Just Being in on Yoshinobu Yamamoto is a Big Step Forward for the Phillies
It’s been a pretty quiet Phillies offseason.
Yes, there was the Aaron Nola signing, but that’s been about it. The Phillies name has popped up, on occasion, with interest in certain players, but nothing of major substance.
They’ve kept a couple of spots open on their 40-man roster and are still expected to bring in an outfielder and another pitcher, but the expectation is more that the Phillies will be working on the fringes of their roster, and not looking to add another big piece.
Then came a report Wednesday from Jon Heyman, who covers baseball for the New York Post, that the Phillies were one of seven teams who were in on 25-year-old Japanese pitching phenom Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
He doubled down on that report Thursday morning on MLB Network:
.@JonHeyman labels the Yankees and Dodgers as “co-favorites” to land Yoshinobu Yamamoto right now. #MLBNHotStove pic.twitter.com/EkRsESMCrE
— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) December 14, 2023
We already know the Phillies put together a sizzle reel that was sent to Yamamoto earlier this offseason, featuring Bryce Harper as the pitchman.
Heyman talked further about Yamamoto and what a contract for him might look like on Bleacher Report’s Walk Off podcast:
Jon Heyman says it’s possible that international free-agent RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto could receive the longest pitching contract ever signed (via @BRWalkoff)
It’s looking increasingly more likely that Yamamoto will get a 10+ year contract this offseason. pic.twitter.com/hC0TpJcR3e
— MLB Deadline News (@MLBDeadlineNews) December 13, 2023
A few years back, Phillies managing partner John Middleton talked about spending “stupid money” to get his damn trophy back, and this would certainly fall in that category.
Not because it’s stupid to pursue Yamamoto – it’s not. It’s stupid because it’s an unfathomable amount when you put it all together.
There’s $330 million for Harper, $300 million for Trea Turner, $172 million for Nola, $118 million for Zack Wheeler, who is due a new deal after 2024, $115.5 million for J.T. Realmuto, and $100 million for Nick Castellanos.
That’s more than $1.13 billion committed to just six guys five years, and we haven’t even begun to add the $79 million for Kyle Schwarber or the $72 million for Taijuan Walker.
Now think about adding somewhere in the neighborhood of another $250 million into this pot for Yamamoto – there’s no other word to describe it except “stupid.”
All that said, the Phillies clearly aren’t a favorite for Yamamoto. He’s likely going to pick L.A. or New York – as would be expected. There was talk that he’d like to play somewhere where there is another Japanese player – which makes the Dodgers and Shohei Ohtani and the Mets with Kodai Senga as appealing possibilities.
Not only do the Phillies not have a Japanese player, they’ve only had two – ever – and none in the past 14 years.
While reminiscing on the days of Tadahito Iguchi and So Taguchi can be fun, the fact that the Phillies are behind a lot of their big money competitors when it comes to pursuing Asian ballplayers has been disappointing.
But that’s changing – even with the notion that Yamamoto is willing to listen and meet with the Phillies to discuss possibly playing here.
That’s why the meeting in and of itself is so important to the franchise and where it fits in the MLB landscape. The Phillies may not land Yamamoto, but they’re picking up some very important street cred for future Asian players.
This was one of the big initiatives Dave Dombrowski had when he signed on as President of Baseball Operations. It wasn’t just about overhauling their player development and strategic minor league direction, but it was really making a commitment to pursuing, mining and developing international talent.
A focus on players playing in the Nippon Professional Baseball league in Japan and the Korea Baseball Organization has been part of it.
Dombrowski told reporters at the Winter Meetings that when he first arrived in Philadelphia, the organization was seriously lacking in the information department on Asian players.
From MLB.com:
“When I first came in and we had our first meeting, year-end meeting in ’21, we sat and we talked about players from the Far East,” Dombrowski said. “We just didn’t have good information on those players. It was like, we’re sitting in there and I’m thinking, ‘You can’t make those moves based on the information that we have from a comparison perspective.’ There were a couple of reasons for that. Some people had left the organization.”
That’s about as damning a comment on the mess that Andy McPhail and Matt Klentak left behind as Dombrowski could offer publicly.
Wanting to bolster their presence in the Asian baseball market, Dombrowski made swift changes. Assistant GM Jorge Velandia oversees this area, and the Phillies recently promoted scout Derrick Chung to international scouting director. Meanwhile, Japan-based scout Tora Otsuka has been given more of a voice. The Phillies are gathering far more information on Asian players than ever before.
More importantly, they are on the map there now. The Phillies are a team for Asian players to consider seriously. No longer is it just the New Yorks and the LAs and the Bostons and the Chicagos that are going to be mentioned when these top prospects are being posted.
The Phillies are often going to be in the mix, too. And it might not be Yamamoto who signs here, but word will spread that he considered Philadelphia. And sooner or later, the Phillies will sign a big name Asian free agent player.
Or he could surprise everyone and pick the Phillies ahead of the Dodgers, or Mets, or Yankees. Imagine what that would look like.
Jon Heyman said the Phillies have a planned meeting with Yamamoto???? pic.twitter.com/HtFXJlTvzB
— Philly Nation (@Philly__Nation) December 13, 2023
But no matter when that time is – next week, next year, or five years from now – the grassroots beginning of winning such a free agent, will have been laid in the early 2020s by Dombrowski after recognizing a major flaw in the organizational strategy and not letting it fester, but rather working to fix it right away.