As we’ve discussed, Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto is one of the most well-regarded pitchers to come over to MLB via the posting system since Masahiro Tanaka or Yu Darvish. The 25-year-old righty is a stud, and is going to to ꦚcommand a ma🎉ssive payday this offseason, almost certainly over $200 million between his contract and the posting fee.
The Cubs have reportedly been among the teams scouting Yamamoto this year, as they obviously should be. With a very good group of players in place for the next several years, and with a top farm system coming up behind them, it would be irresponsible for the Cubs NOT to be aggressive in their free agent pursuits over the next few offseasons. Just as it was the last two offseasons, that doesn’t mean the Cubs will land every top free agent or even every decent free agent they pursue. But they’ve gotta at least be serious on the top guys, and sometimes you do land them.
To that end, I am happy to see that Cubs President of Baseball Operations Jed Hoyer is going to personally go to Japan to see Yamamoto’s next start:
To be crystal clear, Hoyer going to Japan does not guarantee anything – a serious bid, much less a signing. But it does convey a level of seriousness that could be important to Yamamoto, and is potentially an important part of the actual vetting process. Sure, Hoyer can watch every video available and scrub every data set, but why wouldn’t Hoyer also want to see Yamamoto with his own eyes before considering a $200+ million investment?
I can’t wait to see how Yamamoto’s free agency plays out. While Shohei Ohtani will still be the biggest story even after his injury, Yamamoto is a 25-year-old ace, available for only money. Th🦂is is deeply important stuff.
I’m sure the Cubs would love to have Yamamoto’s arm in the rotation, but I also suspect they wouldn’t hate having two Japanese stars on the same team (Yamamoto and Seiya Suzuki). That’s a big, baseball-hungry market in Asia to which you could market your team as one of the best in MLB for Japanese fans.
