Steve Cohen -- 'Life goes on' for Mets after missing out on Yamamoto - ESPN

Despite Japanese star Yoshinobu Yamamoto choosing to join the Dodgers in a high-profile move worth a total investment of $375 million, Mets owner Steve Cohen said he would not change a thing about how the team pursued the prized free agent pitcher.

«I think the whole organization tried our hardest, and someone was going to win and someone was going to lose and that is the way it goes,» Cohen told the New York Post on Friday. «I feel good about our efforts and I left it all on the field. Life goes on.»

As part of this steadfast effort to court Yamamoto to Queens, Cohen and president of baseball operations David Stearns went to Japan before the winter meetings to speak with the 25-year-old right-hander and his family. Yamamoto's tour around the United States included another stop with the Mets, a pair of visits with the Yankees and meetings with the Dodgers, Giants, Phillies and Red Sox.

The get-togethers helped Yamamoto crystallize his priorities before the teams started talking terms of the deal with Yamamoto and his agent, Joel Wolfe, on Monday. Cohen ultimately made a similar contract offer to Yamamoto — 12 years and $325 million plus opt-outs — but couldn't overcome the Dodgers, who have now accounted for more than half the spending across MLB in free agency this winter, following the 10-year, $700 million contract they gave to Shohei Ohtani, Yamamoto's countryman.

Cohen told the Post that missing out on Yamamoto would have minimal effect on how the Mets build for next year.

«Last I looked, there's never one player that is going to make or break your team,» Cohen said of Yamamoto, who has dominated Nippon Professional Baseball like nobody else in the league's 74-year history since transitioning from bullpen to the