‘Just playing the heel’: Josh Reddick on his Yoshinobu Yamamoto tweet
If you’re not on social media, good for you. If that’s the case, you know that any good start from Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto is immediately followed by a flood of venom aimed at former major league outfielder Josh Reddick.
No sooner had Yamamoto pitched his complete game in the World Series last week than Reddick got 3 million views for one of his tweets from two years ago.
Many of those viewers were happy to tell him he was a jerk.
In 2023, the Dodgers signed Yamamoto, winner of the Japanese version of the Cy Young Award for three consecutive years, for $325 million.
Reddick’s tweet: “How to give a guy $325 million without ever throwing a pitch in MLB”
On Friday, the Dodgers will turn to Yamamoto to keep their season alive and force a Game 7 against the Toronto Blue Jays. He could — and this seems insane in modern baseball — throw his third straight complete game.
Two weeks ago, after Yamamoto pitched a complete game in the National League Championship Series, Reddick appeared on the “Crush City Territory” podcast.
“If Paul Skenes didn’t exist, Yoshinobu Yamamoto would win the Cy Young and be gone,” said podcast host Chandler Rome.
Rome then asked Reddick to respond to his tweet.
“I don’t think I would say I regret it,” Reddick said. “I’d probably say that tomorrow if they gave it [that money] to someone else. This is just my opinion, and I have the right to have it because it’s social media…
“That was my opinion, and obviously it was wrong. This guy was phenomenal and very, very, very, very, very, very good to come here and do what he did. I admit I was wrong about that.”
Reddick said he hears about it regularly from Dodgers fans.
“They like it,” he said. “I love how much I live in the heads of Dodgers fans every day and how eager they are to make it seem like they’re upsetting me by sending these tweets and completely ruining my day.
“If you’re a Dodgers fan: I don’t mind. So treat yourself to your two seconds of fame, and get back to work.”
At the time of the podcast, Reddick’s tweet had been viewed 9 million times. It now has 12 million.
“It’s like wrestling, man,” he says. “You have to be the good guy or the bad guy. As long as you’re a guy who gets noticed, you’re doing something right.
“I’m just playing heel for the Dodgers for the rest of my life.”
