The clock has started for teams to start talking serious dollars — potentially hundreds of millions of them — with Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
After a whirlwind courtship by MLB teams, the Japanese ace was open to begin taking formal offers on Monday, according to an industry source, as first reported by ESPN.
The source added the Mets planned to bid on Yamamoto within a couple of days.
During Yamamoto’s recent meetings with teams, broad contract parameters were discussed, without “serious” offers presented, according to the source.
The sessions served more as a forum for teams and the player to get to know each other.
The Mets’ expectation is Yamamoto will reach a decision by Christmas.
Following his posting last month by the Orix Buffaloes of Nippon Professional Baseball, the right-hander is within a 45-day window to sign a contract that expires on Jan. 4.
Yamamoto spent the weekend in New York meeting with Yankees and Mets officials and later posted a picture on Instagram of himself on a plane with his agent Joel Wolfe in the background.
The top pitcher on the free-agent market, the 25-year-old Yamamoto has also reportedly met with the Dodgers, Giants, Red Sox and Phillies.
Yamamoto could command upwards of $300 million, after initial estimates that bidding would begin at $200 million.
The $324 million contract Gerrit Cole received from the Yankees over nine years before the 2020 season is the record for a starting pitcher.
Yamamoto’s meetings with the Mets and Yankees were his second in-person with the respective teams.
On Saturday the pitcher dined at Mets owner Steve Cohen’s home in Connecticut. The contingent included president of baseball operations David Stearns, manager Carlos Mendoza and pitching coach Jeremy Hefner, according to sources.
Cohen and Stearns flew to Japan before the winter meetings for an initial in-person meeting with Yamamoto and his family.
On Sunday, Yamamoto convened with Yankees officials at an undisclosed location, according to The Post’s Jon Heyman. The two sides first met in person six days earlier in Southern California, with team owner Hal Steinbrenner, general manager Brian Cashman, team president Randy Levine, manager Aaron Boone and pitching coach Matt Blake all involved.
Ultimately it might just be about who offers the largest contract, but there are other factors for Yamamoto to consider.
The Yankees have history and tradition on their side as a brand name recognized throughout the world and Yamamoto may seek the biggest stage for his talents.
But whereas the Yankees aren’t about to push aside Cole — the American League Cy Young award winner last season — as their ace, the Mets can offer Yamamoto that designation as a measure of respect (complete with an Opening Day start).
When stacked up against the Dodgers, the Mets have tried to sell Yamamoto, according to a source, on the idea he wouldn’t have to reside in Shohei Ohtani’s shadow in Los Angeles and could forge his own identity on the East Coast.
The Dodgers last week signed Ohtani to a 10-year contract worth $700 million that includes heavy deferrals.
But the Mets have another Japanese star (albeit on a much lesser scale than Ohtani) in Kodai Senga, who arrived last offseason on a five-year contract worth $75 million.
Senga finished second in the NL Rookie of the Year voting after pitching to a 2.98 ERA with 202 strikeouts last season in 166 ¹/₃ innings.
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