We can twist ourselves into pretzels talking about various “finalists” and “bidding wars” and whatnot, but that’s probably the simplest explanation for how this all played out. Steve Cohen rolled out the red carpet for this guy, who probably just wanted to play in LA from the start, alongside Ohtani. There were multiple teams that offered $300 million or more for Yamamoto. If you’re ever going to have a real shot at signing those kinds of guys at some point, you have to start somewhere. The Phillies don’t have any kind of meaningful history with those players and have only ever had two from Japan on the roster in the entirety of franchise history.
That is true, but it’s not about being unable to lure big-money players, since they got Bryce Harper and Trea Turner here, it’s about being in play for Japanese stars specifically. Anthony wrote a story about the Phils being in on the conversations, and how that was a step forward, and some people crapped on his post, saying that moral victories don’t mean anything.
Were the Phillies ever serious players for the Japanese pitcher? Doesn’t seem like it.
