Phillies’ Aaron Nola warned over $172 million contract that hasn’t gone as planned

Phillies’ Aaron Nola warned over $172 million contract that hasn’t gone as planned originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

We can look at the Philadelphia Phillies' struggles over the past few years to understand why things have changed so much.

Unfortunately for the Phillies, that started in 2025 for right-hander Aaron Nola. At the time of getting his contract, Nola was one of the better starters in Major League Baseball. He was an All-Star, threw the baseball at a very high level day in and day out, and had been with the organization for a very long time.

On the flip side of that, things just haven't gone as planned for the right-hander over recent years, and his current contract, a seven-year, $172 million deal, doesn't end until 2030.

To put things lightly, the LSU product is definitely one of the worst contracts in baseball, if not honestly the worst, at 32 years old.

“The Philadelphia Phillies re-signing Aaron Nola on a seven-year, $172 million deal felt like a no-brainer for one of the most consistent starters in the game, but it's proven to have been a massive mistake thus far. Nola allowed the most home runs in the league in 2024, had a 6.01 ERA in an injury-shortened 2025 season, and he now has a 5.14 ERA in eight starts this season,” Zachary Rotman of FanSided wrote.