Seemingly each day this week, there was a major story related to the disastrous rollout of the new Nike-designed, Fanatics-produced Vapor Premier uniforms. But outside of that, Scott Lauber of The Philadelphia Inquirer reporting that the Phillies offered RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto more total money than the Los Angeles Dodgers was one of the biggest stories of the week in baseball.
However, even if the Phillies did place the highest offer in front of Yamamoto, the extremely-coveted Japanese right chose to sign a 12-year/$325 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. If the Phillies and Dodgers meet in the postseason in 2024 — which seems like a distinct possibility — it will be fun to revisit this nugget. Regardless, Yamamoto is a Dodger.
We would argue the juiciest part of Lauber’s conversation with Phillies managing partner John Middleton didn’t get enough headlines, though. Middleton explained that after failing to lure Yamamoto, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and he adjusted their plan for helping to best set the Phillies up for a World Series run in 2024.
We would argue the juiciest part of Lauber’s conversation with Phillies managing partner John Middleton didn’t get enough headlines, though. Middleton explained that after failing to lure Yamamoto, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and he adjusted their plan for helping to best set the Phillies up for a World Series run in 2024.
“What Dave decided we’d do — and I agree with him — is save the powder,” Middleton told Lauber. “He said, ‘If you don’t spend it now, you could always spend it in July and maybe make a better, more aggressive trade, and you’ve got the money to pay for it.”
