It appears that Dodgers fans are getting an early Christmas. Earlier reports showed that the Giants had been eliminated from the Yoshinobu Yamamoto sweepstakes. Then it was announced that a deal could happen within the next 48 hours. Yamamoto apparently had no intentions to wait as the deal with the Dodgers was announced late Thursday evening. Jack Curry of the YESNetwork was the first to report the news.

According to Jeff Passan, the deal is reportedly worth 12-years for $325 million. The Dodgers have now spent more than a billion dollars to bring the Japanese connection to LA. Although, Shohei Ohtani deferred most of his contract. Yamamoto has been the best pitcher in Japan for several years. By his age-20 campaign, he’d emerged as one of the top pitchers at the second-highest level of professional baseball in the world. He has continued to be dominant for seven consecutive seasons with the Orix Buffaloes.

Last season, Yamamoto turned in a 1.21 ERA through 168 frames. The best ERA in the NPB by nearly half a point among pitchers who had thrown more than 100 innings. He earned himself the highest-paid contract to a player who hasn’t thrown a single inning in Major League Baseball. The Dodgers had pursued Yamamoto since the beginning. They’ll look to have him in the rotation this season with Ohtani only being used as a hitter. Next season, however, the Dodgers rotation will feature two of the best arms to ever come out of Japan.

Yamamoto features impressive stuff in the mid-upper 90s with his split-finger fastball, a promising curveball and a cutter. Unlike his Japanese running mate, Yamamoto does not appear to have a deferral in his contract according to Bob Nightengale.

It was widely thought that Yamamoto would get the largest deal ever for a player coming over from NPB. He’s the first pitcher in recent memory to land a deal worth 10 or more years. The guarantee surpasses Gerrit Cole‘s deal as the largest guarantee given to a pitcher. When you add in Tyler Glasnow’s deal, the Dodgers have spent a combined $1,161,500,000 this offseason.

There are opt-outs in the deal. Yamamoto has the option to opt out after the sixth and eighth seasons.

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