Where the Yoshinobu Yamamoto market stands: 5 potential fits, 1 dark horse

The market for Yamamoto is as widespread as there has been for a free-agent pitcher, and it’s led the estimates for his eventual contract to soar from $200 million to perhaps as high as $300 million.

It would be an extensive price for Yamamoto, who has not thrown one pitch in Major League Baseball. There were many high-ranking executives who flew to watch Yamamoto in Japan who were blown away and came away thinking that he was a future ace, among the most can’t miss prospects to come to the United States in some time.

Who Yamamoto eventually signs with is anyone’s guess. He’s spent recent weeks meeting with teams and players, most recently meeting with the Los Angeles Dodgers’ Shohei Ohtani, Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts and Will Smith, among others. But the market for Yamamoto also includes the New York Mets, New York Yankees, San Francisco Giants, Boston Red Sox and perhaps the Philadelphia Phillies and Toronto Blue Jays.

Here are the best fits for Yamamoto.

Los Angeles Dodgers are a fit for Yoshinobu Yamamoto

To me, the Dodgers are the favorites for Yamamoto. That’s not based on information from league sources, but it’s because of their need for starting pitchers and how they structured Ohtani’s contract.

By deferring $68 million in each season of Ohtani’s contract, leaving his annual salary at a mere $2 million, the Dodgers have money to spend. A lot of it. That’s what Ohtani had in mind when he proposed such unprecedented deferrals.

Adding both Ohtani and Yamamoto would be a historic haul. It’s something that seemed unimaginable for any team this offseason, but it’s a real thought for the Dodgers. By having four franchise cornerstones meet with the right-hander, it shows they are very serious about the possibility of spending $1 billion on two players.