Yamamoto Turns Down New York Over Foul Smell

One of the biggest acquisitions of the MLB offseason, star right-hander Yoshinobo Yamamoto of the Japanese NPB, has signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers on a whopping 12-year, $325 million contract. The Dodger organization is looking to make a statement not only for the 2024 season, but for many seasons in the future. Not only does their signing of Yamamoto suggest that, but because of their $1.1 billion spent since December 9th to acquire Tyler Glasnow, Shohei Ohtani, and of course, Yoshinobo Yamamoto. 

Being one of the most highly-sought free agents, it’ i’s no surprise that multiple teams expressed interest in acquiring him. Of these teams, the New York Mets and New York Yankees stood out the most as a potential landing spot for the Japanese pitcher. Steve Cohen, owner of the New York Mets, was the first to meet and discuss with Yamamoto about his MLB future. Cohen and his colleagues met with Yoshinobo multiple times, even flying out to Japan on one occasion.

Aside from the Mets, the other New York team also heavily pursued Mr. Yamamoto. Both the Mets and Yankees tried to persuade Yoshinobo by offering him very comparable contracts to what Los Angeles had offered, but one detrimental factor stood in their way. New York City. 

As anyone who has ever visited the city of New York could tell you, it has its rough patches. Of these rough patches, one that stands out the most is sanitation. New York is a dirty, smelly, and quite literally disgusting city. Its sanitary misfortunes would be the reason Yamamoto declined to play for either the Mets or Yankees, as he expressed in an interview. 

“I can’t play baseball in New York,” said Yamamoto.

“The smell, it’s awful. It smells of piss.” 

He would go on further to say 

“No wonder they call it the city that never sleeps. I wouldn’t be able to sleep if it smelled that bad of piss either.” 

While Yamamoto’s words may be heartbreaking for fans of either New York team, they are words that unfortunately ring true. New York’s smell of piss is unavoidable when being in the city, and Yamamoto couldn’t handle it. 

When he signed with the Dodgers, he splashed back with one last insult to New York. “Screw that pissy city,” he said. 

Though we don’t know much about the new Dodger pitcher, we do know one thing. He can’t stand the smell of urine. Yamamoto, Ohtani, and Glasnow look to lead the Dodgers to a World Series title, and for over $1 billion, Dodger fans certainly hope so. We will see how it all plays out.