"Yoshinobu Yamamoto wanted to get ahead of Gerrit Cole's money" - Mets analyst explains failed pursuit of Dodgers ace

Yoshinobu Yamamoto will start Game 4 of the National League Championship Series for the Los Angeles Dodgers against the New York Mets. As the Japanese superstar makes his third postseason start, the Mets would remember that they had a chance to sign him early on in the offseason.

A number of teams were interested in signing Yoshinobu Yamamoto when he was posted from Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. This included the New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies and the Mets. Yankees and the Phillies weren't able to offer him the highest price, and while the Mets matched the Dodgers' offer, it came down Yamamoto wanting to play in the west coast.

On the The Mets Pod podcast, co-hosts Connor Rodgers and Joe DeMayo discussed the possibility of Yamamoto signing with the team last winter. Rodgers pointed out that one of the major reasons that pushed Yamamoto's massive contract was his willingness to be ahead of Gerrit Cole's $324 million nine-year contract.

"It is just a fun dichotomy, because we spent how many months on this show talking about the Mets and Yoshinobu Yamamoto and it wasn't until a couple days before he signed with the Dodgers that I still thought he was ending up with the Mets.

"I was like 'Mets are just going to give him the highest offer and he's going to take the most money' and it turns out he wanted to be in LA and he wasn't just going to keep upping it. He wanted to get ahead of Gerrit Cole's money which he did and he wanted to be in LA, which he did," -Rodgers said. [32:40]

California tax laws helped Yoshinobu Yamamoto's Los Angeles decision

The break down of Dodgers' deal with Yamamoto was, $325 million for 12 years, with an opt-out clause in the sixth and eighth years. Along with that they also paid him a hefty $50 million bonus. The Yankees couldn't offer a similar bonus, but the Mets matched the offer.

Californian state laws exempted him from paying a high $7 million in tax, something that he would have had to pay in the state of New York had he signed in Queens. This might have prompted Yamamoto to sign with the Dodgers.