The New York Yankees will reportedly meet with their top pitching target, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, on Monday — but not in New York.
According to the New York Post, the Yankees will fly to Los Angeles on Monday to meet with the superstar, who they hope will sign with them and join their rotation, which already includes Cy Young winner Gerrit Cole.
With Shohei Ohtani agreeing to a 10-year, $700 million contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the free-agent market is expected to heat up, with Yamamoto among the beneficiaries.
Yamamoto’s contract, along with the posting fee to his Nippon Professional Baseball team, the Orix Buffaloes, could total $300 million, according to the Post.
The Yankees were one of up to 14 teams that spoke with Yamamoto and his representatives a few weeks ago via Zoom or phone.
During that time, Steve Cohen, the owner of the New York Mets, traveled to Japan to meet with Yamamoto.
Yamamoto is expected to meet with the teams he believes are the finalists this week, following the initial meetings.
He has until January 4 to reach an agreement after being posted by Orix.
Whoever signs Yamamoto will be getting a one-of-a-kind player who has won three straight Pacific League MVP awards as well as three straight Sawamura Awards, which are equivalent to the Japanese Cy Young.
Along with Ichiro Suzuki and Hisashi Yamada, he is only the third player in NPB history to win MVP three years in a row.
Yamamoto went 16-6 with a 1.21 ERA and struck out 169 batters in 164 innings in 2023. He threw his second career no-hitter and appeared in the Japan Series, striking out 14 batters in Game 6, setting a series record.
Yamamoto has a record of 70-29. He has a fastball in the mid-90s, but he is best known for a variety of breaking pitches that can confuse hitters. He also won gold medals for Japan at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
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