As the Winter Meetings crawl along, NJ.com’s Bob Klapisch reports that the Yankees are brimming with confidence when it comes to the Yoshinobu Yamamoto sweepstakes.
Per Klapisch, “The Yankees are telling people they’re ahead of the pack on Yamamoto. Like, way ahead,” suggesting a strong belief that the Bombers have attractions for the Japanese star that separate them from the rest of the interested teams.
Klapisch noted some of those attractions, from using Hideki Matsui in the courting process to the impressive track record of Masahiro Tanaka in pinstripes, which began right away with a star rookie campaign in 2014 and continued with a dominant postseason resume, all adding up to Tanaka earning every penny of his $155 million contract.
The Yankees will reportedly have their meeting with Yamamoto next week, so this won’t be resolved at the Winter Meetings. But the Yanks seem to like their chances.
Of course, even if Yamamoto prefers the Yankees, the Bombers’ plans could change if they trade for Juan Soto and then need to sign him to a monster contract. The Yankees could afford both, but they may not want to commit that percentage of their payroll to just two players.
