Good December for Japanese baseball

By Silvio Canto, Jr.

Check out the sports page as we used to do.

It's been a very profitable Christmas season for a couple of Japanese exports.

First, it was Shohei Ohtani or the $700 million man.

And second, it's pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto who just inked a huge contract too. Check it out:

The highest-touted Japanese pitcher in the history of baseball has reportedly shattered the record books.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a 25-year-old who has been named the MVP of the Pacific League in the Nippon Professional Baseball league in Japan for three straight years, has agreed to a 12-year, $325 million deal with, who else but, the Los Angeles Dodgers, according to multiple reports.

The Dodgers continue their massive spending spree in free agency after inking Yoshinobu's World Baseball Classic teammate Shohei Ohtani to a $700 million pact, the largest in North American sports. They also acquired Tyler Glasnow in a trade and then signed him to a five-year, $135 million extension.

Cheers for Dodgers' fans.

Maybe the Rangers can meet L.A. in the World Series.

Ohtani has played in the majors for a few years and Shoei can play. He can't pitch for awhile because of an injury, but he is a great hitter.

Yamamoto has never faced major league hitting every five games. With all due respect to the Japanese league, I think that Yoshinobu will soon realize that major league hitters are in the majors for a reason.

Let's hope that the two contribute to a winning season and the Dodgers don't get eliminated quickly in the post seaason.

In other words, they were signed to put L.A. in the World Series.

Let's hope that it works out but I'm skeptical of a pitcher who has never pitched at the major league level. I guess that I remember a fellow named Yu Darvish who signed with the Rangers in 2012 and never lived up to expectations.

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Image: Pixabay / Pixabay License