Christmas week is generally viewed as a slow time of year on the MLB calendar.
But once in a while, a free agent signing or trade can really shake things up.
That's what the Los Angeles Dodgers did two years ago. It was this week that they signed Yoshinobu Yamamoto to a $325 million free agent contract from Japan.
ESPN's Kiley McDaniel wrote a new article ranking the biggest Christmas week moves, and he ranked this as his No. 1.
Yamamoto, of course, was just absolutely brilliant to lead the Dodgers to a repeat World Series title in 2025.
"It's just not recency bias that put this deal atop our list because Yamamoto is one of the best pitchers in the game, has two rings, is coming off an especially strong playoff run, and got his contract after a multipart bidding battle with a number of big-market teams offering deals in the same ballpark as the Dodgers," McDaniel writes. "Though the next deal on this list seemed like maybe not a great idea at the time and that view was quickly vindicated, signing Yamamoto was seen as a great investment at the time of signing, even if the number was higher than anyone expected heading into the winter."
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No one expected a pitcher who had never thrown in MLB to get that much money.
Yamamoto has already proven worth it. It almost doesn't matter what he does for the rest of the deal, because he absolutely brilliant and magical during the 2025 postseason.
The Dodgers gave themselves a present by landing Yamamoto, and he returned the favor in a major way.
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