Major League Baseball

What should Yankees, Mets do next after losing out on Yoshinobu Yamamoto?

Published Dec. 22, 2023 2:07 p.m. ET

This was the first time in nearly two decades — and certainly the first time in the Steve Cohen era — that the Mets and Yankees clashed over the same highly coveted free agent. After weeks of furious pursuit by the New York rivals, none other than the Los Angeles Dodgers swooped in and won the Yoshinobu Yamamoto sweepstakes… with a final offer that was identical to the wad of millions Cohen's Mets pushed across the table.

Yamamoto choosing the Dodgers, who also employ his former teammate Shohei Ohtani, has major implications for the Mets and Yankees. The Mets will feel Yamamoto's loss in the long run, while the Yankees must pivot to a top starter immediately to fulfill their win-now goal in 2024.

So, where do the crosstown rivals go from here?

The Mets have a dearth of long-term, reliable starters. In particular, they need an ace. Yamamoto was the ideal — albeit pricy and flashy — solution to lead their rotation for years. The 12-year, $325 million contract Cohen reportedly offered could've secured Yamamoto in Queens longer than core players Francisco Lindor and Brandon Nimmo.

More than that, the Mets pushed for Yamamoto because they wanted him in his prime. The decorated Japanese right-hander is only 25 years old. He's a dependable arm who could've anchored the rotation, a departure from their latest duo of superstar starting pitchers in aging veterans Max Scherzer and Justin Verlander.

Scherzer, on his way out of town and into the Rangers' championship rotation, said he was told by the Mets that they are not planning to compete for the World Series in 2024. Yes, they will compete generally and pursue a spot in the playoffs. But Cohen's ultimate goal of winning the World Series looks more attainable in the years after 2024, when top prospects like Luisangel Acuña will join the show and play alongside the current Mets core and budding stars.

Especially without Yamamoto, the Mets do not have a sufficient roster to put them in the conversation for World Series contenders this upcoming season.

The ongoing theme for the Mets is patience. Cohen will follow the lead of David Stearns, his new president of baseball operations who, after a successful run leading Milwaukee's front office, knows a thing or two about building a playoff-bound team. But don't expect Stearns to pivot to top free-agent starters Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery this winter. Free-agent arms like Lucas Giolito, Michael Lorenzen and Mike Clevinger (all 33 years old or younger) make more sense for the current iteration of the Mets.

They already have Kodai Senga, Jose Quintana and Luis Severino filling out their rotation, with new addition Adrian Houser at the back end. They have Tylor Megill and Joey Lucchesi as depth pieces, with David Peterson joining that group when he recovers from injury during the season. Adding one more starter after Quintana and before Severino would fill out the starting five at least to the point where the Mets can evaluate where they stand by the summer trade deadline.

Dodgers land Yoshinobu Yamamoto with 12-yr/$325M deal

While the Mets can champion patience and sell a long-term vision, the Yankees, as always, are under immense pressure to win now, tomorrow and forever. And so, missing out on a potentially transformative talent like Yamamoto is a legitimately damaging blow to both the team's 2024 chances and their goal to re-solidify themselves as the big, bad boss of the sport.

The Yankees' intense interest in Yamamoto was no secret. The club reportedly refrained from issuing the pitcher's preferred No. 18 jersey in 2023 ahead of a potential arrival this winter. And when Yamamoto tossed a no-hitter for the Orix Buffalos on September 9th, Yankees GM Brian Cashman was sitting directly behind the dish, well within camera shot.

It's worth investigating why Yamamoto, a character who by all indications enjoys operating in the limelight, passed up a chance to play on baseball's biggest stage. That he also spurned the Mets probably says more about his feelings towards New York City vs. Los Angeles than anything Yankees specific. But part of Yamamoto's decision certainly has to do with the Yankees' offer, which, reportedly, came in about $25 million below what the Mets and victorious Dodgers offered.

It's unknown whether the Yankees would have increased that figure or if they were even given the opportunity to do so, but regardless, the team's pursuit of Yamamoto has been so public that losing out on the phenom by such a large sum is, to some extent, an unfortunate whiff for the Yanks.

But the decision from Yamamoto's perspective makes a ton of sense.

Some players, like SoCal-grown Gerrit Cole, want the smoke and fire that comes with playing (and living) inside the unrelenting pressure cooker that is Yankee World. Others, like Yamamoto, see themselves driving around with the top down through the Hollywood Hills. It's not like he blew off the Yankees to become a bathing-suit salesman in Siberia. Pitching for a comically stacked Dodgers roster in a city like L.A. sounds like a pretty good life.

So where do the Yankees go from here? Their current rotation — Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, Clarke Schmidt, Nestor Cortes and Joey ToBeDetermined — is promising, but volatile and glaringly incomplete.

Cole, the reigning AL Cy Young, is both dependable and dominant. The 33-year-old is perhaps the sport's truest ace heading into 2024. Beyond him, there are more question marks than a Mario Kart track.

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Rodón arrived in The Bronx a year ago with a hefty contract and large expectations. His first season in pinstripes, though marred by injuries, was a disaster of epic proportions. The range of possibilities with the lefty in ‘24 — he could return to form and challenge for a Cy Young or keep the bad times rolling — is enormous. The latter half of Schmidt's 2023 season was encouraging enough to pencil him into the Yankees rotation for now, but that's the only sustained run of success the to-be 28 year old has at the big league level. And Cortes, after a scintillating breakout in 2022, was limited by injuries to just 12 starts in 2023. Health is wealth.

That's all to convey the obvious: The New York Yankees need another starting pitcher. Agents across the game know that. There are still a few of alluring starting pitching options remaining on the market and now it's safe to assume the Yankees will be rumored around many of them. Blake Snell, the consensus top arm remaining, probably doesn't make sense — having Rodón and Snell invites nuclear levels of volatility — but Jordan Montgomery, Lucas Giolito and Shota Imanaga are all good fits. Dylan Cease and Shane Bieber remain the likeliest starting pitchers to be traded this winter.

But for the Yankees, a team that should be operating on an unlimited budget, it's tough to swallow the idea of Yamamoto in another uniform, especially after such a relentless pursuit. Fortunately, they can commiserate with their crosstown rivals. For the Mets and Yanks, misery loves company.

Jake Mintz, the louder half of @CespedesBBQ is a baseball writer for FOX Sports. He played college baseball, poorly at first, then very well, very briefly. Jake lives in New York City where he coaches Little League and rides his bike, sometimes at the same time. Follow him on Twitter at @Jake_Mintz.

Deesha Thosar is an MLB writer for FOX Sports. She previously covered the Mets as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News. The daughter of Indian immigrants, Deesha grew up on Long Island and now lives in Queens. Follow her on Twitter at @DeeshaThosar.