Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Dodgers reportedly agree to 12-year contract
Uh, let’s bring in Mark Fintan of mlb.com. Mark. Uh, first of all, I, I’ve got a lot of questions for you. Um, first of all your thoughts, this deal, the Dodgers and Then we’ll do some speculating about the bridesmaids and the process as well. Good morning. Good morning. Nice to be back with you guys. You know, it’s interesting what you guys are talking about with the, uh, the, the big winner of the offseason doesn’t always translate, but the big winner of the offseason is usually a team that had a disappointing year before, not one that
had 100 plus wins. And, yeah, there was a disappointment in the postseason , but this team was already built to go back and contend again. And now they’ve added three mega stars, uh, in Glass now and Otani and Yamamoto. So, uh, you know, I think the Dodgers have certainly let it be known that they have no plans of a first round exit this year. They have, this is World Series or bust. Uh, and you really have to look at the Otani contract and the way that it was, uh, set up with all the deferred money
uh, he did that so they can go out and sign other players. Well, they certainly did that. They went out and spent more money on a tour pitcher than anybody’s
thing. So let’s let’s expand the conversation Then mark, I mean, the historic nature of this contract is what it is. Uh There’s shock value, there’s a, there’s all the great things that we look forward to as fans if you’re a fan of the Mets or the Yankees. Uh Do you tip your cap? And you say he went to a higher bid? He went to a place geographically he preferred or are you shaking your fist at the TV this morning? Well, that’s not how Mets and Yankees fans work. So I don’t think there’s going to be
any cap tipping to go along here. The Mets offered him the same contract. As a matter of fact, the Mets offered the contract first and Then the Dodgers matched it. So unless Steve Cohen had come back and said, ok, let’s make it 350 or 375 or 15 years or, you know, unless he had just gone above and beyond. Uh, it was clear that, that if the offers were even the Dodgers were going to win out on this. Obviously, the Yankees offered 300 million over 10 years. They’re actually a higher A av, uh, but again, more
money in L A as a total. And I think the allure of, of playing with Otani and going to the and the star studded team and when the Dodgers met with him, they brought in Otani, they brought in Mookie Betts, they brought in Freddie Freeman. They said, look, look at this team, you can come play with. Uh the Yankees had a similar type of star studded team. They said, hey, we’ve got Aaron Judge and Juan Soto and you can pitch your rotation with Garrett Cole. Uh the Mets I think are a little bit. No, when
they made their trade last year with Verlander and Scherzer, it was sort of like, all right, we’re going to take a step back and maybe look towards 2025. This was the one guy they were willing to say we’re all in for him because he’s 25 years old. Um But I think in the end he wanted to be a Dodger much like Otani did. Uh And I think when harold said that there was a chance that they could get both. I never thought that was realistic until I saw the deferred money in Otani contract. And once
you saw the way that was structured and that they were really only paying 46 million on the CBC every year, not 70 they were only outlying $2 million a year to Otani, not 70. All of a sudden it was, well, they really have a lot of money left to get somebody. And Then you saw, you heard they were gonna make this full court press and there you see the, the teammates on team Japan clearly with an affinity for each other and now they’re gonna be teammates for many years to come here in L A. So
I had a hunch. Yeah, just a hunch. Keith. Uh By the way, Keith, where have you been for the last month? Keith Costas? That is um I had a hunch that when we learned that the Yankee contingent met with Ya Yamamoto in L A that it felt weird that he, that, you know, not only did was the brand itself appealing to him, the Dodgers franchise. I think geographically Los Angeles has an advantage. They just do uh closer to home. There’s this, you know, this history, this precedent with nomo being there for so long and having
success. Uh Not to mention having Otani there. So I think the deck was stacked against the Mets and Yankees all along, especially as you’re confirming with us this morning , Mark, if they offered commensurate money or the same deal. I I wonder if Steve Cohen didn’t feel like, look, we could up this to 15 years, the Dodgers would just match it and Then I’m a straw man so I could try to cost the Dodgers more money. But what’s the point because he wants to be in L A That, that was my take when I read
the reporting this morning? Well, I think when you look at the fact that they were meeting with people out in L A, it had as much to do with the fact that his agents based out there and they sort of set up a camp and they weren’t going to go on a countrywide tour of ballparks where he’s flying all around the country. Uh He was in New York. He did, he did come to New York , he had dinner at Steve K’s House, he met with the Yankees in New York. Um But I think it
was more ok, we’re here, you can all come to us and meet with us. Uh and, and make your pitch. Um But look, I think we’ve had, we’ve talked a lot about Japanese players preferring to play on the west coast because it’s six hours closer to home. Uh But at the same time, we’ve also seen two mega stars from Japan, come to New York and Hideki Matsui and Masahiro Tanaka and thrive with the Yankees. Matsui was the MVP of the World Series with them. Um I didn’t think I didn’t think there was a, uh, sort
of stacked deck necessarily if anything stacked the deck. To me, it was the minute Otani signed with the Dodgers because Then it was ok. Not only are we going to pay you a boatload of money? Not only do we have Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman and, uh, Walker Buehler and all these other stars, we’ve got shohei Otani and for a 25 year old kid coming over here from Japan, that means something. And I think that may have been as big of a factor at the end of the day as anything else, by the way, is
that a can of tab on your shelf behind you? Is that what I’m saying? It’s actually a uh a special edition Tab Matchbox Car. But yes. Good. Eye Mattie B, one of my favorite sodas of all time. Rest in peace. I know nothing about tab. I mean, is that a, that’s ok. No, it’s ok. That way you’re a healthier guy for it. Mark, and I remember Tab finally though, Mark, thanks for the contributions. We’ll be back with you again perhaps a little bit later this morning on a, on a huge news day in baseball.
