The Yankees want Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The Mets may complicate their pursuit

June 09, 2024

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — When the New York Yankees honored their 1998 World Series championship team on Old Timers’ Day this year, a notable figure was missing at the ballpark. Instead, New York’s general manager was in Japan scouting a 25-year-old starting pitcher who the Yankees hope can become a key figure in their next World Series pursuit.

On that September day, in front of not just Brian Cashman but numerous other MLB executives, Yoshinobu Yamamoto threw a no-hitter. Cashman sat behind home plate and watched in awe as Yamamoto spun his second career no-hitter. It’s an experience that’s stuck with him months later. He told reporters in November how he kept the ticket stub as a keepsake that he plans on passing down to his son.

“It’s special whether you see that in high school, college or the pro ranks,” Cashman said on Tuesday at MLB’s Winter Meetings. “It made my trip worthwhile flying all that way to watch the artistry play out, which was really moving. For him to do that for his fans and his team as they were going through their playoff effort, it was cool. I didn’t learn anything new. I had already been educated enough on him over the course of our scouting years knowing the type of talent he was. He just showed it. But it wasn’t surprising.”

The Yankees have extensively scouted him for several years now, and Cashman said nothing about that trip was revelatory because of the amount of homework the team had already done before his visit. Cashman said the Yankees had a scout, who’s based in Japan, at every single one of Yamamoto’s games this season. He also said the team sent a collection of their pro scouts to Japan every month to have as much information on Yamamoto as possible. That list most notably includes senior advisor Omar Minaya, director of baseball operations Matt Ferry, director of pro scouting Matt Daley and vice president of baseball operations Tim Naehring.

Unlike Yankees manager Aaron Boone, who said he has previously met Yamamoto and plans on meeting him again this winter, Cashman would not confirm if he’s already met with him and if he plans on doing so in the future. Cashman has had dialogue throughout the offseason though with Yamamoto’s agent, Joel Wolfe.

Sometimes what’s spoken about in the offseason doesn’t amount to much of anything other than noise, but all of the Yankees’ actions suggest their pursuit of Yamamoto is very serious. Along with San Diego Padres star outfielder Juan Soto, Yamamoto is viewed as one of the team’s highest priorities this offseason. The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal reported that the expectation is Yamamoto will receive a contract “considerably” higher than $200 million.

That certainly could complicate the Yankees’ pursuit of the three-time Sawamura Award winner, Nippon Professional Baseball’s equivalent of the Cy Young. The New York Mets are known suitors of Yamamoto and no one in the sport has deeper pockets than owner Steve Cohen. Forbes ranks Cohen as the 94th richest person in the world; Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner ranks as the 2,133rd richest. In other words, if it comes down to a bidding war between Cohen and Steinbrenner, the former could push the price to a level the Yankees may be uncomfortable with. The Yankees may not know what the Mets offer Yamamoto unless Wolfe decides to share the competing offers with rival executives, but Cashman said he had assurances from Steinbrenner that they will be competitive.

New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman speaks to reporters Tuesday at baseball’s Winter Meetings. (George Walker IV / Associated Press)

“I don’t know if anybody can compete with Steve Cohen,” Cashman said. “He’s obviously a titan of (our) industry. He’s had a lot of success and built an empire, which has allowed him to do things like (own) the Mets. Good for him and his family. I think we can just concentrate on what we’re going to concentrate on. Obviously, if it’s a player of interest, we’ll compete for him and see where that takes us and it will be enough or it won’t be enough but that said, I think we do have a strong setup currently and we’d just like to add to it.”

Cashman views the state of the Yankees’ rotation as a positive when they’re all healthy. That was an obvious problem this past year as Carlos Rodón, Nestor Cortes and Luis Severino each battled injuries, while Domingo Germán ended the season on the restricted list. Outside of Gerrit Cole, the reigning American League Cy Young winner, there are question marks.

The Yankees say they expect Rodón to bounce back and return to the Cy Young contender he was for two seasons with the San Francisco Giants. Cortes started his throwing program on Monday and has recovered from his shoulder injury. Michael King is expected to be a starter coming into camp, and he was lights out in that role. But the Yankees need more starting depth. Even if they add Yamamoto, they could still use one more starter. Cashman said he’s had conversations with Scott Boras about bringing back Frankie Montas.

But the priority on the starting pitching front is Yamamoto. The Yankees have a history of success in signing Japanese players, like Masahiro Tanaka, Hideki Matsui and Hiroki Kuroda. Boone said early Tuesday that he thinks Yamamoto would look good in pinstripes. Cashman echoed that sentiment and hopes Yamamoto becomes the next great Japanese talent in New York.

“I think he’s gonna be a really successful pitcher anywhere he pitches on the planet,” Cashman said. “He’s a free agent and we’ll see where it takes us. But yeah, we’ve definitely had conversations, and we’ll give it our best efforts.”

GO DEEPER

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(Top photo: Christopher Pasatieri / Getty Images)

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