This story was excerpted from Todd Zolecki's Phillies Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CLEARWATER, Fla. -- Dave Dombrowski isn¡¯t the first baseball executive to say that teams need good starting pitching to win.

But he did spend $298 million this offseason to make the point. He signed Aaron Nola to a seven-year, $172 million contract on Nov. 19. He signed Zack Wheeler to a three-year, $126 million contract extension on Monday.

Those moves will keep Wheeler and Nola together through 2027.

¡°I remember when [Phillies managing partner] John Middleton called me originally about the job,¡± Dombrowski said Monday at BayCare Ballpark. ¡°I was talking to a couple of people, and I said, ¡®You look at different organizations where they are. You have to have a lot of good players in order to win. But if you don¡¯t have good starting pitching, you're going to be in trouble.¡¯ And I said, ¡®It¡¯s a really good place to start when you have people like Zack Wheeler and Aaron Nola in your organization.¡¯¡±

In their 141-year history, the Phillies haven¡¯t had many starting-pitching duos like Wheeler and Nola. They certainly haven¡¯t had many who pitched together for four consecutive seasons. Wheeler and Nola have a combined 32.3 WAR from 2020-23, according to Baseball Reference. (That number would have been higher if not for the pandemic-shortened 2020 season.)

Since the Divisional Era began in 1969, only two Phillies duos have pitched together for four consecutive seasons with better WAR:

? Cole Hamels and Cliff Lee, 41.5 WAR (2011-14)
? Roy Halladay and Hamels, 37.4 WAR (2010-13)

Steve Carlton never had a partner for four consecutive seasons. Before 1969, you have to look at duos like Jim Bunning and Chris Short, who had 51.8 WAR from 1964-67; Robin Roberts and Curt Simmons, who had 44.2 WAR from 1952-55; and Grover Cleveland Alexander and Erskine Mayer, who had 50.8 WAR from 1914-17.

If everything goes the way Philadelphia, Wheeler and Nola hope over the next four years, Wheeler and Nola should be regarded as the club¡¯s greatest 1-2 combo in franchise history.

¡°You tip your cap to John Middleton, and how he wants to go out there and give us a great opportunity to compete and try to win a championship,¡± outfielder Kyle Schwarber said. ¡°Obviously, Dave realizes what we have here and they keep adding onto it, they keep extending what we have going on. ¡­ Those two have been so dominant. You don¡¯t run across arms that can go 190 innings, 200-plus innings. You just don¡¯t see that anymore. That can be an extra 20-30 innings per guy that the bullpen doesn¡¯t have to cover. It keeps the bullpen fresh. Those are huge things that you shouldn¡¯t forget about. The way they¡¯re able to go out there and take the ball consistently, give you innings with the stuff, it¡¯s amazing.¡±