Zack Wheeler wanted fewer years in his new deal. What it means for him and the Phillies’ ‘championship window.’

CLEARWATER, Fla. — When Zack Wheeler started thinking about his next contract, be it an extension with the Phillies or a free-agent deal elsewhere, he knew exactly what it would look like.

“He was pretty open with me,” agent B.B. Abbott said, “that it was going to be two, no more than three years.”

And there wasn’t any reason to look askance, except that Wheeler is 33 and at the peak of his powers. His age-31 to 33 seasons were better than his age-27 to 29 years. Most pitchers his age, with a 3.06 ERA and 675 strikeouts in 629⅓ innings — and 19.6 wins above replacement, tops among all pitchers — in a span of four seasons would pound the table for another long-term contract. In pro sports, 40 is the new 30.

Just not to Wheeler.

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The biggest challenge, then, in hammering out the three-year, $126 million extension that Wheeler agreed to Feb. 24, finalized Saturday after a physical — with the birth of his daughter, Winter, in between — and discussed in a news conference Monday, was getting the Phillies to give him fewer years than they wanted.

“I don’t want to play until I’m ‘old, old,’” said Wheeler, scheduled to make his first Grapefruit League start Tuesday against the Orioles in Clearwater. “I want to be around my family.”

So, Wheeler didn’t have any interest in lengthening the term of the contract to lower the annual salary, as the Phillies did with Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, and Aaron Nola. The extension, which begins in 2025, will give him the highest annual salary ($42 million) in Phillies history and the fourth-largest ever for a pitcher.

But here’s what it doesn’t have: an option for 2028 (”Never came up,” Abbott said). And here’s who Abbott used as examples for the kind of deal Wheeler sought: Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander, who signed three- and two-year contracts for $43.3 million annual salaries when they were entering their age-37 and 40 seasons, respectively.

Abbott broached the possibility of a short-term extension with the Phillies at the winter meetings in December. Talks picked up again in late January. Initially, Wheeler preferred to tack two years on to this season, the finale of a wildly successful five-year, $118 million contract that he signed as a free agent in the 2019-20 offseason; the Phillies asked if he’d give them a third.

“It was a discussion,” Abbott said, laughing.

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Four years ago, Wheeler received a better offer from the White Sox in free agency but chose to sign with the Phillies to remain closer to his wife’s family in New Jersey. Since then, Zack and Dominique Wheeler have had three children. Their oldest, Wesley, turns 4 in July.

“We talked about the ages of his kids, and that’s why it was really a two- to three-[year] discussion, as opposed to a three-, five-, seven-[year] discussion,” Abbott said. “I think he impressed upon you that he wants to see his kids grow up.”

If Wheeler was going to commit to playing in 2027, he told Abbott it would be for the Phillies. He has grown close with pitching coach Caleb Cotham and Nola. He fits in well in the clubhouse.

Oh, and there’s unfinished business here. Wheeler started Game 6 of the 2022 World Series in Houston. He probably would’ve started Game 1 last year if the Phillies hadn’t dropped the final two games of the NL Championship Series at home to the Diamondbacks.

“He’s probably the single pitcher I’d want on the mound in the seventh game of the World Series, or any kind of deciding playoff game,” Middleton said. “You weren’t going to get him for $35 [million]. You weren’t going to get him for $37.5 [million]. It had to start with $40 [million].”

In their negotiations with Abbott, Dombrowski and other club officials talked about their “championship window.” Nola, Harper, and Turner are signed through 2030, 2031, and 2033, respectively. But the majority of the Phillies’ star-laden roster is under contract through at least 2025.

And the shorter term does help mitigate the Phillies’ risk that Wheeler will begin to decline as he ages.

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“He said, ‘I want to put the foot down on the accelerator and try to go get three rings. I don’t want to hold anything back,’” Abbott said. “It would not surprise me if he’s out there fighting for seven innings every start these next three years.”

And then?

For years, Abbott has watched another client, Charlie Morton, sign one- and two-year contracts to keep playing. He will pitch for the Braves this season at age 40. Verlander is 41 and still chucking for the Astros; Scherzer, who turns 40 this year, is attempting to come back from back surgery; Zack Greinke, 40, is looking for work. Adam Wainwright retired last year after his age-41 season.

“I do not think [Wheeler] will play beyond this [contract],” Abbott said. “A lot of guys love the clubhouse, love being around the guys. They love the camaraderie. Zack does, too, but he’s a different breed, a different guy. I really think you’ll see him want to go over 200 innings every single year of this deal and leave it on the field.

“He does not want to limp home, I can assure you of that. He’s that guy that I do not think you’re going to rip the jersey off his back. I could see him winning a Cy Young his last year and then walking away.”

Like Sandy Koufax. It would be quite the mic drop.

And just Wheeler’s style.