The Phillies and left-hander Jesus Luzardo have avoided arbitration by agreeing to an $11MM salary for the 2026 season, 7News’ Ari Alexander reports. This is Luzardo’s final year of arb eligibility, as he is slated to become a free agent next winter.
The $11MM agreement beats the $10.4MM salary projection from MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz, and it represents a sizeable raise over the $6.625MM that Luzardo earned in 2025 (via another arb-avoiding deal with the Phillies). That agreement came just a couple of weeks after the Phils acquired Luzardo as part of a noteworthy four-player trade with the Marlins.
Philadelphia swung the deal in the hopes that Luzardo would rebound from an injury-marred 2024 season to deliver the type of frontline results he showed during Miami’s 2023 season. It ended up being a canny move on the Phillies’ part, as Luzardo finished seventh in NL Cy Young Award voting. The southpaw posted a 3.92 ERA, 28.5% strikeout rate, and 7.5% walk rate over a career-best 183 2/3 innings, with above-average showings in virtually every Statcast category.
Another season like this will line Luzardo up for a hefty multi-year free agent deal next winter. Age is also on his side — Luzardo just turned 28 last September, so he’ll be hitting the open market in advance of his age-29 season. The Phillies still have time to pursue a contract extension to make Luzardo a long-term piece of the rotation, yet since Luzardo is represented by Scott Boras, chances are much higher that Luzardo will test free agency rather than ink an extension.
Hopefully a long term deal will follow…
With his history of arm trouble, not too long.
🙏
BorAss will make that a no go. FA is inevitable.
6/115-120mil extension coming soon
Maybe 5 years guaranteed and an option for a 6th
“right-hander Jesus Luzardo…”
Photo looks like a lefty unless I hold it up to a mirror
Phillies taking care of their guys. Good on them.
They need to keep him. Negotiate between now and the end of spring training and get a five or six year deal done before he hits free agency and the price doubles.
@Marc – You did read the part about his agent Scott Boras, didn’t you?
From what I have read, the Phils really like him…not just the arm but his work ethic and coachability and his fit. So best guess is that they will try to retain him but it is still a longshot for now.
He is a hard contract value to nail down, with his upside balanced by the injury history. If I am the Phils, I want the deal to reflect the risk and give it my best fair offer before the season hits so that he can weigh the certainty of the deal vs. the upside of him having a good year and remaining healthy.
If he has a decent 2026, he’ll pursue free agency. Only wild card is the labor agreement.