Report: SF Giants eliminated in the sweepstakes for Yoshinobu Yamamoto
It is another solemn day in San Francisco as the SF Giants fanbase learns the team has fallen short in their pursuit of a premium free agent. Top free agent starting pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto (#2-ranked free agent) and his camp has informed the Giants that they will not be his destination this offseason, according to a report by Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area. Pavlovic reiterated many other reports that the expectation is Yamamoto will either land with the Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Yankees, or New York Mets.
The news is far from a surprise, given a growing industry sentiment that Yamamoto was drawn to the largest markets in the league. However, Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi was reportedly "all-in" for Yamamoto and will undoubtedly be disappointed to fall short. While it's far from the first time San Francisco has drawn the short end of the stick in a free-agent sweepstakes, Yamamoto's unique youth (he is still just 25) made him particularly unique.
Yamamoto would have been a franchise-changing free agent for the Giants. Yamamoto is still in his mid-20s and has been the best pitcher outside of MLB for the past few years. Yamamoto has recorded a 1.82 ERA with 922 strikeouts and just 206 walks in 897 innings pitched with the Orix Buffaloes over the past seven seasons.
Yamamoto has truly elite command, which allows him to suppress opposing offenses in a multitude of ways. He manipulates the grip on his fastball to generate sink, cut, and four-seam movement on occasion, all of which generally sits in the 92-95 mph range, although he has reached 99 mph. However, he is far from just a contact pitcher. His splitter is generally considered his most devastating pitch and generates consistent swings and misses. He also has a traditional curveball. Yamamoto may truly be the complete package and would have been an amazing compliment to Logan Webb.
Now there's a decent chance that he joins forces with Shohei Ohtani in Los Angeles with the Giants' biggest rival.
There were already emerging reports that the SF Giants would likely shift to reigning NL Cy Young winner Blake Snell in free agency if they lost out on Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Now that the team has been informed they are officially out of the running, they will presumably shift their emphasis to the former Padres ace in the coming weeks.
