‘I’m just playing the heel.’ Josh Reddick on that viral Yoshinobu Yamamoto tweet
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- Josh Reddick’s viral 2023 tweet criticizing Yoshinobu Yamamoto’s $325-million contract resurfaced with 12 million views after the pitcher’s World Series complete game.
- Though admitting he was wrong, Reddick embraces being the villain, comparing his role to professional wrestling and pledging to play the heel for the Dodgers.
If you’re not on social media, good for you. If you are, you know that any good start by Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto is immediately followed by a flood of venom aimed at former major league outfielder Josh Reddick.
No sooner had Yamamoto thrown his World Series complete game 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 moron.
The Dodgers’ inability to play a clean game on defense in Game 5 of the World Series is one of the reasons why the team is on the cusp of losing to Toronto.
In 2023, the Dodgers signed Yamamoto, the winner of Japan’s version of the Cy Young award for three years running, for $325 million.
Reddick’s tweet: “How do you 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 sounds insane in modern baseball — throw his third consecutive complete game.
Two weeks ago, after Yamamoto had thrown a complete game in the National League Championship Series, Reddick appeared on the “Crush City Territory” podcast.
“If Paul Skenes did not exist, Yoshinobu Yamamoto would be winning the Cy Young, going away,” podcast host Chandler Rome said.
Then Rome asked Reddick to answer for 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 somebody else. That’s just my opinion, and I’m allowed to have it because it’s social media …
“That was my opinion, and obviously it was wrong. This guy has been phenomenal, and very, very, very, very, very, very good to come over here and do what he’s done. I’ll admit I was wrong on that one.”
Reddick said he regularly hears about it from Dodgers fans.
“They enjoy it,” he said. “I just love how much I live in Dodgers fans’ heads every day, and how they just look forward to making it feel like they’re upsetting me by sending these tweets and just completely ruining my day.
Hernández: Why Dodgers’ faulty bullpen construction will cost them the 2025 World Series title
The Dodgers somehow concealed their piñata of a bullpen in the three previous rounds of the postseason, but that bullpen is now catching up with them.
“If you’re a Dodger fan: It doesn’t bother me. So you do you for your two seconds of fame, and go back to work.”
At the time of the podcast, Reddick’s tweet had 9 million views. Now it has 12 million.
“It’s like wrestling, man,” he said. “You’ve got to be the good guy or the bad guy. As long as you’re a guy who’s getting noticed, you’re doing something right.
“I’m just playing the heel for the Dodgers for the rest of my life.”
