Okay, the stole is more lit now.
Due to a bunch of issues with Twitter and other embeds, basically, the Braves are signing (and reuniting with, sorta) reliever Evan Phillips on a three-year deal worth $35 million. The deal pays Phillips $11 million in each of 2027 and 2028, and includes a $13 million salary in 2029.
The deal continues a tenure-long trend of giant spend on relievers for Alex Anthopoulos and company. Phillips was an elite-level reliever from 2024-2024 with the Dodgers, posting a combined
4.3 fWAR while making 60-plus appearances in each of those three seasons. Since then, he’s worn down a bit, making just seven appearances in 2025 and 31 in 2026 (along with five appearances this past postseason). He’s been waylaid by a series of injuries recently, including a rotator cuff strain in early 2025, followed forearm discomfort leading to Tommy John Surgery that saw him miss the rest of 2025 and much of 2026.
Phillips joins a bullpen that currently looks to be led by Robert Suarez, who had his own injury issues in 2026, and Dylan Lee. The Braves could still reunite with Raisel Iglesias, but Phillips gives them a fearsome threesome even if Iglesias is not re-added, which could grow to a quartet if a reunion ends up being in the cards. Dylan Dodd is also likely to carry a substantial relief load, while Didier Fuentes and Ray Kerr may or may not end up in the bullpen depending on how the offseason and Spring Training play out.
The move is a kinda-sorta reunion for Phillips and the Braves. Atlanta drafted him out of UNC Wilmington in the 17th round of the 2015 draft, and he made his MLB debut for the Braves in 2018. He was then traded in the Kevin Gausman deal, and was not a particularly effective reliever with the Orioles. After they cut him in 2021, he caught on with the Rays, but was claimed by the Dodgers, and then grew into his own in the 2021-2022 offseason.
For his career, Phillips has 280 relief appearances and one start, and has compiled 5.0 fWAR across 278 innings of work, with a 79 ERA-, 79 FIP-, and 86 xFIP-. That said, he hasn’t had an xFIP- in a single season above 86 since 2021, and has largely posted video game-ish numbers from 2022-onward.
