Friday was the deadline for teams to inform players who were eligible for arbitration whether they would be offered new contracts. Players who were non-tendered — not offered contracts — immediately became free agents, and after the deadline passed, 66 players hit the open market, whether they wanted to or not.
Of course, not all of those will find any significant demand for their services, but a select few will be highly sought-after and should have little trouble landing with new teams.
One of the most prominent names on the non-tender list is former Los Angeles Dodgers closer Evan Phillips, who earned $6.1 million this year but continues to rehab from the Tommy John surgery he underwent on June 4, after his season was cut short by injury after just 5 2/3 innings.
But Phillips saved a combined 42 games for the Dodgers in 2023 and 2024, throwing 116 innings in 123 appearances, striking out 129 against just 30 walks in that two-year span.
“He was one of the guys who helped popularize the sweeper, and his was still a dandy even in 2024,” wrote Bleacher Report baseball expert Zachary D. Rymer in a Saturday analysis of the newly created free-agent group. “A one-year deal with an option for 2027 sounds right for Phillips, and the potential prize involves him being a difference-maker out of the bullpen in a playoff push.”
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With his rehab still requiring another several months, Phillips is not likely to get back on the mound until midway through the 2026 campaign. So what team might be willing to offer him that one-year deal?
Rymer suggests the Boston Red Sox — the last team to defeat the Dodgers in the World Series.
That happened in 2018. Since then, Los Angeles has played in three World Series, in 2020, 2024 and 2025, and won them all.
That same suggestion was echoed by Pitchers List staff writer Griffey Geiss, in his own roundup of non-tendered free agents published Saturday on the Medium platform.
“My goodness gracious, if Evan Phillips isn’t on Boston’s radar, no reliever should be,” Geiss wrote. “It goes without me saying Phillips is elite when healthy. Since 2022, Phillips has amassed 45 saves and 36 holds, turning in a 2.14 ERA/2.74 FIP, 0.92 WHIP, .249 xwOBA, and 30% K rate in 184 2/3 innings. He’s a Stuff+ demon with an electric four-seam/sweeper combo that opposing batters see in their nightmares. There’s a million reasons why prior to his injury, he was considered one of the best relievers in baseball.”
Perhaps anticipating that the Dodgers would non-tender him, Phillips posted a video of himself throwing on Nov. 5, demonstrating that his recovery from Tommy John was on track.
On NESN.com, the site owned by the Red Sox cable television network, MLB analyst Aaliyan Mohammed added to the chorus of endorsements of a Red Sox Phillips signing Saturday.
Saying that Boston must “reload” its bullpen, after losing Steven Matz and Justin Wilson to free agency and trading Brennan Bernardino to the Colorado Rockies, Mohammed called Phillips a “low-risk, high-reward addition” for the Red Sox.
The Red Sox have already been reported to be possibly seeking to create a “super bullpen” for the coming season, anchored by veteran fireballer Aroldis Chapman who saved 32 while striking out 85 in 61 1/3 innings this year, and Garrett Whitlock — who allowed only one earned run in 27 appearances after the All-Star break — handling eighth-inning duties.
Another reliable reliever to take on the seventh or even sixth inning for the Red Sox would create a seemingly impenetrable late-game relief wall, and would be a role that Phillips, once healthy, could ease right into.
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