After weeks of chasing after the Japanese All-Star, the New York Mets and Yankees learned they missed out on their chance to sign Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The Los Angeles Dodgers may have signed Yamamoto to a 12-year, $325 million contract, but until we can hear from the new star himself, we don’t know why he chose the Dodgers over other teams.
Yet, thanks to The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, we now know how the Mets and Yankees offers compared to what Yamamoto signed with the Dodgers.
Yamamoto received a contract that pays him $27 million per season, but the Yankees actually offered a higher annual amount.
According to Rosenthal, the Yankees presented Yamamoto with a 10-year, $300 million contract. Meanwhile, the Mets matched the Dodgers’ offer of 12 years and $325 million, but other details of their offer are not known.
Yet there were a few other differences in the other offers.
In addition to offering a higher annual amount ($30M compared to $27), the Yankees also offered Yamamoto an earlier contract opt-out date (after fifth season), allowing him to re-enter free agency, plus more money in the first five years of the deal than the backloaded one signed with the Dodgers.
Yamamoto did, however, secure a $50 million signing bonus and opt-outs after the sixth and ninth years of the contract with the Dodgers. In the end, it appears he had several strong offers, yet one team stood out from the rest.
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