St. Louis Cardinals Rumors: Offseason reunion, Japanese ace link, what about Tink Hence?

STL Cardinals Rumors: Japanese ace Yoshinobu Yamamoto is on the radar

According to Jon Heyman of the NY Post, almost a dozen MLB teams sent scouts to watch Japanese phenom Yoshinobu Yamamoto make his latest start for the Orox Buffaloes in the NPB. The Cardinals were among them.

Yamamoto is expected to be posted this year, triggering a bidding war for the star pitcher.

Since the Cardinals are in the market for pitching, they're an obvious suitor for the 25-year-old ace who has won the highest honors in Japanese baseball already. He's a five-time NPB All-Star, two-time Pacific League MVP and two-time winner of the Eiji Sawamura Award given to the top pitcher in Japan.

On Wednesday, Yamamoto gave the scouts a show with seven scoreless innings to whet the appetite for his services. In his NPB career, he has an ERA of 1.87 and a 66-28 record, so Wednesday's outing was par for the course.

So who else was scoping out Yamamoto? The Cubs, Diamondbacks, Dodgers, Mets, Phillies, Rangers, Red Sox, Tigers and Yankees.

Competition will be fierce for this international prospect and the Cardinals should be in the thick of it.