Major Breaking: Phillies All-Star Sign 5-Year, $110M Deal With Tigers After Rejecting Contract Offer
This offseason was long bookmarked as a crucial one for the Philadelphia Phillies, and all that’s left is to see how they handle it. Between Kyle Schwarber, Ranger Suárez, and J.T. Realmuto, the Phillies are losing a combined seven All-Star selections to the free-agent pool. Bringing back one of those three is quite likely, but all three is a stretch, considering Philadelphia is already projected for the fourth-largest opening day tax payroll via Spotrac. Suárez is an interesting case because he’s just gotten better with time, and has proven to be unstoppable in the postseason. But the Phillies already have Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, and Cristopher Sánchez locked up,
and they may prefer to extend fellow lefty Jesús Luzardo over the softer-tossing Suárez. Where does that leave Suárez? Where might he sign this winter, and what sort of money can he expect? One baseball writer recently took a stab at predicting those answers. On Friday, Ryan Finkelstein of Just Baseball predicted that Suárez would land a five-year, $110 million contract from the Detroit Tigers, who have plenty of vacancies in their rotation behind presumptive back-to-back Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal. “If the Phillies don’t re-sign Suarez, he should have no problem finding a relatively long-term deal on the market,” Finkelstein wrote. “Eduardo Rodriguez signed a four-year, $80 million deal a few years ago. Sean Manaea signed a three-year,
$75 million deal last offseason, while Robbie Ray signed a five-year, $115 million contract back in 2021. “The Tigers could use a No. 2 starter behind Tarik Skubal for the 2026 season. If Skubal walks, or is traded, the Tigers at least have a dependable arm to bank on atop their rotation that may be more in their price range than Skubal.”
With a 3.20 ERA and 4.7 wins above replacement in 20 starts this past season, Suárez set himself up well to get a long-term deal heading into his age-30 campaign. And as referenced, his lifetime 1.48 postseason ERA in 42 2/3 innings should serve as added motivation for teams to overlook potential red flags. Will the Tigers ultimately be the team to pry Suárez loose? The next few months will provide that long-awaited answer.
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