A year ago this week, seven Phillies officials boarded owner John Middleton’s private plane and flew across the country to meet a prized free-agent pitcher from Japan. Time to gas up the jet again. If the Soto Sweepstakes dominated the first half of baseball’s offseason,

Koby Perez, Baltimore’s vice president of international scouting, said the Orioles will do their “due diligence” with the Japanese superstar pitcher.