(Photo credit score: Yukihito Taguchi-USA TODAY Sports)
Highly coveted Japanese free-agent right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto has already met with the New York Yankees, New York Mets and San Francisco Giants, and per a number of media studies, he is slated to speak with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays and some different groups quickly.
Despite lately shelling out $700 million to Shohei Ohtani (although $680 million will likely be deferred till after the contract expires), the Dodgers wish to increase their rotation and are anticipated to satisfy with Yamamoto this week, per a Bally Sports report.
While New York Yankees ace Gerrit Cole is the one main league pitcher to signal a contract over $300 million (9 years, $324 million), hypothesis round baseball has Yamamoto doubtlessly touchdown a nine-year deal at $30-34 million per season.
Yamamoto has till Jan. 4 at 5 p.m. ET, when the 45-day window on his posting closes, to signal with a significant league crew. Per The Athletic, Yamamoto is predicted to choose a crew “within the next two weeks or so.”
The 25-year-old Yamamoto spent the previous six-plus seasons with the Orix Buffaloes, compiling a 70-29 report with one save and a 1.82 ERA in 172 video games. He has struck out 922 batters over 897 innings.
In 23 video games in 2023, he completed with a 16-6 report and 1.21 ERA with 169 strikeouts in 164 innings. Those numbers helped him to his third straight Triple Crown within the Pacific League of Nippon Professional Baseball as he led the league in wins, ERA and strikeouts.
Only three pitchers in Major League Baseball have received the pitching Triple Crown 3 times — Sandy Koufax, Walter Johnson and Grover Cleveland Alexander.
Yamamoto additionally has received the Eiji Sawamura Award, which equals the Cy Young Award, 3 times.
The 5-foot-10 Yamamoto received a gold medal with Japan within the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and one other within the World Baseball Classic earlier this yr.
–Field Level Media