Further details show how badly NL East team wanted Yoshinobu Yamamoto
According to a report by Scott Lauber of The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Phillies went all out in their offseason pursuit of Japanese star pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
Still, the righty elected to sign a 12-year, $325M contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers in late December.
Owner John Middleton's words during the interview with Lauber echo some of president Dave Dombrowski's sentiments on the Yamamoto pursuit from early February.
During an appearance on the "WIP Morning Show," Dombrowski said he thought "people would be shocked if they found out how much money" the team "put on the table for him."
One of the reported American League contenders for the 25-year-old was the New York Yankees.
It was learned in mid-December that the Bronx Bombers met with Yamamoto in Los Angeles and in Manhattan. Manager Aaron Boone said that the team gave him his own No. 18 jersey during the second meeting and there was a special video message from 2009 World Series MVP Hideki Matsui as well.
Yamamoto wore No. 18 with the Orix Buffaloes of the Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) league and will sport the number with the Dodgers.
Even though its attempts at bringing in Yamamoto were unsuccessful, Philadelphia returns its strong top-of-the-rotation arms in one-time All-Stars Aaron Nola and Zack Wheeler.
Nola went 12-9 with a 4.46 ERA in 2023 but finished fourth in the NL Cy Young voting in 2022. Wheeler was 13-6 with a 3.61 ERA, 1.07 WHIP and 212 strikeouts over 192 innings pitched last season to finish sixth in the NL Cy Young voting.
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