Yankees Reportedly Have 'Strong Desire' To Land Young Star Pitcher

It sounds like the New York is looking to land a second major player this offseason

The New York Yankees already have made the biggest move of the offseason and it sounds like they may have another one up their sleeves.

New York shocked the baseball world recently as it acquired superstar slugger Juan Soto from the San Diego Padres in exchange for a package involving multiple pitchers as well as veteran catcher Kyle Higashioka.

Soto immediately helps fix the Yankees' anemic offense on paper, but the club still needs to add pitching this offseason. New York has been linked to young star Yoshinobu Yamamoto on multiple occasions and reportedly has a "strong desire" to land him, according to SNY's Andy Martino.

"The Yankees, meanwhile, have a strong desire to land Yamamoto and a willingness to show Evil Empire levels of financial aggressiveness," Martino said. "The Mets had hoped that the Yanks’ acquisition of Juan Soto would take them out of the Yamamoto sweepstakes, but Hal Steinbrenner remains all-in on spending even after completing the Soto trade, per sources.

"The Yankees have long been a favorite over the Mets to sign Yamamoto, but the (Steve Cohen)/(David Stearns) trip seemed to have helped level the playing field."

Landing Yamamoto would be the perfect next step in the offseason. New York's offense already has improved with the additions of Soto and Alex Verdugo. The Yankees' rotation has great top-end talent in Gerrit Cole and could use another top arm. Yamamoto would be just that and give the Yankees one of the better rotations on paper. 

New York already looks like a playoff team now after acquiring Soto. If it could land Yamamoto too, it would be World Series contenders.