PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Jesús Luzardo and the Philadelphia Phillies have agreed on a five-year, $135-million contract extension that starts in 2027, a person familiar with the deal told The Associated Press on Monday.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the agreement was not yet official.
The 28-year-old Luzardo went 15-7 with a 3.92 ERA in 183 2/3 innings and was second in the National League with 212 strikeouts in his first season with the Phillies.
Luzardo was acquired ahead of the 2025 season in a trade with Miami and instantly helped solidify the rotation – he struck out 11 in his first start against Washington -- as the Phillies won their second straight NL East championship. The only time a pitcher recorded more strikeouts in his first game with Philadelphia came in 1997, when Garrett Stephenson had 12 against the St. Louis Cardinals.
The left-hander is 41-41 lifetime over seven seasons that also included stops with Oakland and the Marlins.
Luzardo is the latest Phillies starter to sign a long-term deal.
Cristopher Sánchez is in the midst of a $22.5 million, four-year contract through the 2028 season. Zack Wheeler has a $126 million contract through the 2027 season, and Aaron Nola is signed to a $172 million deal through 2030, while rookie Andrew Painter expects to earn the fifth-starter spot in the rotation
The Phillies had a busy offseason. They gave manager Rob Thomson a one-year extension after he led the Phillies to their fourth straight playoff appearance, signed NL home run champion Kyle Schwarber to a $150 million, five-year deal and three-time All-Star catcher J.T. Realmuto to a $45 million, three-year contract.
AP Baseball Writer Ron Blum contributed to this story.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/mlb
FILE - Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Jesús Luzardo throws out Los Angeles Dodgers' Teoscar Hernandez at first during the fourth inning in Game 2 of baseball's National League Division Series, Oct. 6, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)
ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV called Monday for an end to the U.S.-Israel war in Iran, issuing a new but still muted appeal as two of his U.S. cardinals condemned the war, rejected the rationale for launching it and the “video game” way it was being portrayed.
The Vatican spokesman issued a statement late Monday, articulating Leo’s “deep sorrow” after a Maronite Catholic priest, the Rev. Pierre El Raii, was killed Monday in southern Lebanon. Vatican News said Raii, pastor of Qlayaa, was killed in a bombing as he tried to rescue a wounded parishioner.
Leo prayed for all those killed, especially the children.
“He is following events with concern and prays for an end to hostilities as soon as possible,” said the after-hours statement from spokesman Matteo Bruni.
Leo has issued a series of muted appeals for dialogue in the week since the war began, clearly keen to avoid fueling polemics.
The Italian newspaper La Repubblica noted the paradox in an article Monday: The pope is speaking in lay terms of dialogue and diplomacy, while political leaders cite religious arguments and scripture to justify the war.
But while Leo has refrained from condemning the war, his bishops have not.
Cardinal Robert McElroy, the archbishop of Washington, said the United States and Israel had failed to meet the minimum criteria for the war to be considered morally just. Such criteria would have included that it was a response to an imminent threat, that the U.S. and Israel had clearly articulated their intentions, or that the benefits would outweigh the harm.
“Lebanon may fall into civil war. The world’s oil supply is under great strain. The potential disintegration of Iran could well produce new and dangerous realities. And the possibility of immense casualties on all sides is immense,” McElroy told the diocesan newspaper. “For all of these reasons, Catholic teaching leads to the conclusion that our entry into this war was not morally legitimate.”
Cardinal Blase Cupich, the archbishop of Leo’s hometown Chicago, denounced the White House’ social media posts of the war that spliced in action movie clips with real footage.
“A real war with real death and real suffering being treated like it’s a video game — it’s sickening,” Cupich wrote in a statement over the weekend that was picked up by Vatican Media. “Our government is treating the suffering of the Iranian people as a backdrop for our own entertainment, as if it’s just another piece of content to be swiped through while we’re waiting in line at the grocery store.”
Cupich and McElroy, both appointed by Pope Francis, have been at the forefront in criticizing the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. Earlier this year they, joined by Newark Cardinal Joseph Tobin, also called on the Trump administration to adopt a moral foreign policy rather than the inflict suffering on the world.
They are not alone. The Filipino Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, vice president of the Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences, voiced similar disdain for the spectacle of the conflict and how it risked making modern warfare as a whole detached from human reality.
“From distant command centers, military operators stare at screens where maps, radar signals and algorithm-generated targets move like icons in a computer game. A cursor moves. A coordinate is selected. A click is made. And a missile is launched,” he said in comments reported by Vatican News.
The Holy See has a tradition of diplomatic neutrality but its diplomatic leadership has nevertheless rejected the Trump administration’s justification of attacking Iran preventively.
“If states were to be recognized as having a right to ‘preventive war,’ according to their own criteria and without a supranational legal framework, the whole world would risk being set ablaze,” the Vatican secretary of state, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, told Vatican Media last week.
The Vatican's new ambassador to the United States, Archbishop Gabriele Caccia, will have to soon articulate the Vatican position. Caccia was named to the position this weekend that will require juggling the Holy See's relations with U.S. bishops and the White House.
Vatican commentator Massimo Faggioli, professor at Trinity College Dublin, said in a social media post that he will have to manage a new line of tension “between the Vatican of Leo XIV, the first pope from the USA, and this USA of Trump now at the head of a war fueled by a national-religious rhetoric.”
Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.
Pope Leo XIV visits the parish complex of the Santa Maria della Presentazione on the outskirts of Rome, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Faithful stand in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican near a giant monitor broaccasting Pope Leo XIV as he appears at his studio window for the traditional Sunday blessing, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Leo XIV visits the parish complex of Santa Maria della Presentazione on the outskirts of Rome, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Pope Leo XIV visits the parish complex of the Santa Maria della Presentazione on the outskirts of Rome, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
Cardinal Francesco Montenegro, left, and from right, Father Paolo Stacchiotti and Cardinal Baldo Reina listen to Pope Leo XIV during a visit to the parish complex of Santa Maria della Presentazione on the outskirts of Rome, Sunday, March 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Gregorio Borgia)
