The Phillies keep adding NL East stars to their team as they bring in free agent Zack Wheeler on a five-year, $118 million deal:

Wheeler turned down a larger offer from the Chicago White Sox that was in excess of $120 million, sources told Passan.

Wheeler, 29, was considered the prize of the free-agency class for teams in search of starting pitching that didn’t want to compete in stratospheric bidding for Gerrit Cole and Stephen Strasburg.

ESPN.com

Wheeler averaged three WAR over the last two seasons. He didn’t pitch much in 2017, however, and 4.2 and 4.7 fWARs the last two years. Let’s call him a 3.5 WAR pitcher today. With a 10% decline a year, he would be expected to produce 14.3 WAR during his five seasons. At $9 million per WAR, he should get about $129 million, so the White Sox offer was a very reasonable one. The Phillies total indicates they expect him to generate 13.1 WAR during his five seasons.

Turning down the White Sox shows one of the dangers to tearing down a team to rebuild. The White Sox are ready to take the next step to improving, but players may not want to take the chance on the improving squad. In other words, teams like the White Sox might need do a better job of showing they are ready to win before big names are ready to sign. Instead, Wheeler goes to a team with a solid core as the Phillies continue to show they will spend to try to win.