Yoshinobu Yamamoto Expected To Sign Before New Year
12 months agoJapanese free-agent right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto is expected to sign with a team before the new year and perhaps as early as this week. Yamamoto is arguably the greatest pitcher ever in Nippon Professional Baseball -- he's won three straight MVP awards and three straight Sawamura awards, Japan's equivalent of the Cy Young -- despite standing at 5-foot-10, 176 pounds. The 25-year-old has a 99 mph fastball, a splitter with absurd downward movement and a curveball that breaks 5 1/2 feet. He's expected to sign a deal north of $200 million and has already met with big-market teams such as the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, New York Mets, San Francisco Giants, Chicago Cubs, Boston Red Sox and Philadelphia Phillies. Yamamoto could reach his final decision before Christmas next Monday.
Source: ESPN.com - Jeff Passan
Source: ESPN.com - Jeff Passan