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MLB Rumors: Yoshinobu Yamamoto comes with a catch for interested teams

Yoshinobu Yamamoto has close to a dozen suitors and he was just posted on Monday. The 25-year-old has won what amounts to two NPB Cy Young awards, and is one of the more proven international starters to hit the open market in some time. Yamamoto also performed well on the biggest stage, helping lead Team Japan alongside Shohei Ohtani to a World Baseball Classic victory. Yamamoto's agent Joel Wolfe said Yamamoto is getting more interest than any player he's ever represented previously.

"This is by far the player with the most interested teams that I have ever seen at the beginning of free agency," Wolfe said. "It's what we call a perfect storm, where you have one of the finest young pitchers in the world who also is just 25 years old. It's generational. Something like this only happens once every 10 or 15 years."

While 10-15 teams may be interested, signing Yamamoto comes with a catch. Per a recent report from Yahoo, Yamamoto only wants to play on teams with at least one other Japanese player. Yamamoto has known connections with the New York Mets and Kodai Senga, as well as the St. Louis Cardinals and Japan WBC teammate Lars Nootbaar.

Nootbaar and Yamamoto went golfing just last week, and the Cardinals outfielder has long said he'd like to help Yamamoto through the free-agent process. Could that give St. Louis an advantage?

“I want to help Yoshi in any way that I can,” Nootbaar said. “I don’t know about the legality of it, and I don’t want to step on any toes, but if Yamamoto or any of the guys have questions, I want to be there to help."

Nootbaar also added that his mom speaks with Yamamoto's mother 'daily', and that he considers himself good friends with the majority of his Team Japan WBC teammates.