Details of Yankees, Mets bids for Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Bidding for Yoshinobu Yamamoto intensified on Thursday, when the Mets pushed their bid from the high $200 million range to $325 million over 12 years, according to league sources. Shortly after, the Yankees offered Yamamoto $300 million over 10 years, per those sources.
Yamamoto’s camp was seeking opt-outs after years five and eight, making a highly questionable baseball commitment more palatable for the Mets -- essentially a five-year contract, if Yamamoto was healthy and effective.
As the result proved -- Yamamoto signed with the Dodgers for 12 years, $325 million -- the Mets were never well-positioned to sign him.
The team has an ambitious, well-resourced owner in Steve Cohen, an intelligent president of baseball operations in David Stearns, a promising new manager in Carlos Mendoza and an appealing face of the franchise in Francisco Lindor. The ingredients are in place to make them a preferred destination, but for this free agency, the timing was wrong.
Indeed, the two finalists for Yamamoto were the Yankees and Dodgers, per sources.
As for the Yankees, they wanted the pitcher -- but clearly not quite as much as they wanted to trade for Juan Soto this winter. When Hal Steinbrenner and Brian Cashman decide that a player is a must-have, they will not be denied; see Gerrit Cole in 2019, Aaron Judge in 2022, and Soto last month.
They wanted Yamamoto, and made an extremely aggressive bid. But they were also unwilling to engage in a bidding war with the Mets and Dodgers. If Yamamoto was to become a Yankee, it would've been because he wanted it enough to leave a bit of money on the table.
