Sep 19, 2023; San Diego, California, USA; San Diego Padres starting pitcher Blake Snell (4) smiles after the last out of the top of the sixth inning was recorded against the Colorado Rockies at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Orlando Ramirez-USA TODAY Sports
The Mets have more than enough competition for the services of Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
While they boast the allure of being the highest bidder thanks to Steve Cohen’s riches, the crosstown-rival Yankees have the defending AL Cy Young Award winner in Gerrit Cole and a newly-formed two-headed monster within the top-third of their lineup with Aaron Judge and Juan Soto, who was acquired last week from the San Diego Padres.
The Los Angeles Dodgers, however, appear to be unstoppable. They made historic deferments to Shohei Ohtani’s 10-year, $700 million contract — paying him just $2 million per year through 2023 — to ensure there was enough cap space to make other marquee signings.
Sure, Cohen and David Stearns flew to Japan to meet with the 25-year-old right-handed ace two weeks ago and the Yankees had a roundtable with the three-time Sawamura Award winner on Monday. But the Dodgers rolled out Ohtani, Mookie Betts, and Freddie Freeman in their pitch for the three-time Nippon Professional Baseball MVP on Tuesday, according to The Athletic.
That’s a hard lineup to beat.
Should Yamamoto choose anywhere but Queens, though, where do the Mets go?
They still need a top-of-the-rotation arm to support Kodai Senga and bolster a staff that is still plenty thin. Besides Yamamoto’s compatriot in Senga, the Mets have Jose Quintana as a mid-rotation option while signing Luis Severino as a reclamation project. David Peterson, Tylor Megill, and Joey Lucchesi stand as bottom-of-the-rotation options for what could very well be a six-man group.
New York’s best avenue of finding that is on the free-agent market considering trading for an ace like Tyler Glasnow would mean subtracting from a suddenly robust farm…
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