Padres manager Mike Shildt made a bold statement about his team's belief that San Diego will be signing Japanese ace Roki Sasaki.
On Monday, the first full day of Major League Baseball 's annual Winter Meetings, Japanese starting pitcher Roki Sasaki was officially posted by the Chiba Lotte Marines. That means teams can soon start formally negotiating a contract with the 23-year-old ace who, now that Juan Soto is off the board, is arguably the most intriguing free agent available.
He has a 100-MPH fastball and a wipeout splitter. Since he's coming to America early in his career he's subject to MLB's International Bonus Pool rules so big-time spenders like the Mets and Dodgers cannot simply outbid everyone else for his services.The Padres have not hidden the fact they covet Sasaki but they've never been quite as overt about the intentions as manager Mike Shildt was.
"We should be very legitimate contenders. We fully expect to be right in the mix and actually, at the end of the day, have Sasaki a Padre."Even for a skipper who has never been shy about speaking his mind, that is a bold statement. Why does Shildty have such conviction about the Friars landing a generational talent for pennies? Among other factors, he cites the foundation general manager A.J. Preller has put down to give the Padres a presence in the Pacific Rim.
"A.J. has done a tremendous job, the organization has done a tremendous job, of making sure that we’re very relevant internationally. Our roster speaks to it," says Shildt."We’ve got, obviously Darvish and Yuki from Japan. Heck, A.J. speaks Japanese. He worked to learn Japanese to recruit Ohtani years ago. We got Nomo in the organization. So, we’ve got a lot of inroads to get to Sasaki and make that happen.
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