Yoshinobu Yamamoto was just recently posted on November 20th by the Orix Buffaloes. With Yamamoto being posted, that allows MLB teams to talk to him and eventually sign him. Yoshinobu Yamamoto is the best remaining starting pitcher on the free-agent market.
As of right now, the teams who have been said to meet with Yoshinobu Yamamoto are the New York Mets, New York Yankees, Philadelphia Phillies, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, and the Toronto Blue Jays.
As of right now, no one has any idea where Yoshinobu Yamamoto will sign. There's been a lot of teams who's been meeting with him. The deadline for Yoshinobu Yamamoto to sign with an MLB team is January 4th. Whenever there's a Japanese pitcher coming over to the MLB they have 45 days to sign with a team.
There was some rumours swirling around about when Yoshinobu Yamamoto will sign. Many people were saying that he will sign right before Christmas. Yesterday, there was an update saying that teams bidding for Yamamoto have a growing sense that he won't sign until after Christmas and could stretch it to the January 4th deadline, per Bob Klapish.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto is viewed as a $300m+ pitcher. That is the money amount that Yamamoto will likely get. There's a reason Yoshinobu Yamamoto will get that much, he's been the best pitcher in the Japan league.
The last three straight seasons, Yoshinobu Yamamoto has won three straight most valuable player awards. Also, in the last three staright seasons Yamamoto has won three consecutive Sawmuara awards, which is Japan's CY Young award.
Yoshinobu Yamamoto has played seven seasons in Japan. He has a 75-30 record, 967.2 innings pitched, 986 SO, 1.72 ERA, and a 0.915 WHIP. Those stats are very good, and that's why he's the best free-agent pitcher.
There's obviously many teams in on Yoshinobu Yamamoto. That was expected with how good he is. It's going to be interesting to see when he finally signs and who it's with. It's really going to be intresting to see the type of contract Yoshinobu Yamamoto will get.