Yoshinobu Yamamoto to the Dodgers

I saw on Bleacher Report that some writer was speculating Jesus Luzardo would be a good fit for the Yankees and the Marlins might make him available. He's young and has 3 years of control. He would be expensive but the Marlins need prospects.

     I figured if I was going to meet people on a new board I should buy me a new stute for the occasion !    Thanks for the greeting. 

You may be correct that the Dodgers were always the preferred destination for Yamamoto; however, there was a time when the Yankees would never be outbid for a player they targeted, if for nothing else than to keep those valued players away from rivals and to send a message to other future free agents that no other franchise would do more to secure a championship.  Just a few years ago, when the Yankees desperately needed pitching, they lost out on veteran starter Dallas Keuchel for approximately $750,000, when our second best pitcher was AJ Happ.  

If you recall, the Yankees also offered a higher AAV for Robinson Cano, but he took the extra dollars and years, too.  In my opinion, Cano wanted out of the Bronx, but I am definitely in the minority with that view.  For me, had the Yankees met or exceeded the same offer from the Dodgers, then there would be no doubt that Yamamoto wanted to be with Ohtani and on the West Coast.  But, whenever the Yankees come in second or third on bidding, it remains speculation.  

I thought the same thing. As a career Finance person I know $300 million over 10 years is worth more than $325 million over 12 years. If the next move they make is signing Montas then we are in trouble. You can sign him as a 6th/7th rotation guy but not as part of your initial 5 man rotation.

Yep.  The Royals signed the two mid-rotation guys I wanted (assuming they got Yamamoto) in Seth Lugo and Michael Wacha.  Rodriguez would have been a good fit too.  The Yanks can't just roll over here.  I didn't think Monty would want to come back to The Bronx given the horrific level of support he got, plus being consistently yanked at the 4 2/3 innings point.  I'd love to have him.  Even though he's been slowly declining over the past few years, Burnes might still be a good pickup if the Yanks are going all-in for 2024, as they jolly well better be.

Kaybli, I wasn't too focused on his 5'10" stature previously, but as far as I have been able to determine, Whitey Ford is by far the best starting pitcher of the live ball era who is 5'10" or smaller.  Even in the deadball era of the early 20th century there weren't many 5'10" or shorter -- there was Three-Finger Brown at that height.  The only prominent pitcher shorter than that I could find (not counting guys who mostly pitched in the 19th century) was early Highlanders spitballer Jack Chesbro, who was 5'9".  In fact most of the successful shorties of that era were spitballers like Eddie Cicotte of Black Sox infamy or the other 5'10" guy who was a successful live ball starter, Burleigh Grimes.  He is probably the second best pitcher at that height from the live ball era.  Take it up an inch to 5'11" and you do have Pedro Martinez and Ron Guidry and Fernando Valenzuela and Ted Lyons and Tim Lincecum from the liveball era.  But still the pickings are slim.

The only other modern-era guy I could find who was an outstanding pitcher at 5'10" was reliever Billy Wagner.  There are some really short guys who had nice careers like Bobby Shantz or Roy Face or Freddie Norman, but I think the Dodgers are looking for more than that for their $325 million.  I hadn't realized how unusual Ford was in being such an outlier at that height.

Yamamoto may turn out to be the best thing from Japan since the Bento Box, and you have to think based on his accomplishments he has to be good in MLB, but he is definitely swimming against the tide of history.