The Braves made their first significant appearance of the offseason, announcing Thursday that they have signed a right-hander Evan Phillips to a three-year, $35 million contract. The Apex Baseball client will receive $11 million in 2027 and 2028 before earning $13 million in 2029.
Phillips, now 32, returns to the organization that originally drafted him in the 17th round in 2015. He made a brief major league debut with Atlanta in 2018, pitching 6 1/3 innings, before being traded to Baltimore alongside Bruce Zimmerman and Brett Cumberland in the deal that brought Kevin Gausman And Darren O’Day in Atlanta.
Phillips spent three years as a depth arm in the Orioles bullpen, moving between Triple-A Norfolk and Baltimore a dozen times before being released. The Rays signed Phillips to a minor league contract and gave him all three innings before designating him for assignment. The Dodgers stepped in at that point, claiming Phillips off waivers, and the rest is history.
From 2022 to 2025, Phillips was an absolute powerhouse in the Los Angeles bullpen. He pitched 184 2/3 innings in the regular season and posted a miniscule 2.14 ERA with a 29.6% strikeout rate, 6.6% walk rate and 43.3% ground ball rate. He spent time as both a setup man and closer in that window, compiling 36 catches and 45 stops – converting 90 percent of the opportunities he received along the way. Phillips was sitting at 96.2 mph on his radiator at the time. His opponents averaged 86.7 mph out of the gate with just a 33.5 percent hard hit rate during that span. His ERA during that span ranked sixth among 253 qualified relievers.
Phillips appeared to be on a collision course with a huge free agent contract until his trajectory was derailed by Tommy John surgery in 2025. The Dodgers didn’t tap Phillips last winter, but Los Angeles executives liked the right-hander enough to ultimately re-sign him to a one-year deal worth $6.5 million. They made this commitment despite the fact that Phillips would come in with a 110% luxury hit and be sidelined no sooner than July — a testament to the fervor with which the Los Angeles brass believed in him as a potential difference-maker.
At first, Phillips’ return was shaky. He gave up points in five of his first seven appearances. However, Phillips slowly began to right the ship and he remained virtually untouchable the entire way. Over his final 15 innings, he allowed just three runs on nine hits and three walks, while striking out 21 of the 57 batters he faced (36.8%). He followed that with three more shutout innings of postseason relief.
Since joining the Dodgers via that fateful waiver claim, Phillips has quietly been one of the best relievers in MLB. He has a 2.31 ERA in 210 2/3 innings dating back to 2022, and that doesn’t even include 18 1/3 scoreless relief spread over five postseason spurts. Phillips has 47 saves and 49 catches in his regular season career, plus one save in the playoffs and four more catches in the postseason. Every time he’s been healthy over the last five years, he’s been a truly elite reliever.
Phillips heads into an Atlanta bullpen that appears to be experiencing some turnover. Raisel Iglesias spent the last five years closing out games for the Braves, but is now a free agent. It’s possible he re-signs a one-year deal, but Atlanta is now paying Phillips $11 million in 2027 and also has Robert Suarez signed for $16 million. They certainly have the ability to sign another eight-figure reliever, but the addition of Phillips makes it more difficult for Iglesias to return for what would be a sixth season in Atlanta.
Whether it’s Phillips or Suarez’s closing games, this pair will be entrusted with high-leverage options in Walt Weiss’ bullpen. Left-handed Dylan Leewho is one of the most underrated bullpen arms in the sport, will also factor into this mix. Left-handed friends Dylan Dodd And Ray Kerr are also in line to pitch meaningful innings, especially after the latter became a playoff star during Atlanta’s run to the NLDS. Between veteran Reynaldo Lopez and young Didier FuentesThe Braves have a pair of talented right-handers who could serve as either critical setup arms or mid-rotation starters. Time will tell what role each ultimately claims.
Regardless, the addition of Phillips improves what already looked like a formidable Atlanta bullpen on paper. They’ll pay a notable annual price in the mid-term to get the job done, but that’s often the case for president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos, who tends to make his biggest free agent splashes decisively early in each offseason. MLBTR’s Payroll Tracker already showed the Braves looking at nearly $217 million in commitments for 2027 before this signing. Phillips will increase that figure to nearly $228 million and increase its luxury tax obligations to approximately $223 million.
Both numbers are below the respective levels of $263.3 million and $255.9 million the Braves finished the 2026 season at, suggesting that Anthopoulos & Co. will have their share of additional resources as they look to further fill out the roster. The Braves currently lack a clear starter at shortstop, and they face uncertainty in left field after Mike Yastrzemski struggled mightily in the first season of a two-year, $23 million contract signed early last December.
The Braves could also look for ways to end unwanted contracts for the oft-injured catcher. Sean Murphy (two years, $30 million remaining) and designated hitter suspended twice Jurickson Profar (one year, $15 million remaining). Strengthening what currently appears to be a limited bench also appears to be a priority.
That’s a decent list of offseason to-do list items, but in typical fashion, Anthopoulos moved quickly (and quietly) to fill a key need, leaving himself plenty of time to explore other trade and free agent scenarios. There are just under three weeks until the current collective bargaining agreement expires, at which point the league will implement a player lockout and impose a freeze on all major league transactions. How long this lockout will last is anyone’s guess, but the coming weeks – and particularly the last two to three days before the CBA expires – are expected to bring a frenzy of transaction activity.
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