Yankees Rumors: Roki Sasaki in NY Eyes Before Japanese Star’s MLB Post | News, scores, highlights, stats and rumors

According to Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, the New York Yankees are among the teams that have expressed interest in signing top Japanese player Roki Sasaki this season.

According to Thomas Harrigan of MLB.com, the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball announced Saturday that they will sit Sasaki out this offseason, clearing the way for him to play in Major League Baseball next season.

Despite being only 23 years old, Sasaki is a two-time NPB All-Star, has pitched one perfect game and holds the NPB single-game record with 19 strikeouts.

Over the course of his four seasons with Chiba Lotte, Sasaki was a dominant force, going 30-15 with a 2.02 ERA, 0.88 WHIP and 524 strikeouts in 414.2 innings.

He also played for Japan in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, going 1-0 with a 3.52 ERA and 11 strikeouts in 7.2 innings for a team that defeated the United States in the championship game.

On Team Japan, Sasaki played alongside Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who signed a 12-year, $325 million contract with the Dodgers after being cut last offseason.

Yamamoto had a 3.00 ERA in 18 regular season starts for the Dodgers and was instrumental in beating the Yankees in the World Series.

Unlike Yamamoto, there will be restrictions on the type of contract Sasaki can sign as he is not yet 25 years old.

If Sasaki signs with a team, he will be under team control for a minimum of six seasons before being eligible to become a free agent. He is also subject to international restrictions on bonus pool money.

Harrigan noted that the Dodgers are expected to be players for Sasaki after signing both Yamamoto and Shohei Ohtani last season, both of whom were Sasaki’s teammates in the World Baseball Classic.

However, since the Dodgers can’t just out-sign Sasaki to anyone based on the restrictions in place, other teams believe they have a good shot at signing him as well.

The Yankees could offer the same kind of big market and winning environment, plus they could spend as much as they are allowed to sign Sasaki.

New York will return each of its top six starting pitchers from last season: Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, Luis Gil, Clarke Schmidt, Nestor Cortes and Marcus Stroman, but Sasaki could give them a true No. 2 or No. 3 pick. behind Col.

The Yankees have also had tremendous success signing Japanese players over the years, including 2009 World Series MVP Hideki Matsui and starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka, who was a two-time All-Star and had a playoff ERA of 3 .33 in his career with the Yanks.

Naturally, the Yankees’ primary focus is on re-signing outfielder Juan Soto, who is testing free agency after hitting .288 with 41 home runs and 109 RBI in his lone season in New York.

If the Yankees can find a way to come out of the offseason with both Soto and Sasaki, they could be seen as the team to beat in the 2025 season.