The Philadelphia Phillies were prepared to pony up for Japanese starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto before he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Scott Lauber of the Philadelphia Inquirer reported the Phillies "offered more money than any team," including the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Dodgers landed the right-hander with a 12-year, $325 million deal.
Lauber explained how it was a two-horse race for Yamamoto between the Dodgers and New York Yankees. While the Phillies made their pitch during a Dec. 14 meeting, Yamamoto declined to make a personal visit to Philadelphia days later after having already traveled to New York City.
That left the Phillies in a position where they had to make Yamamoto an offer that he couldn't refuse if they were serious about signing him.
Principal owner John Middleton told Lauber he didn't regret making the attempt.
"If I had to do it all over again, I'd still do what we did because I think you have to be able to look yourself in the mirror and say, 'You know what? I tried,'" he said. "It's kind of easy in that situation to say, 'We'll just stay home and not even make an effort, or we'll make a token effort because we're probably going to wind up losing him.' I'm not built that way. If he's really good, you make the effort because you never know when you'll change somebody's mind."
Philadelphia already inked Aaron Nola to a new deal weeks before its pursuit of Yamamoto, and his return eliminated the need for another marquee addition to the rotation. Philly is running it back with a group that ranked fifth in xFIP (4.02), ninth in strikeout rate (9.07 per nine innings) and seventh in walk rate (2.93).
Still, the opportunity to sign a pitcher as good as Yamamoto in the prime of his career doesn't come along often.
And to Middleton's point, simply making a good-faith effort is often all a fanbase asks of ownership. Phillies fans will have known the Yankees and Dodgers were the strongest contenders for Yamamoto, so they'll likely be content to know Middleton was prepared to match or perhaps exceed what Los Angeles and New York was offering.
