Yankees Reportedly 'Going Hard' For Elite Starting Pitcher; Could Signing Be Imminent?

New York reportedly is "going hard" in its attempt to land one of the best pitchers available

The New York Yankees are looking to improve their starting rotation and it sounds like they are pulling out all of the stops.

After winning just 82 games in 2023, it has been rumored that the Yankees would spend big this offseason to fix the roster. New York entered last season with high expectations but failed to live up to them. The Yankees do have plenty of talent on the roster, but injuries and an anemic offense ruined their season.

Fixing the offense should be the club's top priority, but adding another elite starting pitcher into the mix couldn't hurt either. New York has been linked to Orix Buffaloes phenom Yoshinobu Yamamoto on numerous occasions and reportedly is making a push to land him, according to the New York Post's Jon Heyman.

"Yankees and Mets are both going hard for Yamamoto," Heyman said. "It’s a rare Big Apple battle royale (of course many other teams are involved, too)."

New York has been mentioned as the favorite to land Yamamoto on multiple occasions at this point so it isn't surprising to see more speculation about a move. The Yankees could use another starter and if they could pair Yamamoto with Gerrit Cole they immediately would have one of the best rotations on paper. 

Yamamoto is going to be expensive, but is just 25 years old and could be a solid piece to build around for the foreseeable future. At this point, it sounds like a signing certainly is a possibility but we likely will have to wait another week or two until a move actually happens.