Dodgers ace admits Mets made free agency decision ‘hard’ last offseason
NEW YORK — Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s free agency was one of the highlights of last offseason, and many around the baseball world thought the Japanese ace would land with the Mets.
On Thursday, he’ll pitch in Game 4 of the National League Championship Series at Citi Field in a Dodgers uniform.
Ahead of Game 3 on Wednesday, Yamamoto spoke about considering the Mets as he made his decision last offseason before joining Major League Baseball from Japan.
“I did meet them a couple times,” he said through his translator. “I had a good impression, which made it a little hard to make a decision. It’s a wonderful organization.”
Yamamoto, 26, agreed to a 12-year, $325 million contract with Los Angeles in December. The Mets presented the same deal to the ace, and the Yankees offered 10 years, $300 million, according to reports. He later said that both teams “communicated with me that they were really serious about having me on their team.”
In his last outing, Yamamoto threw five shutout innings against the Padres in Game 5 of the NLDS. It was a big bounce-back performance for the right-hander, who gave up five runs over just three innings in Game 1 of the series.
