearly $217MM in 2027 commitments prior to this signing. Phillips will push that number close to $228MM and bring their luxury tax obligations up to about $223MM.

Both figures are shy of the respective $263.3MM and $255.9MM marks at which the Braves ended the 2026 season, which suggests Anthopoulos & Co. will have their share of additional resources as they look to further round out the roster. The Braves currently lack a clear starter at shortstop, and they’re facing uncertainty in left field after Mike Yastrzemski struggled badly in the first season of a two-year, $23MM contract signed early last December.

The Braves might also look for ways to move on from unwanted contracts for oft-injured catcher Sean Murphy (two years, $30MM remaining) and twice-suspended designated hitter Jurickson Profar (one year, $15MM remaining). Strengthening what looks to be a thin bench at the moment also figures to be a priority.

It’s a decent list of items on the offseason to-do list, but in typical fashion, Anthopoulos has moved swiftly (and quietly) to address a key need, leaving himself plenty of time to explore further trade and free-agent scenarios. There are just under three weeks until the current collective bargaining agreement expires, at which point the league will implement a lockout of the players and impose a freeze on all major league transactions. How long said lockout lasts is anyone’s guess, but the coming weeks — and particularly the final two to three days prior to the CBA’s expiration — should bring a frenzy of transaction activity.