Phillies reportedly offered Yoshinobu Yamamoto more than Dodgers’ $325M deal

Major League Baseball

Updated Feb. 20, 2024 6:45 p.m. ET

Yoshinobu Yamamoto signed the largest contract for a pitcher in MLB history this offseason. And he apparently could have gotten more.

Before the Los Angeles Dodgers reeled in Yamamoto with a 12-year, $325 million deal, the Philadelphia Phillies reportedly offered him a bigger contract. Per a report from the Philadelphia Inquirer citing multiple industry sources, the Phillies went all-in on trying to land the 25-year-old Japanese ace early in free agency.

Phillies owner John Middelton confirmed to the Inquirer that the Phillies made a strong push for Yamamoto — and that he did not regret doing so despite the result.

“If I had to do it all over again, I’d still do what we did because I think you have to be able to look yourself in the mirror and say, ‘You know what? I tried,'” Middleton said. “It’s kind of easy in that situation to say, ‘We’ll just stay home and not even make an effort, or we’ll make a token effort because we’re probably going to wind up losing him.’ I’m not built that way. If he’s really good, you make the effort because you never know when you’ll change somebody’s mind.”

Though the Phillies met with Yamamoto in New York in December, they hoped to bring him to Philadelphia for a second meeting, but that never happened, per The Inquirer. The three reported finalists for Yamamoto were the Dodgers, New York Mets and New York Yankees. The Mets reportedly offered the same contract in terms of years and money that the Dodgers did, while the Yankees offered Yamamoto a 10-year, $300 million contract that meant a higher average annual value. The Yanks were reportedly unwilling to offer Yamamoto $325 million because they didn’t want to eclipse the $324 million they’re paying Gerrit Cole.

Yamamoto, who grew up a Dodgers fan in Japan, told reporters he likely would have signed with the team regardless of whether it ended up with two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani.

Ohtani, who signed a 10-year, $700 million deal with the Dodgers shortly before Yamamoto did, helped recruit his countryman and Team Japan teammate with whom he won the 2023 World Baseball Classic to Los Angeles. Yamamoto previously won three straight MVP awards in Nippon Professional Baseball with the Orix Buffaloes, cementing himself as the best professional pitcher in his home country.

It hasn’t taken him long to make an impression with his new team, as Yamamoto left several Dodgers in awe during his first week in spring training.