Keith said on his Wednesday show that the signs seemed to indicate that Yoshinobu Yamamoto would join Shohei Ohtani in Los Angeles with the Dodgers this offseason.
After reports emerged of the Dodgers bringing in Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman to their meeting with the star free agent pitcher, Keith was even more convinced that Yamamoto to the Yankees or Mets wasn’t happening.
“You’ve heard ‘YamaSoto.’ You haven’t heard ‘YamamOhtani,’” Keith said. “That’s more realistic than ‘YamaSoto.’
“You put three MVPs in front of that young man who has won three MVPs, he’s looking at them saying, ‘I want to come here. I want to join you guys.’”
Sure, the Yankees or Mets could go all in and offer the highest salary, but Keith isn’t sure that would lure Yamamoto away from the Pacific coast, where there is a chance to play with a fellow Japanese star on a team that is already a consistent 100-game winner.
“The guy wants to win. He just played in the World Baseball Classic,” Keith said. “He just played and won the whole thing with Ohtani representing Japan.
“The writing is on the wall, even with the way they structured the Ohtani contract…they have the money.”
