It has been nearly four months since the Dodgers outbid several of their fellow big-market behemoths to sign right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto to the largest free-agent contract ever given to a pitcher: a staggering, 12-year, $325 million pact, plus a posting fee of more than $50 million sent to his former team in Japan, the Orix Buffaloes. It was a spectacular capper to a historic offseason for the Dodgers that also included the seismic signing of Shohei Ohtani and the acquisition of Tyler Glasnow.
Any nine-figure contract is going to create substantial hype and sky-high expectations, but most players signing such deals come with a level of familiarity and certainty rooted in a track record of MLB success.