Aaron Boone reveals reason for Yankees' misplaced confidence on Yoshinobu Yamamoto

Remember how odd it was when Aaron Boone was willing to publicly drop the "Yoshinobu Yamamoto No. 18 jersey" story at a charity event? At that point, it felt as if the Yankees were either so confident they were about to sign Yamamoto that they were willing to spill secrets, or so confident they weren't getting him that they no longer cared.

Turns out, it might've been a combination of the two. Boone's unlikely to ever confess exactly what he knew when he knew it, but the Yankees manager opened up once more at Jomboy Media's Talkin' Yanks live podcast event this week, admitting that he believed the Yankees and Dodgers were the two cemented finalists in the chase.

That very well may have been the case, but the righty chose the Dodgers just a few days after Boone began to share anecdotes (and just a few hours after he flip-flopped on attending a Rams game with Shohei Ohtani).

As Boone tells it, the Yankees knew both their LA and New York meetings with Yamamoto went well, and they loved the player and person. In the end, living in Los Angeles -- and having Ohtani in his ear, deferring money for his cause -- made the difference.

Yankees believed Yamamoto meetings 'went well' but draw of LA was too strong

Unfortunately, the Jack Curry-delivered dagger sealed the Yankees' fate just before Christmas. The team's most plugged-in insider knew more than some side dork on the Pat McAfee Show. Go figure.

Now, the Yankees will move forward with Marcus Stroman plugging up their rotation and internal reinforcements on the way -- not to mention an extra $325 million they can more comfortably award to Juan Soto next winter, if all goes well this season.

Shoutout to Boone, too, for including the slightest dig at the Dodgers, admitting that he hopes the Yankees knife through the American League and get a chance to rough up Yamamoto a little bit on the national stage. After all, the Dodgers have been much better than the Yankees at reaching the World Series since 2009, but they haven't done a phenomenal job winning it once they get there -- especially if normal-sized crowds are in the stands and they're forced to play at non-neutral sites like Fenway Park.