Will the New York Yankees be treated to an expensive holiday gift of Yoshinobu Yamamoto this month?
While the stakes heat up with offers from interested teams, manager Aaron Boone told reporters on Thursday at a charity Christmas event in the Bronx that the Yankees have done everything possible to be on Yamamoto’s “nice” list.
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Included in their pitch: a video message from former Japanese star Hideki Matsui, who also signed a jersey for him, according to MLB.com; and a No. 18 Yamamoto jersey for the Japanese ace himself.
“I gave him that jersey,” Boone said, per The Athletic. “It’s his if he wants to keep it.”
The Yankees held meetings with Yamamoto in Los Angeles and Manhattan, which came Sunday, Boone said.
“It’s been fun to get to meet him a couple times and be around, you know, have conversations and interact,” said Boone, who called him “special.”
A highlight of their session, according to Boone, was discussing the atmosphere around Yankees baseball, especially pressure-packed moments.
“We talked about some different rivalries,” Boone said. “What’s the stadium like in playoff environments or big regular-season games against the Red Sox or, you know, we open the season in Houston. We talked about those things.
“You can see those competition things kind of light him up a little bit.”
Yamamoto has a career 1.82 ERA in Nippon Professional Baseball, where he’s won the Japanese equivalent of the Cy Young and MVP award for three seasons in a row. The 25-year-old with frontline stuff could command a long-term contract of around $300 million, according to reports.
The Philadelphia Phillies made an offer, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer, and they have been “aggressive” in their pursuit. The Yankees, New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox are also among the teams in the mix, according to reports.
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