The juiciest part of this week’s major Phillies story didn’t get enough attention
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Seemingly each day this week, there was a major story related to the disastrous rollout of the new Nike-designed, Fanatics-produced Vapor Premier uniforms. But outside of that, Scott Lauber of The Philadelphia Inquirer reporting that the Phillies offered RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto more total money than the Los Angeles Dodgers was one of the biggest stories of the week in baseball.
However, even if the Phillies did place the highest offer in front of Yamamoto, the extremely-coveted Japanese right chose to sign a 12-year/$325 million deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers. If the Phillies and Dodgers meet in the postseason in 2024 — which seems like a distinct possibility — it will be fun to revisit this nugget. Regardless, Yamamoto is a Dodger.
We would argue the juiciest part of Lauber’s conversation with Phillies managing partner John Middleton didn’t get enough headlines, though. Middleton explained that after failing to lure Yamamoto, president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski and he adjusted their plan for helping to best set the Phillies up for a World Series run in 2024.
“What Dave decided we’d do — and I agree with him — is save the powder,” Middleton told Lauber. “He said, ‘If you don’t spend it now, you could always spend it in July and maybe make a better, more aggressive trade, and you’ve got the money to pay for it.”
Who knows, if the price for someone like LHP Jordan Montgomery drops significantly, maybe the Phillies will readjust that plan. As Phillies Nation‘s Destiny Lugardo has repeatedly pointed out, the Phillies wouldn’t have to give up draft compensation to sign Montgomery because he was traded in 2023, and therefore was ineligible to receive the qualifying offer from the Texas Rangers. If Montgomery ultimately settles for a one or two-year deal, the Phillies could pay him a lot of money in the short term, knowing that whenever he next becomes a free agent, the Phillies would be able to extend a qualifying offer to him and receive draft compensation if he left in free agency. A year or two of a starting rotation that includes Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola, Montgomery and Ranger Suárez sounds pretty appealing.
But what also sounds appealing is taking what already appears to be a 90-93 win team into the regular season, and playing out the first few months. Come July, the Phillies can decide what their most-pressing need is, and attack it with the same aggressiveness they did Yamamoto. Maybe that will be for a starting pitcher. Perhaps if Johan Rojas struggles offensively, the Phillies will be looking for another outfielder. And for as much talent as the Phillies have internally in their bullpen, imagine how much scarier their relief corps would look with a top-tier closer in the fold. There’s something exciting about leaving yourself some flexibility before the trade deadline, which falls on July 30 this season.
What if the Baltimore Orioles are surprisingly not in contention, and general manager Mike Elias — who covets prospects — decides to trade former NL Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes before he reaches free agency? Whether the Phillies would be in play to re-sign Burnes beyond 2024 is unclear. But his addition for a few months might help to put them on a parade float in the meantime. Shane Bieber of the Cleveland Guardians and Dylan Cease of the Chicago White Sox are other notable starters who could be traded this summer.
If the Phillies decide they want an accomplished reliever cemented in the ninth inning role so that José Alvarado and others can be deployed in getting the ball from the starting pitcher to the closer, David Bednar of the Pittsburgh Pirates and Emmanuel Clase of the Guardians could be trade candidates.
And there are typically plenty of power-hitting outfielders available every summer, if the Phillies want to have Brandon Marsh play center field and view left field as a need at some point in 2024.
There’s no question, having Yamamoto would have been incredible for the Phillies, both because he’s only 25 and it would finally be a sign of them making inroads in the Japanese market. But Dombrowski has a history of trading for stars, and if the Phillies look a piece or two away in July, there might be a part of them happy that they held onto some “powder” for the summer.
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