Report: Yankees' Cashman flying to Japan to watch Otani
It looks like the Bronx Bombers could be getting serious about landing Shohei Otani.
According to Newsday's Erik Boland and David Lennon, New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman is reportedly flying to Japan to personally watch Otani, the Nippon-Ham Fighters pitcher/designated hitter who's drawn comparisons to none other than Babe Ruth given his potential as a two-way player.
Cashman won't be the first GM to jump overseas for a look at Otani. Only nine days ago it was reported that eight members of the Los Angeles Dodgers' front office watched Otani play for the Fighters; earlier this year, Texas Rangers executive Jon Daniels made the trip to watch Otani work out, despite his being on the disabled list at the time of his visit.
Assuming New York is indeed interested in landing Otani, the team should face stiff competition once he's available. The Rangers, Dodgers, and Boston Red Sox are all reported as having "heavy interest" in acquiring the 23-year-old, according to Boland and Lennon.
Boston and the Yankees each have $8 million in international bonus money available to use this winter, per a report from Jon Heyman of FanRag Sports.
It's not clear if Otani will jump to the majors after this season, as international spending rule changes in MLB's new collective bargaining agreement would limit his earning power given he's not yet 25 years old.
Otani missed a large portion of the 2017 season due to a thigh injury. As a result he's only made one regular-season appearance as a pitcher for Nippon-Ham this year, allowing four earned runs and striking out two in just 1 1/3 innings of work.
He's done his finest work this season as a hitter, slashing .342/.548/.402 with five homers, 13 doubles, and 22 RBIs across 164 plate appearances.
For his career Otani owns an .857 OPS, with 45 homers and 167 RBIs across 1,098 plate appearances for the Fighters, to go along with a 2.55 ERA, 1.073 WHIP, and 597 strikeouts (10.4 per nine innings), and 12 complete games in 81 appearances as a pitcher.