Brian Cashman spoke to the media today after introducing Max Fried, who officially signed with the New York Yankees yesterday, and he dropped a nugget on one of their potential sweepstakes. Star free agent Roki Sasaki, who made the controversial decision to opt-out of his deal in Japan’s Nippon Baseball League to get posted to MLB, was going to hold meetings over the next few weeks, but those meetings were invitation-only. Cashman revealed that the Yankees were scheduled to meet with Sasaki, indicating at least a small amount of interest in the Bronx.
While the Los Angeles Dodgers are the overwhelming favorite for his services, there are conflicting reports about what the young right-hander would prefer and who he’ll eventually wind up with. The Yankees’ odds aren’t great, but perhaps a productive meeting can shift the tide in their favor.
Roki Sasaki Scheduled to Meet With Yankees In-Person Next Week
Few pitchers have the talent that Roki Sasaki does, as the right-hander flashed a fastball that can reach 102 MPH on the radar gun with a devastating splitter. He posted a 2.35 ERA across 111 innings with 129 strikeouts last season with the Chiba Lotte Marines, and while his stuff took a hit in 2024, he’s still one of the most enticing pitchers to ever hit the free agent market.
Unlike Yoshinobu Yamamoto last year however, he won’t come with an astronomically high price tag that would alienate most teams in the bidding war. This time, it’ll come down to just impressing the young right-hander, which the Yankees will hope to do in their meeting with him next week. There’s a prevailing belief that the Dodgers are the favorites for his services, but there’s nothing for Brian Cashman and Hal Steinbrenner to lose here.
If he chooses to sign elsewhere, so be it, but if the Yankees end up with his services, it opens up a world of possibilities for them.
Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, and Roki Sasaki would form arguably the best pitching trio in baseball while Carlos Rodon, Clarke Schmidt, and Luis Gil are mid-rotation or backend starters. Perhaps the Yankees could move one of Gil or Schmidt for a controllable bat and save some money, getting a serious piece on offense considering how hard it is to acquire cost-controlled pitching on the market.
Sasaki would count as a league-minimum contract in 2025, granting a team six years of service time control with three MiLB options. If he wins Rookie of the Year, which he would be eligible for as a first-year Major Leaguer, the team he wins it on would also get a first-round pick as a result, so there’s a chance that a team gets a potential frontline starter with six years of cheap control and walks away with an extra first-round pick at the end of the season; it’s an incredible reward.
Every team in baseball wants him, but only a select few will even be in the meeting process, although Sasaki cannot sign until January.