Phillies players reaching free agency originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Free agents hit the market the day after the World Series ends and the Phillies have nearly a dozen players coming off their books.
Jean Segura ($17 million team option) and Zach Eflin ($15 million mutual option) are likely to become free agents.
Noah Syndergaard, Kyle Gibson, David Robertson, Brad Hand, Corey Knebel, Johan Camargo and Chris Devenski become free agents.
Odubel Herrera, Jeurys Familia and Didi Gregorius were let go by the Phillies months ago but now their contracts have officially expired.
Gregorius made just over $15 million in 2022. Segura made $14.85 million. Those two alone free up nearly $30 million.
Knebel made $10 million.
Gibson made just under $7.7 million.
Hand and Familia made $6 million apiece.
Eflin made $5.7 million.
Camargo made $1.4 million.
Syndergaard earned $21 million and the Phillies were on the hook for about a third of it after acquiring him at the trade deadline. They also paid roughly a third of the $3.5 million Robertson made.
Add it all together and that’s an estimated $75 million coming off of the Phillies’ payroll, excluding raises due to arbitration-eligible and pre-arbitration players. Certainly enough money to plug holes, fill out the rotation and bullpen and perhaps even splurge on a big-ticket free agent like Trea Turner or Xander Bogaerts.
While free agents hit the market the day after the World Series ends, they cannot sign with a new team until five days thereafter. This five-day period serves as an exclusive window for teams to re-sign their own free agents. The Mets did so by agreeing to a five-year contract with closer Edwin Diaz.
Options — like the ones on the contracts of Segura and Eflin — must be exercised or declined within those five days. The Phillies will surely pick up the $16 million option on Aaron Nola’s contract for 2023.
Trades can be made immediately.
The Phillies have two other players entering their final year of salary arbitration in Rhys Hoskins and Jose Alvarado. Hoskins made $7.7 million in 2022 and Alvarado made $1.75 million. Both would be due raises.
It will be the first year of arbitration eligibility for Ranger Suarez, Edmundo Sosa and Sam Coonrod. Suarez cannot become a free agent until after the 2026 season.