Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the Los Angeles Dodgers have agreed a 12-year contract worth $325million. The Dodgers have won the race to land one of baseball’s most in-demand players, beating the likes of the New York Yankees and Mets, Boston Red Sox, San Francisco Giants and Philadelphia Phillies to his signature.
Reports claim the Mets were willing to match the Dodgers’ $325m offer but the Yankees were only going to go as high as $300m. It comes just weeks after the Dodgers and Shohei Ohtani completed on a mammoth 10-year deal worth $700m.
The Yamamoto deal means the Dodgers have now spent over $1.1billion on acquiring him, Ohtani and Tyler Glasnow this winter. Yamamoto has been courted by teams across the league all offseason but reports claimed that until this week, discussions were more exploratory and didn’t include ‘serious’ contract proposals.
The 25-year-old was then believed to be ready to field formal offers this week though and now he has decided his next move. The Japanese star, who has played for the Orix Buffaloes in Nippon Professional Baseball since 2017, had been in a 45-day window to sign a contract. That period was due to expire on January 4.
The following day, he is said to have met with Yankees officials for the second time in a week, with owner Hal Steinbrenner, GM Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone all involved in the pitch. Yamamoto has reportedly also held talks with the Dodgers, Giants, Red Sox and Phillies.
The right hander, the top free-agent pitcher on the market, was reportedly in New York over the weekend for meetings with the Yankees and the Mets. It was the second time the player had met the teams in person.
The pitcher reportedly had dinner at the home of Mets owner Steve Cohen in Connecticut, with president of baseball operations David Stearns, manager Carlos Mendoza and pitching coach Jeremy Hefner also present.
