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MLB Insider Suggests Seattle Mariners Could Be Player For Front Line Japanese Starting Pitcher

Could the Seattle Mariners make a surprise run at free agent pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto?

Brady Farkas

MLB Insider Suggests Seattle Mariners Could Be Player For Front Line Japanese Starting Pitcher
MLB Insider Suggests Seattle Mariners Could Be Player For Front Line Japanese Starting Pitcher /
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Could the Seattle Mariners make a surprise run at free agent starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto?

MLB Insider Jon Morosi of the MLB Network suggests that they should.

"If you imagine a scenario in which Yamamoto signs with the Mariners, that opens up the door for them to trade a Logan Gilbert for the bat they need. It's sort of a two-tiered approach."

It's certainly an interesting idea. The Mariners don't necessarily need Yamamoto because they have top young pitchers like Gilbert and George Kirby. They also have a veteran ace in Luis Castillo. What they really need is a free agent hitter. But to Morosi's point, this could allow them to get a hitter in the trade market, where it's presumably easier for them to get someone. Big free agent sluggers have notoriously been scared off by Seattle's reputation as a pitchers' ballpark.

An MLBTradeRumors article from February of 2023 had more on Yamamoto:

Scouts to whom Sherman spoke raved about Yamamoto’s potential in the big leagues, touting a heater that sits mid-90s and reaches the upper-90s, a “plus-plus” (i.e. 70-grade) splitter, a “world class” curveball, a quick delivery to the plate and the athleticism to field his position well. One evaluator speaking to Sherman tabbed him a “full [scouting] grade” (on the 20-80 scale) ahead of right-hander Kodai Senga, who signed a five-year, $75MM deal with the Mets this offseason.

He went 17-6 this year in the Nippon Professional Baseball League, pitching to a miniscule 1.16 ERA. He struck out 176 batters in 171.0 innings. He was pitching for the Orix Buffaloes, which is the same organization that Ichiro Suzuki played for.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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