The Yankees’ full-throttle pursuit of right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto looked to change on a dime when Shohei Ohtani deferred the vast part of his deal until the 2030s. This enabled the two Japanese stars to form a Hollywood partnership. Prior to Ohtani’s brave contractual move, the dual addition would never have worked, even if the two unlikely partners agreed to defy Japanese custom and team together. After his creative financing? It felt like an unavoidable outcome.
That is not how Yamamoto wants New Yorkers to see it, however. The right-hander spoke with the New York Post’s Joel Sherman this weekend after reporting to Dodgers spring training, aiming to reassure jilted Yankees (and Mets) supporters that there was more to it than Ohtani, a force the NYC organizations could never hope to match.
In truth, the outcome of the spiraling Yamamoto auction — which was intended to settle at $200 million before the Dodgers and Mets thought his World Baseball Classic data was enough evidence to blow up the market — was more about the “organization.”
Yoshinobu Yamamoto believes the Yankees and Mets fall short of “long-term success”
Put on your earnesty hat, try to be open to the possibility, and let Yamamoto tell you.
“In a clubhouse interview with The Post, Yamamoto said via an interpreter that the New York teams ‘communicated to me that they were genuinely serious about having me on their team.’ He also stated that he was serious and that the location — it was previously assumed that he intended to sign on the West Coast — was not an overriding consideration. Instead, I had the feeling that the Dodgers had been highly successful for a long time. And the attitude throughout the group was very positive.
“So the Dodgers prevailed in a frantic bidding war. When the offseason began, the expectation was that Yamamoto would do well to earn more than $200 million. But this is where modernity truly begins.”
Yeah, nah. Ohtani absolutely pushed things beyond the finish line.
The Dodgers have been the gold standard franchise for the past decade, with only one shortened-season title to show for it. What about the Yankees? Say what you want about their post-2009 failure to get over the hump, but there is no better example of being “very successful for a very long time” than the Yankees, a franchise that has frustrated its opponents into oblivion since 1923.
If it weren’t for the Dodgers’ 60-game World Series run, the two franchises may be considered identical. However, one of them signed the face of baseball this offseason, and that face of baseball moved mountains of money to make space for his countryman to join him. No matter how much face Yamamoto attempts to preserve, it will always be the reality of his decision.
