The Phillies lost out in the Yoshinobu Yamamoto sweepstakes, but it wasn’t for lack of effort.
In his latest survey of the MLB free agency and trade market landscape, Jeff Passan of ESPN reports that the Phillies (along with the New York Mets) each offered “$300 million-plus” to the three-time Sawamura Award winner. It’s not clear exactly how close the Phillies were to the Dodgers’ winning $325 million offer, but Passan confirms they were at least in the ballpark.
That doesn’t necessarily mean the Phillies just had to pony up another few million to get it done. It’s possible that Yamamoto was always going elsewhere, or even L.A. specifically. He grew up a Dodgers fan, was drawn to the idea of playing with fellow Japanese superstar Shohei Ohtani and didn’t seem too in love with Philadelphia itself. (Dave Dombrowski, per MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki, said Yamamoto was “just not a person attuned to coming to Philly.”) A successful offer might’ve had to go way beyond the $325 million figure.
The report, though, does connect two previous dots of information about the Phillies’ interest in Yamamoto — one, that the Phillies had indeed made an offer; two, that the Phillies were “dark horses” at the same time that the bidding reached the $300 million mark.
Had Yamamoto accepted, his would’ve been the third $300 million contract on the books for the Phillies, joining Bryce Harper and Trea Turner in that camp. They would’ve become the first team in MLB history to hand three players a $300 million contract; instead, the Dodgers became the fourth team (along with the Phillies, Padres and Yankees) to dole out two.
It also underscores just how “in” the Phillies still are on starting pitching this free agency, despite signing Aaron Nola to a seven-year, $172 million contract in November. Granted, Yamamoto’s age and upside, as well as the Phillies’ desire to establish themselves in the Japanese market, could very well have made the team treat him as an exception to an otherwise opportunistic approach — but multiple reports have suggested the Phillies could pounce elsewhere if the market works out favorably. In that same piece, Passan writes that “while neither [the Phillies or Mets] planned to pivot to Snell or [Jordan] Montgomery, both are nimble enough to seize on opportunities that markets provide.” (That tracks with other recent reporting as well.)
One such opportunity may be starting to present itself with Snell, who could wind up taking a short-term, high-AAV deal that mitigates some of the durability risks associated with the reigning NL Cy Young winner. In any case, even if it’s mostly a passive approach from here on out, the Phillies at least seem willing to splurge when the time is right — and the colossal offer to Yamamoto is evidence.
