Mets Free-Agent Target Sets Timeline For Decision

The New York Mets are one of several teams pursuing Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto has until Jan. 4 to get an MLB deal in free agency or he must go back to Japan for the 2024 season.

It sounds like Yamamoto will make a decision a little sooner than that.

On Monday, The Athletic reported that Yamamoto should make a decision “within the next two weeks or so.”

It’s a soft timeline, to be sure. But it does put him in a position to make a decision before the end of the year, which would be a few days before his 45-day posting window expires.

It’s been a busy week or so for Yamamoto. Before he even got the United States, New York Mets owner Steve Cohen hopped on a plane to meet with the three-time Pacific League MVP.

Now that he’s in the U.S., his meetings have continued. On Sunday, he met with the San Francisco Giants. On Monday, he met with the New York Yankees in Los Angeles. Later this week he’s expected to meet with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Yankees and Dodgers have already made huge moves. The Yankees dealt for slugger Juan Soto and the Dodgers have agreed to a 10-year, $700 million deal with two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani.

Yamamoto is 25 and considered the crown jewel of a group of talented Asian players that have been posted.

Many expect Yamamoto to get a contract in excess of $200 million, and with the posting fee the total cost could reach $300 million, with that fee due to Yamamoto’s team, the Orix Buffaloes.

Yamamoto was named the Pacific League MVP for the third straight season last month, making him just the third player in Nippon Professional Baseball history to be named an MVP in three straight seasons, joining Ichiro Suzuki (1994-96) and Hisashi Yamada (1976-78).

Yamamoto had already claimed the Sawamura Award, which is the Japanese Cy Young, for the third straight season.

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.

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.