By CJ Carlson
The 25-year-old Japanese phenom Yoshinobu Yamamoto is expected to be heading to the MLB soon. However, he’s certainly got options as he comes in via the posting system. As it stands right now, Yamamoto has already met with two teams, the New York Mets and the New York Yankees. Each of them has been gaining interest in acquiring the star pitcher, but nobody is quite sure where he’ll end up.
It was reported over the weekend that Yamamoto had a second meeting with the Mets upper management, and that he actually asked to get the meeting himself. The meeting took place at Steve Cohen’s home, the owner of the organization. Other notable members of their brass were in attendance for the dinner in Connecticut as well. Prior to this meeting, the same staff flew out to Japan to meet Yamamoto and his family directly. If this was the only news to come out of the weekend, then Mets fans would be flying high. Unfortunately, that’s not the case.
In this same weekend, Yamamoto met with the New York Yankees. This came one day after he had dinner with the Mets. And just like with them, this was Yamamoto’s second meeting with the Yankees. He met with them earlier in Los Angeles the week before. After this news came out, reports were flying that the Yankees are the current favorite to sign Yamamoto to a contract. Somebody even threw in that the Los Angeles Dodgers are co-favorites to sign him as opposed to the Mets.
More Teams Interested In Yamamoto
Speaking of the Dodgers, they’ve already made their own pitch to sign him. In their meeting with the pitcher, they invited other star players on their team such as Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, and Will Smith. They are clearly attempting to use their star power to try and convince him to win a title with them. The Philadelphia Phillies did something similar when they included Bryce Harper in their meeting.
Other teams that have thrown their hat in the ring are the Toronto Blue Jays, San Francisco Giants, and the Boston Red Sox. Boston and San Franciso in particular have offered contracts listed over $300 million for him. Though, we won’t know his decision until January 4th at the latest. This is the deadline for him to sign with a club. It’s likely that he will choose ahead of that deadline. At this point, it could be any day now that he decides to take his talents to an organization.
