MLB rumors: 4 teams that satisfy both of Yamamoto's wish list items

Yoshinobu Yamamoto has, so far, two very specific items on his wish list for an MLB team. These four check off both.
World Baseball Classic Semifinals: Mexico v Japan
World Baseball Classic Semifinals: Mexico v Japan / Eric Espada/GettyImages
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
4 of 5
Next

New York Mets

In the United States, it doesn't get bigger than New York... If Yamamoto wants the largest market, New York is the place to be.

And if it's between the Yankees and the Mets, might Kodai Senga be the tie-breaking factor? The Yankees don't currently roster a Japanese player -- their most notable recent being Masahiro Tanaka, who has since gone back home to Japan -- though they could fix that if they're able to land Shohei Ohtani.

The Mets are a team where Yamamoto could have instant impact, as well. New York is in a transient state, having traded some of its star pitchers at the trade deadline last year in an admission that its roster wasn't constructed to win, despite having spent a considerable amount of money in the free agency ahead of 2023 to try to win.

A player like Yamamoto could advance the Mets' timeline up a few years, putting them in position to win sooner rather than later.