Report: Ranger Suárez leaves Phillies for Red Sox, five-year deal

Ranger Suárez is headed for Boston.

The longtime Phillies lefty has a deal with the Red Sox, which will come in at an agreed to five years and $130 million.

Longtime New York Post/MLB Network insider Jon Heyman was first to break word of Suárez's new home, while The Athletic's Ken Rosenthal reported in the contract terms.

With the Phillies, the now 30-year-old Suárez climbed the ladder from prospect to reliever to backend starter, up to the middle of the rotation and even Cy Young consideration at one point in 2024.

He's been a calm and collected, ice water in his veins kind of presence on the mound, who has reinforced the strength of the Phillies' starting pitching ever since they broke out into annual postseason contention in 2022.

He was even the arm they called on in just about every spot for that fateful 2022 run, which included collecting the final out of the NLCS against the Padres to send the Phillies to the World Series.

Suárez was 12-8 with a 3.20 ERA in 26 starts last season, and for his eight-year run in Philadelphia now that it's up, he holds a 53-37 career record, a 3.38 ERA, and his part in some of the biggest moments of this recent Phillies era.

Now he'll be leaving the NL East for an always tough AL East, but to join a Red Sox team looking to re-emerge as contenders themselves again.

The Phillies, meanwhile, are left with lefties Cristopher Sánchez and Jesús Luzardo, and righties Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola in their current projected rotation.

Sánchez has taken a leap into a true No. 1 ace, and Luzardo comes with confidence that he'll remain stable right behind him, but Wheeler went out for the season last year after a blood clot was found near his shoulder and Nola struggled throughout. There's uncertainty over what the latter two arms will really be when they come back this spring, along with no certainty as to when top pitching prospect Andrew Painter will finally make his way up to the Majors.

Suárez, who is represented by super agent Scott Boras, always seemed like a long shot to come back after the Phillies' 2025 run ended, but now that he's officially off the books, the money that would've gone to him could possibly be put toward a much bigger fish like top free agent Bo Bichette – at least in theory.

The Phillies also still have to figure out where they're at as far as a potential new deal with catcher J.T. Realmuto is concerned.

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