It’s highly unlikely that the Philadelphia Phillies are going to land star Japanese free agent Yoshinobu Yamamoto this winter.
Right now, the New York Yankees are seen as favorites for MLB’s most-coveted free agent. The New York Mets are reportedly second with the San Francisco Giants, Los Angeles Dodgers, Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox also in the mix. Both Boston and San Francisco have made staggering offers to the stud pitcher, too.
This has not stopped Philadelphia from being aggressive in its pursuit of the 25-year-old Yamamoto. According to Matt Gelb of the Athletic, the Phillies have put in a formal offer to the star pitcher and his camp.
It’s not yet known what type of offer Philadelphia made or whether it comes close to the reported $300-plus million Yamamoto is expected to land in MLB free agency.
But as Phillies President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski has noted (via Gelb), a high-dollar contract like we saw with Philadelphia dole out last offseason doesn’t seem to be in the cards.
“We’ll continue to talk to people and investigate if we can get better,” Dombrowski said earlier this month. “I think there’s something we’ll do over a time period. But it may not be signing Trea Turner for the type of dollars we talked about last year.”
Despite this, Philadelphia seemingly isn’t going to put in a low-ball offer. At the very least, it’s going to be somewhat competitive.
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Philadelphia Phillies still longshot to land Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Based on Dombrowski’s previous comments and the market trend relating to Yamamoto, Philadelphia still has to be seen as a major underdog in the sweepstakes for the star pitcher.
Right now, the Yankees are viewed to be the odds-on favorite to land Yamamoto. It has gotten to the point that other contenders might be moving on to secondary options such as reigning NL Cy Young winner Blake Snell.
- Yoshinobu Yamamoto career stats: 986 strikeouts, 0.91 WHIP, 6.2 H/9, 0.3 HR/9, 4.56 SO/BB, 1.72 ERA in 967.2 innings pitched
If Yamamoto shocks the world and signs with the Philadelphia Phillies, it would create an absolutely loaded rotation.
Philadelphia retained veteran Aaron Nola on a seven-year, $172 million contract earlier during MLB free agency. It has ace Zack Wheeler, Ranger Suárez, Taijuan Walker and Cristopher Sánchez as other members of the rotation.