A major league source confirmed a report by Jack Curry of the YES Network that the coveted righthander — a target of the Red Sox this winter — reached agreement to join the Dodgers on a deal worth over $300 million.
Jeff Passan of ESPN reported that Yamamoto’s agreement was for 12 years and $325 million — a record for both the size of a guarantee and length for a pitcher.
That history-making agreement concludes a courtship that had featured meetings with nearly every large-market team, including the Yankees, Mets, Giants, Phillies, Dodgers, and Red Sox, based on a special confluence of traits.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto is headed to the Los Angeles Dodgers pic.twitter.com/mRTdfob4LJ
— Talkin’ Baseball (@TalkinBaseball_) December 22, 2023
The team was coming off three last place finishes in four years, and their rotation finished the 2023 season ranked 22nd in ERA (4.68) and 27th in innings (774⅓). In 2023, Yamamoto went 16-6 with a 1.16 ERA, 27 percent strikeout rate, 4 percent walk rate, and just two homers allowed in 164 regular-season innings.
In his NPB career, he’s 70-29 with a 1.82 ERA, 26 percent strikeout rate, 6 percent walk rate, and 0.4 homers per nine innings. He struck out 12, walked two, and had a 2.45 ERA in 7 1/3 innings, helping Japan to win the WBC.
Gerrit Cole, for instance, was entering his age-29 season when he signed a record-setting nine-year, $324 million deal with Yankees as a free agent in December 2019.
Not only does Yamamoto’s deal exceed Cole’s in length and dollars, but the Dodgers also will pay an additional $50.625 million posting fee to the Orix Buffaloes, who held Yamamoto’s rights.
With Yamamoto off the board, the market for free-agent pitchers is expected to accelerate rapidly.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a 25-year-old who has been named the MVP of the Nippon Professional Baseball league in Japan for three straight years, has agreed to a 12-year, $325 million deal with, who else but, the Los Angeles Dodgers, according to multiple reports.
The Dodgers continue their massive spending spree in free agency after inking Yoshinobu’s World Baseball Classic teammate Shohei Ohtani to a $700 million pact, the largest in North American sports.
Yoshinobu’s contract shatters the record for the largest deal ever given to a Japanese import by more than double the previous amount – that had belonged to Masahiro Tanaka, who in 2014 signed a seven-year, $155 million deal with the New York Yankees.
The Dodgers joined the likes of the Yankees and New York Mets in the final bidding for the right-hander. In seven seasons in Japan, Yamamoto has pitched to a 1.72 ERA.
His highest ERA in a single season in Japan was the 2.35 he posted in 2017. Los Angeles has now committed to over $1 billion worth of contracts this offseason.
The 25-year-old Yamamoto, who has won three consecutive MVP awards and Sawamura Awards, Nippon Professional Baseball’s equivalent of the Cy Young drew significant interest from the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Boston Red Sox, San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto already has New York Yankees pinstripes with No. 18, a numeral prized by many Japanese pitchers. It’s his if he wants to keep it,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said Thursday.
Kenta Maeda included having the number in his Los Angeles Dodgers contract, and eight-time All-Star Tomoyuki Sugano wears it on the Yomiuri Giants.
Boone and Yankees officials met with Yamamoto in Los Angeles and again in Manhattan, and the New York Mets, Dodgers and San Francisco Giants are among the other teams in pursuit.
New York’s presentation included a video from former Yankees star Hideki Matsui, the 2009 World Series MVP. A few hours after Boone’s appearance, outfielder Alex Verdugo spoke on a Zoom to discuss the Dec. 5 trade that sent him from Boston to New York.
Verdugo lined a tiebreaking, opposite-field RBI double against Yamamoto for Mexico in the semifinals of this year’s World Baseball Classic.
New York also acquired All-Star outfielder Juan Soto from San Diego, joining a batting order that has Aaron Judge and three players coming off subpar seasons and injuries: Giancarlo Stanton, Anthony Rizzo and DJ LeMahieu.
“I can count on one hand the number of hitters, including Aaron Judge, that belong in that conversation,”
Boone said.
“I’m optimistic it’ll be sooner rather than later,”
Boone said of Domínguez’s return.
Fans had this to convey:
Why baseball is dying. Having no cap ruins it
— Anthony (@AnthonyCaruso03) December 22, 2023
ALL THIS TO LOSE THE WORLD SERIES LMFAOOO POVERTY
— © 💫 (@MindofRollins) December 22, 2023
THE DODGERS ARE COOKING THIS OFFSEASONhttps://t.co/Fy1jy7taTK
— Rami Hanna (@WhoElseButRami) December 22, 2023
NOT CONFIRMED CHILL
— IcyVert (@IcyVert) December 22, 2023
All this just so the dbacks can sweep em again in the playoffs 🤣
— Joe 🌵 (@Joegrana_photo) December 22, 2023
Imagine Dodgers getting eliminated in the division series. Or just fighting for a wild card spot 😂
— Carlos (@acarlitos27) December 22, 2023
Let me guess, $1 million per year for the first 12 years, then $313 million over the next 12 years. Am I doing this right?
— Peyton Gleaton (@TheOtherPeyton) December 22, 2023
