The Los Angeles Dodgers signed Yoshinobu Yamamoto to a 12-year, $325 million contract, which is the largest deal for a pitcher in MLB history.
The 25-year-old will reportedly have the ability to opt out after the 2029 and 2031 seasons. However, if Yamamoto misses significant time due to a right elbow injury or undergoes Tommy John surgery at any point from 2024-2029, those opt-out clauses will be delayed to 2031 and 2033, respectively.
There’s also one other way Yamamoto can potentially opt out of his contract. According to Ronald Blum of the Associated Press, Yamamoto’s contract with the Dodgers does not include a no-trade clause but he can opt out at the end of any season if moved to another team:
Yamamoto does not have the right to block trades but could opt out of the contract after the end of any season in which he is traded.
The Dodgers under president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman have given out only one full no-trade clause, which went to Shohei Ohtani as part of his record-setting contract.
Unlike Ohtani, who had all but $20 million of his $700 million pushed back to future years, Yamamoto’s contract with the Dodgers does not include any deferrals.
The three-time Pacific League MVP and Eiji Sawamura Award winner also received a $50 million signing bonus from the team as part of his historic deal.
Dodgers paying record posting fee to sign Yoshinobu Yamamoto
As part of the process for signing an international free agent, the Dodgers are required to pay Yamamoto’s former Nippon Professional Baseball (NPB) team, the Orix Buffaloes, a posting fee of $50.6 million.
The fee consists of 20% of the first $25 million of his contract, an additional 17.5% of the next $25 million and 15% for the remaining total.
The posting fee going to the Buffaloes is the largest under the current posting format that began in 2017, but falls shy of the record $51.1 million the Boston Red Sox paid to the Seibu Lions in 2006 when they signed Daisuke Matsuzaka.
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