Phillies Reportedly Offered Japanese Phenom More Money Than Any Team

One of the main storylines surrounding the Philadelphia Phillies this offseason has been their unusual lack of aggression that had become a staple since Dave Dombrowski took over as their president of baseball operations.

With owner John Middleton ready to bring a World Series championship back to the city, he's greenlighted the front office to pursue many of the top names in the free agency market.

This has landed them Bryce Harper, Trea Turner, Zack Wheeler, Kyle Schwarber, Nick Castellanos, and most recently, Aaron Nola after they re-signed him when he briefly became a free agent.

But, the Nola deal was the only major move of note this winter.

There were reports the Phillies were willing to blow past the luxury tax threshold with a "competitive offer" made to Japanese phenom Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

However, it's now been revealed that this offer was not only competitive, but it was the most lucrative deal that was offered to the potential superstar.

"The Phillies offered more money than any team, according to multiple industry sources. That includes the Dodgers, who won the Yamamoto auction with a 12-year, $325 million bid that stands as the largest guarantee for any pitcher ever," reports Scott Lauber of The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Wow.

That is quite the bombshell.

If Philadelphia were to have landed Yamamoto, the conversation surrounding their offseason would be much different.

Again, this offer came on the heels of re-signing Nola, so the top-three in their rotation would have consisted of Wheeler, Yamamoto and Nola.

If the Japanese phenom lives up to the hype in his rookie year, that would have been difficult for any team to deal with.

Instead, the Phillies took that declined offer and slinked back into the shadows, searching for depth pieces that would fill out their roster, but not pursuing anything that would be considered a blockbuster addition.

After the Whit Merrifield deal, Philadelphia is now expected to go over the second level of the luxury tax threshold anyway, so maybe another big move is coming.

Dombrowski has talked about how he is comfortable entering the season with the roster they currently have, indicated that might not happen.

But, this news shows that the Phillies still had an aggressive mindset, it just didn't work out the way they had hoped.