Signing Yoshinobu Yamamoto to huge contract could be a risky bet for Los Angeles Dodgers
CALIFORNIA — The New York Yankees used to be called the “Evil Empire,” a backhanded reference to the term President Ronald Reagan famously used for the Soviet Union, after assuming office in 1981. Reagan often portrayed the struggle between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. as a moral war between good and evil. In some of his most famous speeches, he advocated a strong stance against the U.S.S.R., warning that the alternative was to abandon the struggle between right and wrong.
Larry Lucchino, the former President/CEO of the Boston Red Sox applied the name to the New York Yankees some two decades ago in 2002 after the Yankees beat him in a heated competition to sign Cuban pitching star Jose Contreras, paying him $32 million over four years.
This came shortly after the Yankees had also signed huge Japanese star Hideki Matsui, whose big night in Game 6 of the 2009 World Series helped the Yankees win the title. The Yankees would then take on superstar Alex Rodriguez in a trade with Texas Rangers, paying $22 million a year in baseball’s top contract at the time.
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