MLB Rumors: Yoshinobu Yamamoto Scouted by Giants Exec in Japan amid Yankees Buzz

San Francisco Giants president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi has paused the search for the team's new manager in order to scout Japanese pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, according to Andrew Baggarly of The Athletic.

In 24 games in the 2023 season, Yamamoto has a record of 17-6 while maintaining an ERA of 1.16. He has racked up 176 strikeouts in 171.0 innings pitched.

Many MLB teams will be bidding for Yamamoto's services this offseason, including the New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets (via Bob Nightengale of USA TODAY).

The Yankees have an ace in Gerrit Cole, who posted an American League-best 2.63 ERA to go along with 222 strikeouts in 2023. However, the rest of the club's rotation left a lot to be desired.

Outside of Cole, no other Yankees pitcher with at least 10 starts finished with an ERA below 4.

As for the Giants, they're looking for a bit more production from their pitching staff in order to finally return to the playoffs after setting a franchise record with 107 wins during the 2021 season.

Zaidi has coveted Yamamoto for awhile and he's not shy about his interest in the starter.

"It's been a pilgrimage over there from front office people to see him," he said, per Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports. "He's really one of the top starting pitchers in the world. I know it sounds like an exaggeration, but it's not. It sounds like a big statement, but yeah, I think both of those guys will attract some interest and we're just continuing to do our work on them in anticipation of their posting in a couple of months."

San Francisco reportedly attempted to acquire Japanese pitcher Kodai Senga last offseason, although they weren't able to provide a counter offer before he ultimately ended up agreeing to a contract with the New York Mets (via Baggarly).

Signing Yamamoto would be a major acquisition, as the 25-year-old is arguably the greatest pitcher outside of Major League Baseball.