The Los Angeles Dodgers landed the prize of the free-agent market Thursday night, reportedly agreeing with Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto on a record 12-year, $325 million deal.
The deal comes after Yamamoto was posted and made available to MLB teams in November. The Dodgers paid a $50.6 million posting fee to sign Yamamoto, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan.
Yamamoto, 25, is considered a frontline starter and leaves Japan as the most decorated pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball history.
He made his debut with Orix Buffaloes at age 18 and went on to record a 1.82 ERA in a seven-year career.
Yamamoto won the pitching Triple Crown last season, leading the league in wins, ERA and strikeouts. He went 49-16 with a 1.44 ERA and 580 strikeouts over the last three seasons, winning Japan’s equivalent of the Cy Young each year.
He is the first player since Ichiro Suzuki to win three straight MVPs in the NPB and only the second pitcher ever to win three, after Hisashi Yamada.
His contract is the largest for a pitcher in MLB history, topping the nine-year, $324 million deal Gerrit Cole signed with the Yankees in 2019.
Yamamoto’s record deal comes after the Dodgers signed Shohei Ohtani to a 10-year, $700 million deal, but unlike that contract, Yamamoto’s reportedly does not contain any deferrals. It does have a reported $50 million signing bonus.
MLB: Red-hot Judge hits two more homers in Yankees' win
Aaron Judge completed a torrid month with his major league-leading 19th and 20th home runs and Marcus Stroman pitched into the eighth inning as the New York Yankees defeated the San Francisco Giants 6-2 on Friday.
Judge singled in the first inning, then erased New York’s 1-0 deficit with a three-run homer in the third off starter Jordan Hicks and led off the sixth with a solo shot to make it 4-1.
Judge, who grew up about 100 miles away in Linden, California, was heavily recruited by the Giants in free agency in December 2022, but decided to remain with the Yankees and signed a nine-year, $360million contract.
He finished May with a .371 average, 14 home runs, 12 doubles and 27 RBIs in 28 games.
Judge’s 26 extra-base hits are the most by any Yankees player in a month since Joe DiMaggio had 31 in July 1937, and this is just the eighth time since the end of World War II that any player in the majors had that many extra-base hits in any month.
The Yankees have won 14 of 18 and are just the fourth team ever to reach 40 wins before June 1.
Stroman allowed two runs and six hits over 7 1/3 innings. New York tied a franchise record set in 1981 with their 18th straight start with a pitcher going at least five innings and allowing three runs or fewer.
Yelich’s big night powers Brewers
Christian Yelich had five of the Brewers’ 23 hits and drove in five runs in Milwaukee’s 12-5 rout of the lowly Chicago White Sox.
Yelich, who had a career-high six hits on Aug. 29, 2018, had a two-run single in the fourth, a two-run double in the seventh and an RBI single in the eighth. He had a career-high six hits at Cincinnati on August 29, 2018.
Brice Turang, William Contreras and Sal Frelick each had three hits for the NL Central-leading Brewers, who have won four of five.
Paul DeJong homered for the White Sox, who lost their ninth straight to fall to a major league-worst 15-43.
Bibee sharp in Guardians’ win
Tanner Bibee took a shutout into the seventh and Davis Fry hit a three-run homer as the Cleveland Guardians won their eighth straight at home, 7-1 over the Washington Nationals.
Bibee gave up one run and three hits in 6 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts and one walk. He has a 1.82 ERA in his last five starts.
Cleveland broke open the game with a four-run seventh. Josh Naylor knocked in a run with a force out grounder and Fry followed with his eighth home run, a blast to left-center field off Robert Garcia.
Fry is batting .455 (15 for 33) with five homers, 15 RBIs and 13 runs in his last 11 games.
Guardians leadoff hitter Steven Kwan had three hits, two runs and a walk in his return after being activated from the injured list before the game. He raised his batting average to .365 in 33 games.
MLB: Red-hot Judge hits 2 more homers in Yankees' win
Aaron Judge completed a torrid month with his major league-leading 19th and 20th home runs and Marcus Stroman pitched into the eighth inning as the New York Yankees defeated the San Francisco Giants, 6-2 on Friday night.
Judge singled in the first inning, then erased New York’s 1-0 deficit with a three-run homer in the third off starter Jordan Hicks and led off the sixth with a solo shot to make it 4-1.
Judge, who grew up about 100 miles away in Linden, California, was heavily recruited by the Giants in free agency in December 2022, but decided to remain with the Yankees and signed a nine-year, $360 million contract.
