Maybe I'm reading this wrong from David Murphy:
As with Castillo, Tomas' eventual landing place will be determined by who values him the most. Since every team in the majors will be operating off the same information – Tomas' track record in Cuba's Serie Nacional and the World Baseball Classic and his performance in Sunday's showcase in the Dominican Republic – the difference in valuation likely will be determined by a combination of a team's disposable income and need. And there, an argument can be made that Tomas inevitably will offer greater marginal utility to a team for whom he is a difference-maker with respect to its World Series odds.
All other things being equal, if the Phillies project that Tomas will be the difference between 76 and 81 wins, and the Blue Jays or Giants or Yankees project that he will be the difference between 84 wins and 89 wins, then it stands to reason those latter three teams will inherently value Tomas higher than the Phillies will.
I'm not really disagreeing with Murphy's basic presumption, which is that different players have different values to different teams. This is mostly obvious, and most fans would get this. I'm disagreeing with his assumption about the Phillies themselves, and the way the world has changed for the Phillies since moving to Citizens Bank Park, winning a World Series, and signing a new TV deal. I'm also disagreeing with his operating under the assumption that the Phillies can afford to act as a team that isn't a contender.
First off, I don't believe the Phillies are operating under the assumption that they are not a contender. Now, we can agree or not with that assessment, but their behavior doesn't suggest that they are willing to play the part of non-contender. They gave A.J. Burnett $15 million right before the season. They didn't trade much away once they were out of this year's race. They've repeatedly said they are not "rebuilding." Whether we agree or not, the Phillies think they can piece things together and contend.
Second off, at $180 million or so in salary this year, and starting out with between $140 and $145 million in commitments for next year, the Phillies cannot afford to not attempt to contend. The Phillies are a big market team. They have to put people in the stands. While you may argue they shouldn't throw good money after bad, I think they'd say more good money can fix a lot of bad. The Phillies can't be a 73 win team forever, or even three straight years. They have to put a better product on the field, be it by signing new talents like Yasmani Tomas, or shedding bad payroll like Ryan Howard. The Phillies spend a lot of money as is, they can't afford to not bring revenue back because no one cares about their team, which is close to where they could be in 2015.
All of this leads to a reality: the Phillies are a big, big market team. They are the largest stand-alone market (one team only) in baseball. They signed a huge TV deal. They just had a long run of sell-outs. If the Phillies want to go bid on a player like Tomas, they can do it, and they can out-bid most of the other suitors on sheer brute strength. Frankly, given the Phillies position right now, put me in the camp that advocates for buying their way out of holes- buy-out old players, sign new ones, pay the tax for a year or two. The team is neither saying they are, nor acting like, a team with economic issues. If anything, their refusal to sell says quite the opposite.
All of this leads back to my basic view- the Phillies aren't going to rebuild, and they should spend like a contender. I'm not saying this is how I would have done things, not at all. It's how they did things though. I think back to Pat Gillick talking about "no one being a dominant team" right now, and I can kind of understand that viewpoint. The Phillies think they can put a few better pieces onto this roster, and contend. If that's their view, why not throw seven years and $105 million out to start on Yasmani Tomas, and get a player who is everything Dom Brown was supposed to be?
