The Yoshinobu Yamamoto sweepstakes is heating up with both the New York Yankees and New York Mets among the teams vying for the Japanese superstar. The 25-year-old pitcher is the top name on the free-agent market after Shohei Ohtani signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Yankees-Mets rivalry has died down a bit over the years, but the Yamamoto sweepstakes could be a sparkplug in New York.
Andy Martino was a guest on the Audacy original podcast “Baseball Isn’t Boring” and talked about how the Yankees and Mets are entering rare territory with both New York teams looking to sign the superstar.
“Yankees-Mets is not a bitter rivalry because Steve Cohen and Hal Steinbrenner have a collegial relationship,” Martino said (20:07 in player above). “The Yankees were one of the teams that voted for Cohen’s approval when there was real doubt over if Cohen would be approved. So it’s not personal but they haven’t gone to battle over a player yet and that can actually create competitive feelings.”
Cohen received 26 of the 30 votes (23 were required) when he bought the Mets back in 2020. He splurged on a few big free agents in recent years and has his eye on Yamamoto this offseason.
“The Yankees and Mets are in unchartered territory now. Again, it’s not like they’re cursing each other and accusing each other of acting in bad faith or anything but they are in a financial competition, which is fascinating,” Martino continued. “Obviously, the Yankees in this market have always been the big brothers – remain the big brothers until the Mets accomplish something.
“But financially, the Steinbrenner family is not worth anywhere close to what Steve Cohen is worth. So that is an interesting dynamic to put the Yankees back on their heels a little bit.”
According to Forbes, Hal Steinbrenner is worth $1.3 billion, but that pales in comparison to Cohen’s $19.8 billion net worth.
Cohen hasn’t been afraid to spend and could offer more than the Yankees for Yamamoto. It’s an interesting situation in the New York baseball landscape.
“The Red Sox and the Mets might be expected to make higher offers to Yamamoto than the Yankees but the Yankees feel pretty good about getting him,” Martino said. “When were the Yankees the team that’s like ‘We’ll get him but we’re not going to be the high bidder.” That’s kind of where it is now which is so different but that’s how it’s shifted.”