Yoshinobu Yamamoto Free Agency Latest: Giants meet Japanese sensation ahead of Yankees' scheduled talks in LA

Things are hotting up in free agency with Shohei Ohtani making his ground-shaking decision, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto may be next. The exciting pitcher has been linked with multiple teams recently, including the New York Yankees and New York Mets.

Yamamoto is reportedly scheduled for meetings Monday in LA with both the Los Angeles Dodgers and Yankees. However, he reportedly had a meeting with the San Francisco Giants on Sunday, according to Buster Olney of ESPN:

"Source: The Giants met yesterday with pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto. He's got a lot of big market teams bidding for his services."

While the Giants have been linked with a lot of players recently, this certainly suggests they are zeroing in on the Japanese pitcher. The issue for the Giants is that they certainly have competition for the free agent's signature and they have a track record of missing out on superstars, most recently Ohtani.

Yoshinobu Yamamoto rumors: Who else has been linked with the exciting Japanese free agent?

The main threats to the Giants in the pursuit of Yoshinobu Yamamoto are the New York Yankees, New York Mets and Los Angeles Dodgers.

While you might think the Dodgers would be calming down, with the $700 million Shohei Ohtani deal, they are still thin on pitching. As Ohtani cannot help in that area until 2025, LA is willing to open its checkbook again with Yamamoto expected to garner a $300 million deal.

Speaking of checkbooks, the two New York teams do not shy from spending money and Yoshinobu Yamamoto is on both of their radars. The Yankees are also said to be meeting Yamamoto in LA on Monday and as such are among the favorites.

As for the Mets, The Athletic thinks if it comes to a bidding war, this is the likeliest landing spot due to their spending power. The Mets have reportedly made Yamamoto their No. 1 target this offseason and generally, what a team with that much money wants, a team with that much money gets.

Mets owner Steve Cohen flew to Japan with team president David Stearns to meet Yamamoto and his family, so they are doing all they can to make this happen.

It really depends on what Yamamoto wants from a team and for his future. With some of the biggest names in baseball pursuing his signature, it's up to him and it will be interesting to see where he decides to go.