CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Phillies owner John Middleton knows what people say about his team. He hears the concerns.
The Phils are trying to win again this year with the core from their 2022-25 squads. It has created angst among some fans who think the window to win a World Series is closing.
But on Tuesday morning, the Phillies announced that they had signed Jesús Luzardo to a five-year, $135 million contract extension that keeps him in Philadelphia through 2031 with a 2032 club option. It means the Phils have Zack Wheeler, Cristopher Sánchez, Luzardo, Aaron Nola and Andrew Painter (Philadelphia's No. 2 prospect) under team control through 2027. It means Sánchez, Luzardo, Nola and Painter are under team control through 2030.
“Obviously, Aaron and Zack are older,” Middleton said. “But you think about Sánchez, you think about Luzardo, you think about Painter. Think about those three guys and where they’ll be in four years. The pitching window is absolutely not closing. It’s not even closing an inch. And guess what? [Phillies No. 4 prospect Gage Wood] might be up in a year or two. So you could be having a fourth young pitcher up there throwing like a No. 1 or a No. 2. Time will tell. But yeah, you just keep doing it.”
Keep holding onto elite starting pitching, that is.
In the past few years, besides Luzardo, the Phillies have signed Wheeler to a three-year, $126 million contract extension, Nola to a seven-year, $172 million contract and Sánchez to a four-year, $22.5 million extension that includes a $14 million club option for 2029 and a $15 million club option for 2030.
That’s nearly a half-billion-dollar commitment to four starting pitchers.
“They’re out there looking for the superstars,” Middleton said about president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and general manager Preston Mattingly.
So keep the stars you have, and develop others, potentially like Painter, Wood, top prospect Aidan Miller and No. 3 prospect Justin Crawford.
“If you’ve got one or two of those guys coming up, you’re pushing the window every single year,” Middleton said.
And Middleton already believes the Phillies can push it for several years if their starters stay healthy.
“I went through it with the ’07-’11 guys, and particularly that ’11 rotation,” he said. “I expected to win every single game. Literally. It was Doc [Roy Halladay] pitching or it was Cliff [Lee] pitching or it was Cole [Hamels] pitching. … If those guys pitched the way they are capable of pitching every single game, I just thought that we should never lose. I truly felt that.
“And I think you’re looking at … when Zack comes back, if what we’ve seen from Aaron is what we’re going to get from Aaron the rest of the season, he’s really back. I mean, he hit 94 [mph] in a Spring Training game. So he’s stronger. He’s anxious to get back there and compete. So yeah, if those guys are doing what they can do, I’ll have the same feeling I had in ’11. Why should we ever lose a game?”
Middleton is looking forward to seeing what this rotation can do. He was asked if Luzardo’s deal has made him any more excited for the season.
“All the other players -- all 25 other players in that clubhouse -- it reaffirms the fact that this is an organization that wants to win and expects to win,” he said. “And that’s exciting. It’s exciting to create a competitive athlete in that environment. It fuels them. They feel good. They did this for Jesús, now I’m charged to go out there and even more excited to compete and work hard.”