Phillies, Wheeler agree to $118M deal
The Philadelphia Phillies filled their biggest need quickly.
Right-hander Zack Wheeler and the Phillies agreed to a $118-million, fiveyear contract, two people familiar with the deal told the Associated Press on Wednesday.
Both people spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the agreement, which is subject to a successful physical, had not been announced.
The 29-year-old Wheeler stays in the NL East after spending his first seven seasons with the New York Mets. He was 11-8 with a 3.96 ERA last season after going 12-7 with a 3.31 ERA in 2018. Wheeler missed the 2015 and 2016 seasons following Tommy John surgery.
He will join a rotation led by Aaron Nola that also includes Jake Arrieta. The Phillies may pursue another front-line starter — Stephen Strasburg, perhaps — to join a staff that has Zach Eflin, Vince Velasquez and Nick Pivetta.
Wheeler chose less money to stay on the East Coast. The Chicago White Sox offered Wheeler a five-year contract worth more than $120 million guaranteed, a person with direct knowledge of those negotiations said. That person spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the situation.
Wheeler is 44-38 with a 3.77 ERA in 126 starts. He has 726 strikeouts in 7491⁄3 innings.
Cole Hamels agreed to an $18-million, one-year contract with the busy Atlanta Braves, one of the more active teams this offseason . ...
Reliever Carl Edwards Jr. and the Seattle Mariners finalized a one-year contract with a $950,000 guaranteed salary . ... The Boston Red Sox signed infielder Marco Hernandez and left-hander Josh Osich to one-year contracts. They were the only two players the team nontendered at Monday’s deadline, making them free agents.
This was the first year that women were on the ballot and Barbara Buttrick of England and Lucia Rijker of the Netherlands joined Martin in making history as the first female boxers elected. Buttrick was elected in the Trailblazers category, while Martin and Rijker were elected in the Modern category.
Also elected by members of the Boxing Writers Assn. and a panel of international boxing historians were promoters Lou DiBella and Kathy Duva in the Non-Participant category and journalists Bernard Fernandez and Thomas Hauser in the Observer category.
Posthumous honorees include lightweight champion Frank Erne in the Old Timer category, Paddy Ryan in the Pioneer category and promoter Dan Goossen in the Non-Participant category.
Mark Pavelich, a member of the gold medal 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, was ruled to be mentally ill and dangerous and was ordered to be committed to a secure treatment facility in his native Minnesota.
The Minneapolis Star Tribune reported that Pavelich, who had faced criminal charges that he beat a friend with a metal pole in August, will have another hearing in February to determine whether he should remain committed for an indeterminate period of time.
A Minnesota district judge found Pavelich, 61, incompetent to stand trial in the criminal case.
The Star Tribune said two clinical psychologists found Pavelich, who played seven seasons in the NHL, had post-traumatic stress disorder.