Last week, in a daring and unusual move, New York Mets manager Steve Cohen quietly demonstrated how serious he is about signing Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
This past season, the Mets had a terrible performance, following their 2022 campaign with 101 victories. The team was surprisingly sellers at the MLB trade deadline because of how awful their first half had been and the lack of any indication that things would get better. But New York appears determined to turn things around during the offseason.
After dealing aces Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer, the organization reportedly punched it would remain a competitive team until 2025. However, over the past month, reports have indicated that they have been active in the free-agent market. They might not be far off, even though they might not be throwing around as much money as they have in the past few offseasons.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto, a three-time NPB MVP, is the most sought-after player in this year’s market, behind Los Angeles Angels star Shohei Ohtani. The New York Mets have been considered as a top contender for the services of the 25-year-old pitching phenom for almost two months. But as the market for him has expanded, so too has the price tag; some have estimated that it could reach $300 million.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto is “seriously” considering the New York Mets.
It would make sense if the Mets changed their strategy away from the Japanese pitcher and focused on finding more reasonably priced options to cover the numerous holes in their starting rotation, given the sizeable payroll they will have in 2019 due to the fact that they will be paying a large portion of what’s left on Verlander and Scherzer’s contracts.
However, owner Steve Cohen of New York demonstrated last week that he is not messing around in the Yamamoto market and isn’t currently considering cheap options.
Unbeknownst to most baseball fans, SNY’s Andy Martino revealed this week that the manager of the Mets actually flew to Japan to meet with the pitcher and his representatives in order to demonstrate his seriousness about signing him. Owners don’t often visit players in North America, so going from New York to Japan is a whole different level of demonstrating support.
According to Martino, Yamamoto is still planning to go through the process and speak with all interested teams; however, a deal might not be reached for a few weeks. However, it appears that the Mets are currently in the lead.
“The Mets are a serious contender for Yamamoto.” Martino declared on SNY on Thursday that “After speaking with his representatives, it seems that they are considering the Mets’ candidacy seriously. As such, this is something to keep an eye on, though perhaps not in the near future. Maybe not even this week.”