Phillies avoid arbitration with Luzardo before deadline originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The Phillies avoided salary arbitration with left-hander Jesus Luzardo reportedly agreeing to a one-year contract Thursday, the deadline for players and teams to exchange numbers.
The deal is worth $6.225 million, according to MLB.com.
The newest member of the Phillies’ rotation, Luzardo was acquired from the Miami Marlins just before Christmas for shortstop prospect Starlyn Caba and outfielder Emaarion Boyd. MLB.com had Caba ranked as the Phils’ No. 4 prospect before the trade and he is now third on the Marlins’ list.
Luzardo expected to be dealt this offseason due to his salary increase and the Marlins’ perpetual rebuild. Miami has only one player — Sandy Alcantara — with a guaranteed salary in 2025 and even after factoring in expected arbitration raises, no one else is making even $4 million. Luzardo would have been an unnecessary luxury for a team that knows it will lose 100 games in 2025 and the Phillies were able to add a high-upside pitcher without parting ways with Andrew Painter, Aidan Miller or Justin Crawford.
The $6.225 million contract for Luzardo is no surprise since teams and players have a good idea of entering the arbitration process each year of their salary scale based on past cases of players with numbers comparable. MLBTradeRumors projects referee salaries each year and pegged Luzardo at $6 million.
The Phillies avoided arbitration with two other players earlier this offseason, signing right-handed reliever Jose Ruiz to a one-year contract worth $1.22 million and Garrett Stubbs for $925,000.
Players are eligible for salary arbitration when they have between 3 and 6 years of MLB service and do not have a contract for the following season.
The Phillies’ remaining unresolved cases for 2025 are Ranger Suarez, Alec Bohm, Edmundo Sosa, Brandon Marsh and Bryson Stott. If no agreement is reached by Thursday’s deadline, the team will exchange salary figures with each of them and separate hearings would be scheduled for mid-February. The parties may reach an agreement at any time between now and then. Otherwise, a panel of referees chooses either the number submitted by the team or by the player. The range is generally not wide. Last year, Bohm won his case and got $4 million instead of the team’s $3.4 million offer.
This is Suarez’s final year before entering free agency and he is expected to earn around $9 million. Bohm shouldn’t be too far behind in the $8 million range. Bohm, Luzardo and Sosa all have one more year of arbitration eligibility in 2026 and are expected to become free agents by 2027.
