The Toronto Blue Jays and Baltimore Orioles are two more teams that reportedly had interest in the right-hander, Aaron Nola.
The Phillies beat out a number of suitors to sign Nola to a seven-year, $172 million contract. This information comes from ESPN’s Jeff Passan and Sportsnet’s Ben Nicholson-Smith.
One can look at the Orioles’ interest from two different angles. On the one hand, it might suggest a renewed readiness on the part of the ownership group led by Peter and John Angelos to spend big money on free agents, something they don’t usually do. The young core of the Orioles, who won 101 games this season, is expected to keep the team competitive for years to come. Spotrac reports that the Orioles had the third-lowest payroll in MLB this season. This is the perfect time to invest, particularly in the pitching department where the Orioles had difficulties in the previous season.
With their penchant for being sparing with their resources, some argue that the Orioles were never really serious about winning the Nola sweepstakes in the first place. Until the team proves otherwise, anyone who has doubts about Baltimore’s willingness to spend money on a pitcher like Nola is definitely right to do so. However, Nola was among the best players in the current free agent class, and his market was extremely competitive; as a result, the Orioles’ interest could point to a small ownership perspective shift.
The Blue Jays, who selected Nola in the 2011 high school draft before he attended LSU, would have made an intriguing destination for him. The Jays don’t rank among the teams in the greatest need of starting pitchers, according to Nicholson-Smith, because they already have Chris Bassitt, Yusei Kikuchi, José Berríos, and Kevin Gausman in their rotation. With Toronto’s own talented core losing in the AL Wild Card Series three of the last four seasons (and missing the postseason in the other), perhaps Nola was one of the pieces missing to help Toronto get over the hump.
Passan also notes that the Reds of Cincinnati “dabbled in the Nola negotiations,” noting that Nola has thrown 150 innings in every full season since 2017. None of the team’s returning starters have ever accomplished this feat. But Passan noted that the Reds might be better off making a trade, similar to the Orioles.
It is said that Nola declined offers from other teams to remain in Philadelphia in exchange for more money, either in AAV or the entire contract value. The Reds, Orioles, and Blue Jays don’t seem to have been among them, but that doesn’t lessen their curiosity, which only serves to highlight the intense curiosity that Nola aroused throughout the league prior to rejoining the only team he has ever known.