Soroka signs with Diamondbacks, Thomson receives extension from Phillies

December 10, 2025

By Kevin Glew

Cooperstowners in Canada

A couple of Canadian baseball notes from the Winter Meetings in Orlando, Fla., this week:

Soroka signs with D-Backs

Right-hander Michael Soroka has signed a one-year, $7.5-million contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The deal, which is pending a physical, was first reported by Jesse Rogers and Jeff Passan of ESPN on Monday.

According to Robert Murray, of FanSided, Soroka can earn an additional $2 million in performance bonuses.

The Diamondbacks will be the fifth major league team Soroka (Calgary, Alta.) has suited up for during his big league career. He spent parts of four seasons with the Atlanta Braves before being dealt to the Chicago White Sox on November 16, 2023. Following one season with the Sox, the 6-foot-5 righty signed with the Washington Nationals and made 16 starts for them prior to being traded to the Chicago Cubs at the deadline last July.

In 2025 with the Nationals, Soroka posted a 3-8 record and a 4.87 ERA, while striking out 87 batters in 81 1/3 innings. He then made one start with the Cubs before suffering a shoulder strain which sidelined him for almost six weeks. Upon his return, the Cubs used him exclusively as a reliever. He didn’t permit an earned run in five September relief appearances and he also pitched in two postseason games.

Soroka’s 17 starts in 2025 represented his most since 2019.

A graduate of the Calgary Redbirds, Soroka was a first-round pick (28th overall) of the Braves in 2015. In 2019, he went 13-4 with a 2.68 ERA in 29 starts to win the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame’s Tip O’Neill Award and finish second in the National League Rookie of the Year voting.

Between 2020 and 2023, however, his career was curtailed by a series of injuries, most notably he tore his right Achilles tendon twice.

In all, Soroka has pitched in parts of six major league seasons. In 91 games (69 starts), he owns a 20-26 record and a 3.85 ERA. He has struck out 379 batters in 415 2/3 innings.

The Diamondbacks are looking for rotation help after they dealt away Merrill Kelly at the 2025 deadline and ace Zac Gallen is a free agent.

Thomson receives extension from Phillies

The Philadelphia Phillies have signed manager Rob Thomson to a contract extension through the 2027 season.

The team made the announcement at the Winter Meetings in Orlando, Fla., on Tuesday.

Thomson’s contract was to expire at the end of next season, but Dave Dombrowski, the Phillies’ president of baseball operations, had said in a press conference after the season that he planned to add another year to Thomson’s contract.

The 62-year-old Thomson, who finished third in the National League Manager of the Year voting, guided the Phillies to a 96-66 record and a National League East division title this season before they were ousted in four games by the eventual World Series-winning Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Division Series.

When Thomson took over as manager of the Phillies on June 4, 2022, he became the first full-time Canadian big league manager since George Gibson (London, Ont.) with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1934.

Since becoming the Phillies’ skipper, Thomson has led the team to four straight postseason appearances. After piloting the Phillies to a National League pennant in 2022 and a National League Championship Series berth in 2023, Thomson guided the Phillies to back-to-back division titles in 2024 and 2025.

His .580 regular season winning percentage is the best among Phillies skippers who have managed at least 150 games for the club.

Prior to joining the Phillies, Thomson, a catcher on the 1984 Canadian Olympic team, spent close to three decades as a coach in the Yankees’ organization and earned five World Series rings. He was the Bombers’ third base coach on their most recent World Series-winning squad in 2009. He was also a bench coach on multiple Yankees squads that advanced to the postseason.

Thomson was inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019.