NPB ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto is in the process of meeting with interested MLB clubs and is slated to meet with both the Red Sox and Blue Jays in the coming days, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com. Yamamoto met with the Yankees yesterday and the Giants on Sunday. Mets owner Steve Cohen reportedly flew to Japan to meet with Yamamoto before his current slate of team visits in North America. That's a total of five known teams meeting with Yamamoto, and Feinsand suggests another two or three teams could also hold meetings.
The Blue Jays, after missing out on Shohei Ohtani, figure to have both the motivation and money to pursue a significant upgrade (or upgrades) to other areas of the roster. Yamamoto obviously wouldn't impact the 2024 lineup like signing Ohtani would have, but installing him into a rotation that also features Kevin Gausman, Jose Berrios and Chris Bassitt would make for a formidable top four. If Alek Manoah can regain his 2022 form or if Yusei Kikuchi can continue his 2023 performance levels, a Toronto rotation including Yamamoto could rank as one of the best in the game and have solid depth beyond the top quintet.
Over in Boston, the need is arguably more acute. The Red Sox' rotation is rife with question marks, perhaps none bigger than what the team can expect from oft-injured top starter . The 34-year-old lefty was serviceable in 2023 when healthy, but he was again limited by injury. Last year's 120 2/3 innings were Sale's most since 2019. He posted a 4.30 ERA in that time, albeit with excellent strikeout and walk rates of 29.4% and 6.6%, respectively. Beyond Sale, Boston's rotation ranges from inexperienced to inconsistent; Brayan Bello, Garrett Whitlock, Tanner Houck and Kutter Crawford are all in the mix for innings.
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