Yankees ready to put ‘best foot forward’ in possible bidding war for Yoshinobu Yamamoto, even against Steve Cohen’s Mets

Cashman: 'I don’t know if anyone can compete against Steve Cohen'

12/5/2023, 11:38 PM
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Sitting at the top of the free-agent class alongside superstar two-way talent Shohei Ohtani this offseason is star Japanese right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

The 25-year-old starting pitcher has been generating a ton of buzz throughout the course of the offseason, drawing interest from a number of different teams in need of some help atop their starting rotation.

While it’s still early in the process, the Yankees and Mets are considered among the favorites in the Yamamoto sweepstakes.

The righty isn’t expected to sign during this week’s Winter Meetings, but with such widespread interest across the league, there’s been numerous reports that his price tag is growing by the day.

Many, including Yankees general manager Brian Cashman, are expecting a bidding war for Yamamoto's services, and if it does come to that Cash says the team is ready to compete.

“We’re going to approach it with what we think is best,” he said. “We’ll compete, but I don’t know what the other teams are throwing. We just have to put our best foot forward in what we are willing to do and hopefully hit the right spot for him.

“We’ve definitely had conversations, we’ve scouted him extensively and we’ll just give this our best efforts.”

The Yankees have extensively scouted and shown heavy interest in Yamamoto leading up to him being posted this offseason, with Cashman even traveling to Japan to see the right-hander throw a no-hitter this year.

The Bombers even saved his No. 18 over the past two seasons, which is normally reserved for aces over in Japan, and both the GM and manager Aaron Boone agreed he’d look great in Yankee pinstripes.

Cashman knows that won’t come easy, though, especially if it comes down to a bidding war against Steve Cohen and the Mets, who recorded the highest payroll in baseball last season. 

“I don’t know if anyone can compete against Steve Cohen. He’s a titan of industries and has had a lot of success building an empire, which has allowed him and his family to do things like the Mets,” he said.

“But we can just concentrate on what we’re going to concentrate on. Obviously, it’s a player of interest, we’ll compete for him and see where that takes us, either it will be enough or it won’t be enough. I think we have a strong setup currently and we’d like to add to it if we can.”

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