(Reuters) – The Los Angeles Dodgers have made another free agent splash by agreeing to a deal with coveted Japanese right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto, according to a report on Major League Baseball’s (MLB) website on Friday.
The report, which cited an unnamed source, said the Dodgers agreed a 12-year, $325 million deal with Yamamoto and are also paying a posting fee of about $50 million to his former Nippon Professional Baseball team.
Reports of the deal, which would see Yamamoto receive the most guaranteed money ever given to a pitcher, came two weeks after the Dodgers landed Japanese dual-threat superstar Shohei Ohtani, the most coveted MLB free agent in recent memory.
It was also the Dodgers’ third blockbuster move of the MLB offseason as they also traded for Tyler Glasnow in a deal that bolstered their pitching staff.
Yamamoto was named the top pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball for the last three seasons in which he won the pitching triple crown each year, meaning he led the league in wins, strikeouts and ERA.
The 25-year-old pitcher also won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and helped Japan to victory at the World Baseball Classic this year.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Toronto, editing by Ed Osmond)
