The Yankees have made one thing crystal clear during his offseason, they want to get back into the Japanese player market.

“Do I feel it would be good to have Japanese representation [on the Yankees]? Of course,” said owner Hal Steinbrenner on Monday. “We have in the past. We were very much in on [Yoshinobu] Yamamoto, as you know. It did not work out. …

“Representation of Japanese players [on the Yankees], yes, that’s an important thing. …”Baseball is king in Japan. A lot of Japanese fans here in the U.S. would love to see [a player play for the Yankees]. We’ve tried and we’ll continue to try.”

General manager Brian Cashman even added — while speaking at the GM meetings in November — that the Bombers’ success in the Japanese player market is “too long gone,” as they haven’t landed one

See Full Page