Huge news in the baseball world was reported as the Philadelphia Phillies and star Zack Wheeler agreed on a three year, $126 million contract extension after a stellar season Monday. Wheeler spoke to the media alongside the team's president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski to talk about the deal.
The newly-paid pitcher made sure to express that he doesn't want to pitch when he is “old-old” as he is currently 33 years old, turning 34 in late May according to Todd Zolecki of MLB.com.
“I do enjoy pitching, and I want to be here,” Wheeler said. “I love competing. But I don't want to play until I'm old-old. And I want to be around my family. But I'm definitely enjoying the moment here, enjoying every moment I take the mound. It's special, and not everybody gets to do it. Not everybody gets to do it as long as I have. I'm grateful for that.”
Wheeler loves playing in Philadelphia, despite the immense pressure
Last season for the Phillies, Wheeler had a record of 13-6, pitched a 3.61 ERA, and threw 212 strikeouts. Looking at his original contract he signed with Philadelphia back in 2019 where it was five year, $118 million, he's been 43-25 with a 3.06 ERA in 101 starts, which is the best ERA in that span since such pitchers as Corbin Burnes, Maz Scherzer, and Shane Bieber according to Zolecki.
“I love those big moments,” Wheeler said. “I don't know, I really just enjoy being here in Philly. The fans are the best. Playing in Citizens Bank in October, there's nothing like it.”
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“There's definitely pressure, especially being in Philadelphia,” Wheeler continued. “It's a tough place to play. … You're going to have your ups and downs. You'll have your bad games, bad innings. You might get booed here and there. Booed off the field, but it's part of the game. You take that in and use that as motivation and just try to build off of that because you don't want that to happen again. There is pressure to live up to the contract. But if you take care of what you need to, hopefully it will take care of itself on the field.”
Phillies Dombrowski with high praise for Wheeler
Dombrowski would say that Wheeler is “one of the best pitchers in baseball,” as the deal with the Phillies makes it the highest average annual value in MLB history for a contract extension with $42 million.
“We said, ‘Well, let’s establish right now he’s one of the best pitchers in baseball,’” Dombrowski said. “Is he first, second, third? We don’t have to get into that. But he’s one of the best. And the reality is, when you start not only talking about being one of the best pitchers, he’s one of the best big-game pitchers in the game of baseball. So in the postseason, when he takes that ball, I can’t think of anybody that I would rather have to take the mound than Zack.”
Now with Wheeler locked up for the foreseeable future, the Phillies have championship aspirations as they are looking to get back to the World Series after they lost in the NLCS last season to the Arizona Diamondbacks. They were 90-72 last season, second in the NL East behind the Atlanta Braves and in front of the Miami Marlins.