He finished May with a .371 average, 14 home runs, 12 doubles and 27 RBIs in 28 games. Judge’s 26 extra-base hits are the most by any Yankees player in a month since Joe DiMaggio had 31 in July 1937, and this is just the eighth time since the end of World War II that any player in the majors had that many extra-base hits in any month.
The Yankees have won 14 of 18 and are just the fourth team ever to reach 40 wins before June 1.
Stroman allowed two runs and six hits over 7 1/3 innings. New York tied a franchise record set in 1981 with its 18th straight start with a pitcher going at least five innings and allowing three runs or fewer.
Yelich’s big night powers Brewers
Christian Yelich had five of the Brewers’ 23 hits and drove in five runs in Milwaukee’s 12-5 rout of the lowly Chicago White Sox.
Yelich, who had a career-high six hits on Aug. 29, 2018, had a two-run single in the fourth, a two-run double in the seventh and an RBI single in the eighth. He had a career-high six hits at Cincinnati on Aug. 29, 2018.
Brice Turang, William Contreras and Sal Frelick each had three hits for the NL Central-leading Brewers, who have won four of five.
Paul DeJong homered for the White Sox, who lost their ninth straight to fall to a major league-worst 15-43.
Bibee sharp in Guardians’ win
Tanner Bibee took a shutout into the seventh and Davis Fry hit a three-run homer as the Cleveland Guardians won their eighth straight at home, 7-1 over the Washington Nationals.
Bibee gave up one run and three hits in 6 1/3 innings with seven strikeouts and one walk. He has a 1.82 ERA in his last five starts.
Cleveland broke open the game with a four-run seventh. Josh Naylor knocked in a run with a force out grounder and Fry followed with his eighth home run, a blast to left-center field off Robert Garcia.
Fry is batting .455 (15 for 33) with five homers, 15 RBIs and 13 runs in his last 11 games.
Guardians leadoff hitter Steven Kwan had three hits, two runs and a walk in his return after being activated from the injured list before the game. He raised his batting average to .365 in 33 games.
MLB: Flaherty takes no-hitter into 7th in Tigers' win
Jack Flaherty took a no-hitter into the seventh inning and the Detroit Tigers hit three home runs in a 5-0 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Thursday night.
Flaherty held the Red Sox without a hit until Rob Refsnyder singled to left with one out in the seventh. The right-hander was replaced one out later after throwing 104 pitches. He walked one and struck out nine for the third straight start.
Alex Faedo pitched one inning and Tyler Holton got the final four outs to complete the two-hitter.
The game remained scoreless until Akil Baddoo homered with one out in the fifth off Nick Pivetta. Mark Canha had an RBI single in the sixth and the Tigers scored three more runs in the eighth on Riley Greene’s two-run homer and Gio Urshela’s solo shot.
Detroit (28-28) has won five of six to get back to .500, while Boston (28-29) lost for the fifth time in seven games to drop under the break-even mark.
After walking the leadoff batter, Pivetta tied Roger Clemens for the Red Sox record with eight consecutive strikeouts. His bid for nine straight was snapped on a groundball to second that led off the fourth inning.
Pivetta allowed two runs and three hits over 5 1/3 innings with two walks and nine strikeouts.
Brewers keep Counsell, Cubs reeling
Gary Sanchez’s two-run home run snapped an eighth-inning tie and the Milwaukee Brewers took three of four games from former manager Craig Counsell and the Chicago Cubs with a 6-4 victory.
The NL Central-leading Brewers have won five of seven games to drop the struggling Cubs into third place in the division.
Chicago (28-29) got home runs from Cody Bellinger, Seiya Suzuki and Christopher Morel but the Cubs lost their seventh in eight games to drop below .500 for the first time since the end of March.
Counsell, the winningest manager in Brewers history who left to take over the Cubs, was booed every time he left the dugout this series.
Sanchez’s shot off Tyson Miller put Milwaukee back in front for good after Morel’s home run – his team-leading 10th - in the top of the eighth forged a 4-4 tie.
Jeffers leads Twins past Royals
Ryan Jeffers hit a pair of home runs and Carlos Correa had a bases-clearing triple as the Minnesota Twins rallied from a four-run deficit for a 7-6 win over the Kansas City Royals.
Jeffers’ first homer of the game was a two-run shot in the fourth inning and cut Minnesota’s deficit to 4-2. He went deep again in the fifth to make it 4-3 and the Twins scored four times in the sixth on Correa’s three-run triple and Max Kepler’s RBI single.
The Twins won three of four in the series and are an American League-best 24-12 since a 7-13 start.
Vinnie Pasquantino and MJ Melendez homered for the Royals, who have dropped four of five following eight consecutive wins.
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