The Phillies agree with pitcher Zack Wheeler on a three-year extension covering 2025-2027 for $126 million, or $42 million a season:

With a salary of $42 million, Wheeler’s deal is the most lucrative extension in baseball history in terms of average annual value. It also is in the neighborhood of the richest salaries for pitchers. Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander signed multiyear deals as free agents with the New York Mets that averaged $43.3 million.

ESPN.com

Wheeler generated 17.3 fWAR over the last three seasons. I expect over the three-year extension he would generate about 14.1 WAR making the extensions worth about $8.95 million per WAR. That makes sense, as the elite players appear to get around $11 to $12 million per expected WAR as free agents.

Wheeler was good with the Mets but great with the Phillies. He is the rare professional athlete playing much better in his 30s than he did in his late 20s. He developed better control and learned to keep the ball in the park. It’s a nicely priced, well deserved extension for a fan favorite.