TORONTO, ON – APRIL 27: Yoshinobu Yamamoto #18 of the Los Angeles Dodgers looks on from the dugout prior to a game against the Toronto Blue Jays at Rogers Centre on April 27, 2024 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Vaughn Ridley/Getty Images)
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Much to the chagrin of baseball fans outside of California, the Los Angeles Dodgers have proven that it’s possible to purchase not just one World Series championship, but two.
After acquiring Shohei Ohtani with a record breaking contract ahead of the 2024 season, the team went on to win it all. And then after acquiring another batch of superstar veterans, the Dodgers did it again this past season.
But perhaps the team’s best free agent acquisition outside of Ohtani has been Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who signed a 12-year, $325 million contract to join the Dodgers shortly after Ohtani’s deal was announced. Since then, Yamamoto has proven to be one of the best arms in Major League Baseball and he virtually carried the pitching staff in this past World Series.
Now, Yamamoto is poised to serve as the team’s ace for years to come. But a newly surfaced video has revealed just how much he values an upcoming opportunity to leave his current contract and sign a new deal.
“For the first time in history, the Dodgers are now going to offer an opt out after year six and I can’t believe it,” Yamamoto’s agent, Joel Wolfe, tells Yamamoto in a clip from a series documenting his negotiations to join MLB, which has been shared by Dodgers Digest’s Chad Moriyama. “And I’m not trying to push you one way or the other, but that is huge, because they have said for years that they would never give an opt out.”
Ultimately, Yamamoto chose the Dodgers, even with other big market teams like the New York Yankees and the Philadelphia Phillies offering him contracts worth $300 million or more. And, based on the newly surfaced clip, it’s possible that Wolfe most valued the opt out included in the Dodgers’ offer.
Yamamoto has the chance to exit his Dodgers deal in 2030 and in 2032. It’s hard to say whether he will be in a position to leave roughly $200 million on the table by exercising his upcoming opt out, but if he continues to pitch like he has for the next three seasons, it could be in the cards.
While some Dodgers fans might have believed, or at least hoped, that Yamamoto’s deal with the team represented a lifetime contract, it’s clear that the player and his agent want to be prepared for the possibility that he could earn more money with a new deal by exiting that contract after its first six seasons.