Yankees have best chance to land Yoshinobu Yamamoto, per MLB insider

After meeting with Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Monday, the Yankees are feeling good, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post.

But they’re not alone in Yamamoto’s pursuit. Just this week alone, aside from the Yankees, Yamamoto has met with the Giants, Dodgers and Phillies. He’s expected to meet the Blue Jays and the Red Sox soon.

The Mets are in on the three-time Pacific League MVP winner too. Last week, a group of Mets officials, including owner Steve Cohen and David Stearns, traveled the 14 hours to Japan to meet Yamamoto.

Of all these teams, Heyman feels that Yamamoto will choose the Yankees, giving them 2-1 odds. Here’s why:

“The contingent of Hal Steinbrenner, Randy Levine, Brian Cashman, Aaron Boone and Matt Blake flew to Los Angeles for their meeting with Yamamoto, and if it’s prestige and attention he seeks, they may be the choice,” Heyman wrote in The New York Post on Friday. “Steinbrenner may have limits, but he’s showing this is one of those winters where he’s determined to improve the team off its “disastrous” 82-80 season.”

There’s good reason for the hoopla surrounding Yamamoto. The 25-year-old posted a 16-6 record with a 1.21 ERA, his third consecutive season with a sub-two ERA, and 169 strikeouts over 164 innings for the Orix Buffaloes last season. This earned him a Sawamura Award, Japan’s Cy Young Award equivalent for the third year in a row.

With so much interest in the right-hander, his price tag, once believed to be around $200 million, has gone up. Recent reports indicate that Yamamoto will earn somewhere around $250 million. With a posting fee of approximately $45 million, the Yankees will need to be prepared to part ways with close to $300 million for his services.