Two swings and a miss.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the prized free-agent Japanese right-hander at the center of the Yankees’ and Mets’ offseason agendas, instead is going to Los Angeles, agreeing Thursday night to a seismic 12-year, $325 million contract with the Dodgers.
The Mets’ made a 12-year, $325 million offer, according to The Post’s Mike Puma, which the Dodgers matched.
The Yankees’ offer was for $300 million, per The Post’s Jon Heyman.
It’s a massive letdown, for all the hope that was invested in a potential ace who has never thrown a pitch in anger in an MLB game.
As The Post’s Mike Vaccaro writes in his column, “This one hurts because for one of the few times ever, New York can share the same frustration. Yankees fans and Mets fans can wake up Friday morning and wonder: What about us? What about New York?”
Here are a few things to know about the record-breaking deal that allows the Dodgers to pair Yamamoto with superstar tentpole Shohei Ohtani:
• The $325 million contract includes the most guaranteed money for a full-time pitcher in MLB history, exceeding — purposefully, we can only imagine — Gerrit Cole’s $324 million deal signed with the Yankees after the 2019 season by $1 million.
The Dodgers’ world-eating offseason began with the megabucks signing of Shohei Ohtani. AFP via Getty Images• There is no deferred money in the contract, a feature that became a talking point when Ohtani deferred $680 million of his $700 million Dodgers deal, in part for luxury-tax savings that made it easier to sign Yamamoto.
• The contract contains a $50 million signing bonus. There are a pair of opt-outs, according to ESPN.
• The Dodgers — now fully in their Galacticos era — also are on the hook for a $50.6 million posting fee to the Orix Buffaloes, Yamamoto’s former team in Japan’s Pacific League. Combined with the Ohtani contract, the Yamamoto contract and Tyler Glasnow’s five-year, $136.5 million contract, it brings the Dodgers’ total financial commitments this winter to more than $1.2 billion.
So what now for the New York runners-up in these sweepstakes?
The Yankees are expected to continue looking for big-name reinforcements for their rotation after their...
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