Yankees target Yusei Kikuchi to be posted on Tuesday

The Yankees have been linked to a litany of free agent pitchers this offseason, including Japanese left-hander Yusei Kikuchi, who will officially be posted on Tuesday. MLB clubs then have until Jan. 2 to sign the 27-year-old.

I first wrote about the possibility of Yusei Kikuchi being a target for the Yankees in early November. At the time, fans of the Evil Empire didn’t seem all that enamored by a middle of the rotation option; whose “stuff” has been compared to former Japanese pitcher, Hiroki Kuroda.

However, as the offseason ramps up in time for the Winter Meetings on Dec 9, it appears as though the asking price for second-tier starters like Dallas Keuchel and Nathan Eovaldi is already pushing north of $75 million.

With reports of the Yankees potentially getting into a bidding war with the Phillies over Patrick Corbin, perhaps taking a flyer on Kikuchi and his reported $50 million payday doesn’t look so bad.

Although Kikuchi isn’t coming to the States with anywhere near the hype that Masahiro Tanaka, Yu Darvish or Daisuke Matsuzaka once did, he’s still intriguing enough for Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner to mention the former Seibu Lions pitcher by name. Per Newsday:

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“I saw film on him during the pro scouting meetings,” Steinbrenner said at the MLB owners meetings. “We talked about that individual. We’ve always been paying attention to that area of the world — some unbelievably great players came out of there. So it won’t be any different this year.”

Kikuchi, who won’t turn 28 until June, is the youngest, most successful (albeit in the NPB) free agent starter on the market. Over the past four seasons, Kikuchi is 51-27 with a 2.58 ERA, while averaging 8.9 K/9 and a stellar 0.68 HR/9.

With the Dodgers, Phillies and Red Sox also monitoring Kikuchi’s market, his new agent, Scott Boras will assuredly drive a hard bargain, especially once Corbin and Keuchel come off the board.