The Phillies are reportedly ‘checking in’ on Yu Darvish in case his asking price drops low enough

Whatever that’s supposed to mean.

This offseason is getting into full-on “picking details out of a hat” mode where you just swap a team, a descriptor, and a free agent in and out of a rumor as needed. Because apparently now the [checks] Phillies are checking in on whether they could get Yu Darvish.

Sure! Whatever, at this point. A rumor is a rumor and we’re so hard up for news the Phillies could be checking in on whether the local Dave & Buster’s is available for a group birthday party and I’d be like, “Yes, absolutely, I will cover this interest in making a deal. Can’t wait to see whether they barter for free tokens for every birthday guest.”

The actual rumor comes from Ken Rosenthal, who reports that the Phillies are checking in on a lot of free agents right now. While they won’t be throwing a lot of money after the top free agents they are keeping their eye on who is available and might be a fit so that if one of those free agents were to fall into their laps at a reasonable price, they’d be prepared to sign them.

So, the Phillies are basically that dad who goes to the electronics store every Sunday and looks at the TV’s and asks a bunch of questions, but doesn’t actually want to buy something right now. He’ll “think about it” and take the salesman’s card in case they have a historically big sale sometime in the next month. “I like all yer merchandise here, but don’t actually have the cash to pay for it unless it’s uh, like, 60 percent off?”

However, if there’s one offseason where that strategy might actually work for the Phillies, it’s this one. When the asking prices for free agents are shockingly low and only being repressed more as the offseason goes on for uh, reasons. It’s not completely out of the question that the Phillies could sit around and get lucky.

In the case of Darvish specifically, it’s not like many teams would be ill-served by adding him to their rotation. With Philadelphia, a quick perusal of their depth chart proves that, oh goodness yes, they could definitely use Darvish if he’s available at the right price. Especially if he’s available at double digits, as some rumors have indicated he’s being offered right now.

Is that below market for Yu Darvish and his talents (World Series aside)? Absolutely. But would the Phillies be smart to jump on a depressed value you like that and add a big arm? Also absolutely. The system is definitely broken if the Phillies are able to get Darvish for three years, $55 million or something awesome like that but it’s not like they’re about to turn down that deal because “whoops, the system is broken.”

It probably won’t happen anyway, since they’re just checking in and seeing what’s even possible. But if it does, it’s not because the Phillies are paying top dollar to get him.