5 teams on the spot in the wake of Yamamoto’s deal

If it’s possible to be stunned by a massive free agent signing by the Dodgers, waking up on Friday morning to the news that Yoshinobu Yamamoto had signed a 12-year, $325 million deal with the team was truly stunning. It wasn’t the dollar amount or the length of the deal that blew you away, but that it was the Dodgers: That two weeks after they gave the biggest contract in sports history to Shohei Ohtani, they turned around and inked the top free agent pitcher on the market.

But now that it has happened—and the Dodgers have, along with trading for Tyler Glasnow, addressed their biggest 2023 weaknesses—the move has ramifications throughout the sport, just like the Ohtani signing did. Here’s a look at the teams most on the spot, in the wake of the Dodgers’ unprecedented move.

1. Yankees

It was probably never fair to say that Yankees’ post-Juan Soto offseason strategy was “Yamamoto or bust,” but, well … bust, nevertheless. The Yankees still need pitching just as much as they did when their fans thought they were going to get Yamamoto, though it’s worth noting that, as evidenced by their willingness to trade arms for Soto, they believe they have more pitching in their system than perhaps the average observer believes. But that 2024 rotation still looks thin. This would seem to put some urgency to go after, say, Corbin Burnes in a trade, which may be preferable to going after Blake Snell as a free agent. (Though bringing back Jordan Montgomery could make some sense too.)

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Another thing this probably does? It presumably increases the odds of the Yankees doing everything in their power to figure out an extension with Juan Soto. With Yamamoto in Chavez Ravine, the Yankees have a bit more long-term payroll flexibility. Can they get Soto to avoid hitting the market? They should very much try.

2. Mets

Speaking of extensions, you can see how this could lead to a Pete Alonso extension sooner rather than later, though that may feel like some cold solace for Mets fans dreaming of having a 25-year-old ace like Yamamoto wrapped up. It’s increasingly clear that this current incarnation of Steve Cohen’s plan for the Mets does not in fact revolve around outspending everybody for everyone, and hey, that might not necessarily be the worst thing in the world: It’s not like dishing out massive amounts of free agent dollars has proven to work every time for this franchise.

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The moves the Mets made at the deadline -- to add salary to trades in order to bring in young talent -- were wise then and they’re wise now. It might make some sense to let that young talent filter in over the next year, and then spend to augment what looks like potentially a solid core.

3. Giants

Pity the poor Giants fan. All they’ve wanted over the last few years was a superstar. The whole central frustration of this franchise is that they’ve been trying to sign Aaron Judge, or Carlos Correa, or Shohei Ohtani, and they can’t get them to bite. Meanwhile, the Dodgers -- their hated rival, the Dodgers -- are just making it look easy, gobbling up everyone. The signing of Jung Hoo Lee is probably a little bit underappreciated as a north star for this franchise -- he has the sort of speed and energy game that could provide an identity for a team that could sorely use one -- but that’s still probably not going to be enough, not with the Dodgers substantially ahead of them in the standings before they brought in Ohtani, Yamamoto and Glasnow.

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Do the Giants give up on chasing stars and focus on building from the ground up? That might not be what San Francisco fans want to hear, but the get-a-star plan, well … that has not worked. At all.

4. Braves

You wouldn’t have known it if from all the coverage and headlines the Dodgers have been getting the last couple of weeks, but the best team in the National League the last three years has, in fact, been the Braves. They won the World Series in 2021, got just as far as the Dodgers did in the playoffs in 2022 and had the best record in the sport in 2023. They have done this by locking up a core over an extended timespan; one of the reasons the Braves don’t have to go out and sign superstars like the Dodgers are doing is because they already have so many under long-term contracts on their roster. Ronald Acuña Jr. is signed (with two club options) through 2028. Matt Olson is signed for the next seven years; Austin Riley for the next 10.

It might not get social media tongues wagging when you extend your own players the way that big free agent battles do, but you get the great players to play for your team all the same. The Braves could probably use another pitcher or two, but let’s not get carried away here: This was the best team in baseball in 2023 and may well be so again in 2024. But the pressure is on.

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5. D-backs

Oh, yeah, by the way: This also affects the defending National League champion. The D-backs will have to deal with the Dodgers in their division of course, and they won’t be favored to win the NL West next year, or probably anytime soon. But that didn’t stop them from making the World Series last year, and it likely won’t in the future. They made themselves better this offseason with the additions of Eduardo Rodriguez and Eugenio Suárez, and we saw in October how much young talent they already have in place.

That said, they look like the second-best team in the NL West next year, just like they were in 2023. They may have to resign themselves to winning a Wild Card and then trying knock out the Dodgers in the playoffs … just like they did in 2023.