Yesterday, the Los Angeles Dodgers confirmed the contract of Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
The Japanese pitcher, who will earn $325 million over 12 years (if he does not get out of his contract), is the Dodgers' second big catch after Shohei Ohtani.
We can also wonder to what extent the defeat against the Diamondbacks in the playoffs motivated these signings… but that's another debate.
Obviously, when Yamamoto signed in Los Angeles, we immediately made connections with his friend Ohtani, who opened the way for him with his contract which will ensure that he will be paid later.
Could the Dodgers have afforded Yamamoto without the structure of Ohtani's contract? It's a good question.
But we can also ask it the other way around. One wonders how much Yamamoto would have wanted to sign in Los Angeles if Ohtani wasn't there.
And according to the main person concerned, there is not necessarily a correlation between the two.
Yamamoto said that even if Ohtani had signed elsewhere than with the Dodgers, probably his choice would still have been to land in LA
We can understand it. After all, playing for the Dodgers sounds like an incredible experience, especially for a guy from Japan.
Yamamoto's next challenge? Stop admiring MLB players and become the one others will end up admiring.
If he chose LA for the next few years of his career, it's because he feels he can win. That's what's important to him right now.
He won't say otherwise.
He therefore promises to improve and put his focus about becoming a champion now, but also in the future.
And let's say that with the contract he just signed and with his team's off-season, he will have pressure to do it.
- Lucas Giolito with the Giants?
- Imagine if the Yankees still invited Russell Wilson to their camp…we can dream.
