The New York Yankees, whether they want to admit it or not, will continue to be reminded of their $325 million mistake from two years ago.
Two years ago was when Yoshinobu Yamamoto was posted for all 30 teams in Major League Baseball to secure his services. New York was one of the final teams involved in negotiations for him before Yamamoto chose to sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a record-breaking 12-year, $325 million deal.
For those who aren’t good at math, the Yankees let an elite pitcher walk away for a difference of $2.08 million per year. Of course, the Yankees didn’t have Shohei Ohtani already on their roster to help influence Yamamoto, but the organization did not pursue him any further. The rationale as to why they did not is mindblowing.
“Yankees decided not to match Dodgers winning $325M bid to Yamamoto because: 1) they thought $300M was right offer, 2) they didn’t believe anyone should have a bigger deal than Gerrit Cole,” MLB insider Jon Heyman wrote on X in December 2023. “NYY offered optout after 5 yrs but not a $50M signing bonus. Highly unlikely it mattered.”
Even if the Yankees did not want to offer the $50 million signing bonus like the Dodgers did, the decision to not at least match the offer was a horrible one. To then try and justify it by saying nobody should have a bigger deal than Cole is doubling down on their stupidity.
Cole a great pitcher, and one of the best in the game when he’s healthy, but that doesn’t mean the Yankees should have given up on Yamamoto knowing he would end up having a bigger deal. If you want to make the team better, Cole’s ego should have been the last thing on Brian Cashman’s mind.
Yamamoto has made 48 starts for the Dodgers over two regular seasons. In that time, he has posted a 2.66 ERA with 306 strikeouts for Los Angeles. His ERA dropped from 3.00 down to 2.49 between his rookie season in 2024 and this season despite making 12 more starts this year.
The Yankees could have used him when they made a push for the American League East title, and they certainly could have used Yamamoto in the American League Division Series when they ultimately lost to the Toronto Blue Jays.
In the meantime, Yamamoto is smiling away as he tries to help the Dodgers win back-to-back World Series titles. The extra money is just an added bonus.
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