Baseball: A Two-Way Player

Due to the private clinic for treatment being in Los Angeles, Lin Guanglai naturally arranged this season's independent training session in Los Angeles—besides him, Shohei Ohtani, who officially announced joining the Los Angeles Dodgers during the offseason, and Aaron Judge, born in Sacramento, California, also came to the scene as spring training partners.

Currently, with several major MLB stars appearing in Los Angeles, such a lineup attracted many media and fans to attend: although it was nominally a semi-closed independent training, this still couldn't stop the enthusiasm of local fans.

When Lin Guanglai arrived at the site, the few hundred people gathered at the edge of the training ground quickly erupted into a huge cheer, waving various support items in their hands, frantically trying to squeeze to the front to have some physical interaction with Lin Guanglai.

If the Los Angeles Police Department hadn't received reports early, who knows what kind of disturbance might have happened.

Lin Guanglai smiled and waved to the fans, and soon walked inside the training ground; it was only then that he realized he wasn't the earliest to arrive—when he had just put down his equipment bag, Aaron Judge had already finished his running warm-up and was preparing to start passing with the assistant coaches around him.

"Brother, welcome back—it looks like your injury has recovered well." As soon as Aaron Judge saw Lin Guanglai, he walked to him and gave his friend a big hug.

Lin Guanglai patted Judge's back and replied with a smile, "Yes, Aaron, I'm back. In the upcoming new season, let's lead the Yankees to the top once again!" As he spoke, Lin Guanglai didn't forget to extend his right fist toward Judge's direction.

The two old teammates and good brothers, who have partnered for nearly 10 years, lightly bumped fists and then exchanged smiles.

If there were journalists on the scene, this moment would undoubtedly be faithfully recorded as material; however, just as it seemed like such a beautiful moment for Yankees fans, it was broken by the arrival of an "unexpected guest" in the next second.

"Though I'm also happy to see Guanglai return to the field, have you Yankees asked us Dodgers if you want to win the World Series?" Shohei Ohtani walked into the field with a bag, interrupting the calm with such a statement.

Lin Guanglai didn't retort with Ohtani anymore, as his gaze was now focused on the "little tail" following behind Ohtani: "Okay Yuusen, you brat actually chose to go to the Dodgers, and here I thought I've been so good to you!"

Just saying wasn't enough, he immediately walked over to Yamamoto Yushin's direction, stretched out his hand to clasp Yuusen's neck, and teased him in a playful tone while messing around with his junior.

Lin Guanglai and Yamamoto Yuusen have known each other for a long time, when they first met Yamamoto had not even entered Nippon Professional Baseball; over the past many years, every time Lin Guanglai returned to Japan to prepare for training during the offseason, he would also bring this younger brother who was three years his junior, forming quite a deep bond between them.

Yamamoto Yuusen is the best pitcher in Nippon Professional Baseball in recent years, second to none, and following the 2014-16 seasons of Lin Guanglai, is the second player in history to achieve a three-peat of MVP and the Eiji Sawamura Award:

During 2021-23, he maintained a sub-2 ERA for three consecutive years, with all pitching-related statistics topping in Japan; most importantly, unlike the tall and well-conditioned Lin Guanglai, Yamamoto Yuusen's height is only 178 cm, completely ordinary—achieving such milestones with an unremarkable physical talent is unparalleled even in history.

This is precisely why, when last season ended and 25-year-old Yamamoto Yuusen declared for posting, many MLB teams sent teams to Japan eager to be the first to sign him.

Amid ever-scarcer outstanding pitcher resources with increasing ceiling and short endurance types, a pitcher like Yamamoto Yuusen, who can not only consume a lot of innings but also consistently deliver ace performances, is truly invaluable.

Thanks to Lin Guanglai and Yamamoto Yuusen's personal connection, he also recommended him to the Yankees' higher-ups:

Under normal circumstances, based on the Yankees' performance in recent years and Lin Guanglai's connection, the New York Yankees were inherently several steps ahead in the competition for Yamamoto compared to other clubs;

At that time, both professional media and betting centers were optimistic about Yamamoto Yuusen bringing his talent to the Bronx in the new season to fight alongside Lin Guanglai.

However, unexpectedly, as more clubs joined the competition for Yamamoto Yuusen, the situation became thoroughly muddled—especially with the Dodgers, keen on finding a successor ace after Kershaw's rapid aging, and the Yankees' so-called "new-rich" neighbors, the New York Mets, both joining in, Yamamoto Yuusen's contract quickly skyrocketed to an astronomical figure.

Initially, the Yankees planned to value Yamamoto Yuusen at 12 years, $280-300 million, with an average annual salary of about $24 million—for a pitcher who has never thrown a ball in MLB, this was already an overvalued contract;

However, after the Dodgers and Mets intervened, the total value of this contract swiftly exceeded $300 million, even surpassing the Yankees' previous 9-year, $324 million agreement with Gerrit Cole, exceeding the Yankees' affordability range.