PHILADELPHIA -- The Phillies and Aaron Nola have both reciprocated interest in a long-term deal, but things will undoubtedly get more complicated as the free agency market opened Monday.
The Phillies made the first step Monday, extending a one-year qualifying offer to Nola for $20.325 million. The qualifying offer ensures that, at the very least, the Phillies will receive Draft-pick compensation if he were to sign elsewhere.
Nola has until 4 p.m. ET on Nov. 14 to accept the qualifying offer, but he'll reject it as he will receive multiple multiyear offers on the open market.
Nola, 30, has posted a 3.72 career ERA over nine seasons in Philadelphia. He was an All-Star in 2018 and earned Cy Young Award votes in three separate seasons, finishing fourth in voting in 2022.
Nola had a subpar season by his standards in 2023, carrying a 4.46 ERA over 193 2/3 innings. His 1.15 WHIP, though solid, was his highest mark since 2019. He also surrendered 32 homers, the most in his career. He did pitch well in the postseason though, posting a 2.35 ERA over five starts.
“I’d say he’s our priority to try and sign,” president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said last month. “Unfortunately, and I don’t mean this as a negative or positive, it’s just the reality. We didn’t sign him in spring training. We would have liked to have done that. We didn’t get it done. I can’t tell you that I feel 100% confident that we’re going to get it done, but we would like to sign him and we’ll be aggressive in trying to make that happen.”
The Cardinals, Rangers, and Yankees are all believed to be heavily interested in signing Nola.
