The New York Mets have become the first team known to meet with Japanese pitching sensation Roki Sasaki, who is set to enter Major League Baseball through the international free agency process.
The Mets became the first known team to meet with Japanese pitching phenom Roki Sasaki in person during the free-agency process, holding talks in Los Angeles on Thursday, The Post confirmed. The Mets and Yankees are the only clubs whose meetings have become public thus far. Little is known about how many teams will meet with Sasaki or what he will be prioritizing in selecting his team. Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns traveled to Japan in September to watch Sasaki pitch.
'It’s very difficult in these processes to truly understand what a player’s preference is. This isn’t a normal free-agent recruitment process,' said an unnamed source. Because he is not 25, Sasaki is being handled as an amateur, international free agent who is restricted to a team’s international bonus pool money. A potential ace can only sign a minor league contract (but undoubtedly will be added to the major league roster) and only will be eligible for a few million dollars. Maybe he has heard positive reviews from pitchers who have worked with a Mets pitching infrastructure led by Jeremy Hefner. The reigning World Series champion Dodgers, who boast Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, have been seen as the favorites. Not much else is known about the contenders for the right-hander. Sasaki's agent Joel Wolfe has said that Sasaki has paid attention to teams’ “overall success,” track record with Japanese players and history of developing pitchers
ROKI SASAKI METS MLB FREE AGENCY JAPANESE PITCHER
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