The Philadelphia Phillies have been trying to get involved in the Japanese market for a while now. There have been chances and offers distributed in an effort to make a splash in the past. Ultimately, they have come up unsuccessful.
Munetaka Murakami was posted this offseason for MLB teams to sign, and the day before his window was set to close on Monday he signed a two-year, $34 million contract with the Chicago White Sox.
It wasn't the big deal that Murakami surely thought he would fetch, joining the market at just 25-years-old, but he still gets his shot in MLB.