Phillies news and rumors 2/20: Club reportedly made highest offer for Yoshinobu Yamamoto

The Phillies reportedly made the biggest offer for Yoshinobu Yamamoto. (The Yomiuri Shimbun via AP Images)

While the Phillies ultimately couldn’t land Yoshinobu Yamamoto in free agency, it wasn’t due to a lack of trying. The club reportedly gave the star Japanese pitcher his highest-paying offer of the offseason.

Philadelphia’s contract offer was for more total money than that of any other major-league team, according to a Tuesday morning report from the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Scott Lauber, meaning Yamamoto left guaranteed money on the table when he signed a record 12-year, $325 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers in December.

The Phillies met with Yamamoto and his representation, made a video pitch and extended their big-ticket offer, per Lauber, but the 25-year-old starting pitcher declined to visit Philadelphia when he made an East Coast tour the next week. It appeared the Dodgers were his preference, so perhaps any amount of money from the Phillies wouldn’t have swayed him.

Still, it’s important to note that the Phillies have a track record of signing big-name free agents to very long contracts, extending the years in order to keep the average annual value of the contract down for luxury-tax purposes. They signed Bryce Harper for 13 years, inked Trea Turner for 11 and pushed Aaron Nola’s new deal out to seven years this offseason. So, even if the Phillies offered Yamamoto the biggest sticker price, it’s not known how many years they would’ve given him.

A 14- or 15-year deal? Maybe that contract would’ve had a noticeably lower AAV than the over $27 million he’s set to make with the Dodgers across the next 12 years, allowing him to potentially make even more than the Phillies’ reported offer with another deal at the back end of his career.

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