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Buster Olney, ESPN senior writer
Zack Wheeler has agreed to terms on a three-year, $126 million extension with the Philadelphia Phillies, according to sources, avoiding the possibility of the star pitcher becoming a free agent in the fall.
An announcement from the Phillies is expected on Monday.
With a salary of $42 million, Wheeler’s deal is the most lucrative extension in baseball history in terms of average annual value. He’s also in the neighborhood of the highest salaries for pitchers. Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander signed multi-year deals as free agents with the New York Mets for an average of $43.3 million.
Wheeler, who is entering the final season of a five-year, $118 million contract, has had great success with the Phillies, a team that has doled out big money for stars in recent seasons: Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Aaron Nola et al. This spring there has been a feeling that the right-hander and the team would reach another agreement.
Wheeler’s deal does not contain a formal no-trade clause, but he will soon earn what are known as 10 and 5 rights: He already has more than 10 years of service and once he completes his fifth season with the Phillies, he can veto any trade. .
Not that the Phillies would consider trading Wheeler, who has a 3.06 ERA in his first four seasons with Philadelphia (with an adjusted ERA+ of 137) and has 675 strikeouts in 629⅓ innings. Wheeler also led the major leagues in innings pitched (213⅓) in 2021 and won a Gold Glove last season.
Early in Wheeler’s tenure with Philadelphia, owner John Middleton rejected the idea that the Phillies would ever consider trading the right-hander, saying he would not trade him for Babe Ruth or Ted Williams. The front of the Phillies’ rotation appears set for the next few years, with Wheeler and Nola now under contract on long-term deals, and with Ranger Suarez emerging as a top-level third starter.
Wheeler, 34, was the sixth overall pick in the 2009 draft, selected by the San Francisco Giants, and as he rose among the game’s top prospects, he was coveted by other teams. The Giants, seeking the postseason in 2011, traded him to the Mets in exchange for Carlos Beltrán.
Wheeler pitched in five seasons for the Mets, missing the 2015 and 2016 seasons after tearing an elbow ligament and undergoing elbow reconstruction.