NEWSLETTER
Shohei Ohtani continues to be the central focus of much of the baseball world – it certainly takes up 95% of my brain – but he is not the only top free agent out there this offseason.
I keep thinking about how 25-year-old Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto would be regarded as a story if Ohtani weren’t also a free agent. I think it would be seen as significantly bigger than it is now. You can tell from how aggressively teams are pursuing Yamamoto, even as we all know the price tag is climbing well over $200 million.
Consider Jon Heyman’s latest, discussing the New York teams and Yamamoto, while noting, “The Dodgers, Giants, Red Sox, Phillies, Cubs, Cardinals (), D-Backs and Tigers are all linked to Yamamoto.” That’s in addition to the Mets and Yankees, who are seen by many as the favorites. (The Yankees, by the way, are trying to pull of a Juan-Soto-Yoshinobu-Yamamoto combo, according to Heyman.)
It’s just an enormous grouping of interested teams – nearly half the league! – which you don’t usually see for free agents who get into the $200+ million range.
But that’s how significant Yamamoto is as a free agent.
Something else to note on his pursuit, via Andy Martino out of SNY, who writes that the Mets are “heavily in the mix” for Yamamoto. But the Mets talk transitions to Dodgers talk, and I think you’ll find this at least mildly interesting:
“As for Yamamoto, he is intrigued by the iconography and history of the Yankees and Dodgers. But the less iconic Mets (Steve Cohen is hoping to change that perception, but hasn’t had enough time yet) have a deep desire to sign him and deeper pockets than anyone. For these reasons, they are real players for Yamamoto, despite the utter lack of buzz linking the two sides. The Mets will try their best to sign him.
A Yamamoto doomsday scenario for New York baseball exists in which Shohei Ohtani chooses a team other than the Dodgers — semi-informed gossip about that scenario is rampant this week in baseball circles — leaving Los Angeles with hundreds of millions of dollars to lavish on Yamamoto.”
I refuse to take that “semi-informed gossip” too far and open my heart up to getting crushed, but I will point out that it’s interesting the Dodgers are at least open to the possibility that they won’t get Ohtani. And, in turn, they would go whole hog on Yamamoto.
That makes me wonder whether the Dodgers – and other teams like the Cubs? – are trying to hold Yamamoto off until Ohtani makes his decision. You’ll recall, that was always my theory about how Yamamoto would maximize his dollars, and it sounds like his dream scenario is that Ohtani DOESN’T go to the Dodgers.
As for the Cubs, it’s been completely silent on all things Yamamoto, which I ascribe more to the almost-singular focus on Ohtani at the moment, rather than them not being interested in Yamamoto. Of course they’re interested in Yamamoto. Now, would they invest upwards of $250 million in a pitcher? Even a 25-year-old Japanese ace? I’m less sure about that. We might not know until and unless Ohtani chooses a team that isn’t the Cubs.
Which is to say, I really hope we never know!
