Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto is the talk of the MLB free agent market right now. It also appears that he’s holding things up as it relates to starter-needy teams adding upgrades in their rotation via other means.
Unfortunately, that could end up being the case for the next couple weeks. According to this note from Bob Klapisch of the Newark Star-Ledger, teams in the running believe Yamamoto’s decision won’t come until after Christmas. A timeline of between January 1-4 was also mentioned as a real possibility.
The New York Yankees, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays are among the teams in on Yamamoto. More recently, a report indicated that the bidding could reach north of $300 million for the generational 25-year-old talent.
Related: MLB insider reveals heavy favorite to sign Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Yoshinobu Yamamoto waiting game and impact on MLB free agency
Teams in the running on Yamamoto are not left to make a decision about whether to simply move on to other options. For example, both the New York Mets and San Francisco Giants have been linked to reigning NL Cy Youg winner Blake Snell in free agency. Perhaps, one of those teams simply decides that it’s too much of a risk to wait on Yamamoto.
Said decision would come with major drawbacks, especially for a team like the Giants who already lost out on Shohei Ohtani to the Dodgers. There is a reason why Yamamoto’s asking price has gone up and there are still so many teams interested in him. He has the potential to be a game-changing ace as the MLB level.
- Yoshinobu Yamamoto stats (Japan): 75-30 record, 1.72 ERA, 0.92 WHIP
As the process continues to play out, it would not be a surprise if some of the teams mentioned above looked at other options.
In addition to Snell, there are a number of quality starters on the MLB free agent market. That includes Jordan Montgomery, Marcus Stroman, Shota Imanga, Lucas Giolito and Michael Lorenzen (all among our top-20 free agents).
The trade market also includes Dylan Cease (Chicago White Sox) and Corbin Burnes (Milwaukee Brewers). It will be interesting to see what happens on this front moving forward.