Red Sox acknowledged pursuit of now Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto
Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow acknowledged the club’s pursuit of now Dodgers right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto on Saturday night.
Boston had reportedly shown strong interest in the Japanese star pitcher and met with him in Los Angeles in mid-December. The Red Sox pitched Yamamoto on playing for Boston, despite a strong showing which included outfielder Masataka Yoshida, per WEEI’s Rob Bradford, they failed to get a second meeting with the righty.
While speaking with reporters after announcing the trade of Chris Sale to the Braves for infielder Vaughn Grissom, Breslow offered some information on the Yamamoto pursuit.
“Without getting too deep into the details, we pursued a number of of starting pitchers, he being one of them,” Breslow said to reporters. “Ultimately, it takes both parties to align and it didn’t. But obviously he’s not the only pitcher that that we’re pursuing or that we had pursued. And, our hope is we can continue to make good decisions that improve the short and long term outlook for the team.”
It’s now known what the Red Sox offered to Yamamoto, who signed the biggest free agent contract for a pitcher. The Mets reportedly offered 12-years and $325 million, but the Dodgers matched the offer.
There were various reports that Boston made a $300 million offer to Yamamoto, ESPN’s Jeff Passan threw cold water on those reports.
Boston has now made two significant moves to it’s major league roster in adding free agent righty Lucas Giolito on a two-year, $38.5 million deal and acquiring Grissom to be potentially become the everyday second baseman.
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