NY Mets: Billy Eppler already has eyes on top Japanese free agent

The NY Mets have their eyes on a top Japanese free agent, and no, it’s not Shohei Ohtani. 

In two weeks, the New York Mets will be prepared to make some moves at the trade deadline, with recent indications suggesting the club will sell rather than buy.

Past August, however, the Mets are looking forward to the winter, which marks the Japan League’s free agency. On the other side of the world, a certain top Japanese pending free agent has caught their eye: Orix Buffaloes righty Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

According to SNY’s Andy Martino, Mets general manager Billy Eppler took a plane to Japan earlier this year to watch the Nippon Professional Baseball ace in action.

Yamamoto entered the U.S. public eye after his stellar performances in the World Baseball Classic and has been thriving in Japan, winning Japan’s equivalent to the Cy Young award twice.

It’s well-known that Eppler has deep connections in Japan, having brought over Kodai Senga and Shohei Ohtani, and he could be prepping a move for yet another Japanese stud later this year.

Mets’ Billy Eppler is tracking Japan’s Yoshinobu Yamamoto

In the past five years, Yamamoto has recorded an ERA above 2.00 in just one season. The 24-year-old is arguably in his prime and may end up in an MLB team’s pitching rotation, not the bullpen.

For that reason, talent evaluators have estimated that Senga could earn much more than what Kodai Senga got from the Mets, a five-year, $75 million deal. Yamamoto has been compared to Blue Jays’ Chris Bassitt and boasts an advanced repertoire of “a mid-to-upper-90s fastball, a plus-plus splitter, and an elite curveball.”

Billy Eppler’s roots in Japan run deep, having scouted and landed the likes of Ohtani, Senga, and Masahiro Tahaka; if anyone were to entice Yamamoto to come to the states, it would likely be the Mets GM.

If veterans Max Scherzer or Justin Verlander are shopped at the trade deadline, it may usher in an opportunity for someone like Yamamoto to headline the Mets rotation in the near future.