To little surprise, the San Diego Padres are among the seven franchises that Japanese sensation Roki Sasaki has narrowed his considerations down to this winter.
Padres vying to land Roki Sasaki with 6 teams on heels
CBS Sports’ Jim Bowden unearthed the teams that the Padres will have to fend off to land the highly-desired free agent from this point forward:
“Teams that are still in on Roki Sasaski: Dodgers Padres Cubs Yankees Mets Rangers maybe Giants not the White Sox others could be added to list,” Bowden published on X on Wednesday afternoon.
San Diego has been heavily linked to the 23-year-old prior to him being posted to the MLB by the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball. It’s been widely reported that they and the Los Angeles Dodgers would have the best shot to land the prospective ace due to several factors including compatriotic ties on their rosters.
- Padres on shortlist of teams still in the hunt for Japanese star righty
- Padres could sign generational pitcher this offseason
- Dodgers and Padres remain the favorites for top free agent pitcher
Padres’ elite organization could draw Sasaki to San Diego
This latest report clarifies the Padres’ favorable position in the hunt. Sasaki had specific guidelines that teams had to meet in their recent pitches to him, which San Diego appears to have capitulated to. He is now headed back to Japan to deliberate with his team after sitting down with suitors in late December and also hearing 20 teams’ cases.
The Padres will now hope that what they sold him on an uber-talented roster that came within one game of knocking off the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers in their 2024 National League Division Series. Plus, they hope their favorable locale and weather, and positive direction will convince Sasaki to don the brown and yellow next season.
