"The offers from the Yankees and Mets were comparable" - MLB Insider reveals details around Mets' and Yankees' offer to Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Yoshinobu Yamamoto signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers for a record contract that is the most guaranteed money in the history of the sport to a starting pitcher. However, as per plenty of reports the other two finalists, the New York Yankees and New York Mets were equally in the hunt.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto's bumper deal with the LA Dodgers is a 12-year $325 million contract that has opt-out options after the sixth and eighth years. Along with the record sum the Japanese ace is getting a signing bonus of $50 million while the Los Angeles team will also have to a posting fees just in excess of $46 million to the player's NPB team, the Orix Buffaloes.
As per MLB insider Ken Rosenthal writing for The Athletic, both New York clubs had offered contracts in a similar range. The Yankees offered a contract worth $300 million over ten years with an opt-out option in the fifth year while the Mets matched the 12-year, $325 million offer given by the LA Dodgers.
The offers from the Mets and Yankees were comparable but in the end, it came to the player as to where he wanted to sign and had an inclination towards:
"A comparison of the teams’ offers lends credence to the notion that Yamamoto simply might have preferred the Dodgers to any other club," Rosenthal wrote.
Why did Yoshinobu Yamamoto choose the LA Dodgers over the Yankees?
When compared, the Yanks offered Yoshinobu Yamamoto a contract that had a greater annual average value than that of the LA Dodgers. They had offered a $30 million per year value in hand each year to the ace. Moreover, the contract with LA also includes backloaded salaries that the Yankees offer didn't have.
Along with the posting fees and luxury tax figures, New York was willing to pay around $200 million in five years to Yamamoto knowing he could opt-out after it. But what they couldn't offer him was a $50 million signing bonus. Plus add to the fact that California state laws will not require the 25-year-old pitcher to pay taxes for his in-hand signing bonus which amounts to $7 million in tax led to the Japanese player choosing Los Angeles.