Dombrowski has long bet on southpaws, decision on Luzardo: ‘unanimous' originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
It’s fair to say that Dave Dombrowski has a history with left-handed starters.
Trading top prospects for southpaws, then turning around and extending them to nine-figure deals.
On Monday, the Phillies president of baseball operations closed the loop again. The Phillies and Jesús Luzardo agreed to a five-year, $135 million extension covering the 2027 through the 2031 seasons, with a club option for 2032.
“Everybody in the organization was unanimous in wanting to keep him part of us,” Dombrowski said at Tuesday’s press conference. “It starts with the person — the hard work, the dedication, the drive to be the best. You combine all of that with one of the best arms in the game.”
It rang a familiar tune.
In 2014 with Detroit, Dombrowski acquired the ultra-durable David Price to add to a rotation that already featured Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander. When Boston hired him the following year, one of his first moves was signing Price to a seven-year, $217 million deal.
In December 2016, he traded top prospects Yoan Moncada and Michael Kopech to Chicago for Chris Sale — 27 years old, coming off a 32-start season — and later extended Sale after back-to-back sub-3.00 ERA campaigns.
Neither contract played out exactly as Dombrowski envisioned, but one came with a World Series and the other arrived just after their title. If Luzardo delivers something similar, it would make this one well worth it.
How ‘Zeus’ got here
The Phillies swung a deal with Miami two days before Christmas two years ago, trading fourth-ranked prospect Starlyn Caba and Emaarion Boyd. With Bryson Stott, Alec Bohm and top-ranked prospect Aidan Miller anchoring the infield, the depth was there to make the move.
Luzardo, 27 at the time, was coming off a 2024 season that ended early with a back injury and a 5.00 ERA in just twelve starts, a discouraging year for a pitcher who had posted a 3.58 ERA over 32 starts the season prior.
Luzardo didn’t know what to expect in Philadelphia, but the culture made it easy.
“Coming off a tough year in [2024] with injuries, I was looking forward to getting into this organization,” Luzardo said. “I knew it was a winning organization with high expectations and I wanted to meet those expectations and live up to that standard.”
He delivered.
Luzardo tied the rotation together behind Zack Wheeler, Cristopher Sánchez and Aaron Nola, stepping up when Wheeler and Nola fought through injuries. He made a team-leading 32 starts for the second time in his career, went 15-7 with a 3.92 ERA, threw a career-high 183 2/3 innings and struck out 216.
He finished seventh in NL Cy Young voting.
His biggest outing came in Game 2 of the NLDS against the Dodgers at Citizens Bank Park. The Phillies had dropped the series opener and needed something. Luzardo gave them six innings of two-run baseball, retiring 17 straight at one point, then returned out of the bullpen in Game 4 without allowing an earned run.
It’s easy to forget the Phillies chose Luzardo over Ranger Suárez for that start. Luzardo had finished the year strong, but his postseason track record wasn’t close to Suárez’s entering October. That performance made a lasting stamp on a durable 32-outing year.
“When you saw what he did during the postseason, it only added to our desires to keep him,” Dombrowski said.
When the offseason came, the Phillies watched Suárez walk to Boston on five years and $130 million — then gave Luzardo five years and $135 million. Dombrowski favors durability and consistency. Suárez has never made 30 starts in a season.
The staff’s staff
Luzardo credits pitching coach Caleb Cotham and the rest of the staff for his development in 2025. Last season, he added a sweeper — a pitch Cotham had first mentioned early on. He threw it 31 percent of the time, and it was nearly unhittable.
His sweeper posted a run value of 15, best in baseball according to Statcast.
“Caleb and Mark do such a good job of simplifying things,” Luzardo said. “They put me on a good path of understanding what our strengths are, what we need to do to get guys out. We share that passion for finding an edge.”
J.T. Realmuto, a former Marlin who caught Luzardo on the other side, wasn’t surprised by any of it.
“I faced him enough in Miami where he just ate our lunch,” Realmuto said. “I knew he had the stuff. It was just more honing in on his command, working with his pitch mix, giving him that confidence. Once you have those three things, he’s one of the best left-handers in the entire game.”
Backed by support
By the time Luzardo arrived at Tuesday’s press conference, the decision to stay had been made long before negotiations began.
“It wasn’t one specific moment,” Luzardo said. “Coming into spring training last year, I made some good relationships with the guys in the clubhouse, really got along with the coaching staff, the training staff, the strength staff. It was very eye-opening to me how good the supporting staff is here. I wouldn’t be here without them.”
The city itself played a role.
“I like Philadelphia,” he said. “The fans, the stadium — the energy going to the ballpark every day and just the expectation to win.. all those things was just the perfect combination for me and a match made in heaven.”
All of his teammates showed up to hear him say it. His family flew in. The whole room.
Andrew Painter, who grew up roughly 40 miles away and remembers watching Luzardo throw in high school, has spent offseasons working alongside him. The 6-foot-7 right-hander has picked up on something beyond the stuff.
“He’s big on the sink or swim mindset,” Painter said. “When you’re on that mound, there’s no one else that’s going to come and save you. That conviction — I think that’s what really elevates him.”
Realmuto sees a ceiling that’s hard to put a number on.
“If you told me he’s going to win a Cy Young, I wouldn’t be shocked,” Realmuto said. “He’s got that type of stuff and that type of work ethic.”
Luzardo isn’t thinking about awards. He’s a team-first guy.
“Every five days, I want to go out and be as great as I can and give us a chance to win,” he said. “Over these next five, six years, the only thing I expect is to be great every time out.”
