Toronto Blue Jays "Likely" to Meet with Ace Free Agent Pitcher

After missing out on the Shohei Ohtani free agent sweepstakes, the Toronto Blue Jays are pivoting to a pursuit of free agent pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

Per Mark Feinsand of MLB.com:

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who has already met with the Yankees, Mets and Giants, will meet with the Red Sox in the coming days, per source. Two or three more teams - including the Blue Jays - will also likely meet with him, sources said.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who has already met with the Yankees, Mets and Giants, will meet with the Red Sox in the coming days, per source. Two or three more teams - including the Blue Jays - will also likely meet with him, sources said.
— Mark Feinsand (@Feinsand) December 12, 2023

Yoshinobu is likely to command a salary of more than $250 million and could very well exceed $300 million. But clearly, if the Jays were in the running for Ohtani, they have money to spend.

The 25-year-old Japanese phenom is certainly a unicorn. He's that young, that accomplished, and doesn't have much wear and tear on his arm.

An MLBTradeRumors article from February of 2023 had more on Yamamoto:

Scouts to whom Sherman spoke raved about Yamamoto’s potential in the big leagues, touting a heater that sits mid-90s and reaches the upper-90s, a “plus-plus” (i.e. 70-grade) splitter, a “world class” curveball, a quick delivery to the plate and the athleticism to field his position well...

He went 17-6 this year in the Nippon Professional Baseball League, pitching to a miniscule 1.16 ERA. He struck out 176 batters in 171.0 innings. He was pitching for the Orix Buffaloes, which is the same organization that Ichiro Suzuki played for.

If the Blue Jays were to land Yamamoto, they'd pair with him an already stellar rotation of Jose Berrios, Chris Bassitt, Kevin Gausman and Yusei Kikuchi. Alek Manoah is also still in the organization as well.

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