Cubs Know Timeline To Pursue Japanese Star Pitcher
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If the Chicago Cubs are interested in pursuing star Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, next week is a critical first step.
SNY published the timeline that Yamamoto’s representatives have set forth as they try to determine what team he’ll sign with before his 45-day posting window expires on Jan. 4.
If the Cubs were among the “11 to 14 teams” that expressed an interest in him in the 24 hours after Yamamoto was posted by the Orix Buffaloes, they will likely have either a Zoom session or a phone call with him and his agent, Joel Wolfe, next week.
If the Cubs make the cut, there will be some time between that first meeting and in-person meetings with Yamamoto and Wolfe once the pitcher comes stateside.
But his visit is timed to give him maximum leverage.
The teams considered finalists to sign him won’t get the chance to meet with him until after the winter meetings conclude on Dec. 7 in Nashville, unless there’s a change in the approach.
Theoretically, that could influence the market. For those teams that are interested and are considered finalists, they may choose to be patient and wait until their meetings.
For those teams that aren’t in the mix, they could pounce on the remaining pitching either via free agency or by trade and sign what’s there, putting the remaining teams in pursuit of Yamamoto in a bit of a bind.
By waiting a little longer for his in-person meetings, Yamamoto and his reps could squeeze a bit more out of the team he signs with, even though he’s expected to sign a deal worth north of $200 million.
Yamamoto has thrown two no-hitters in his career. He’s also won gold medals for Japan in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo and in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
At 25 years old, Yamamoto has a 70-29 record. He has a mid-90s fastball, but he is best known for an array of breaking pitches that can befuddle hitters. This season he had just a 1.21 ERA. He also went 16-6 and struck out 169 hitters in 164 innings.
Yamamoto just wrapped up play in the Japan Series, their country’s equivalent of the World Series. His final game saw him strike out 14 hitters in Game 6, which set a series record.