Roki Sasaki is coveted by Mets, Yankees and Dodgers — former teammate Dallas Keuchel reveals why
NY Post
Elite stuff, check.
Curiosity for information, check.
Hunger to be historically elite, check.
Dallas Keuchel, the 2015 AL Cy Young winner, spent the final two-plus months of the just-concluded season as Chiba Lotte Marines teammates with Roki Sasaki and left feeling, “The overview is incredible. There is nothing he can’t do.”
The Marines announced on Saturday that Sasaki, who turned 23 last week, will be posted this offseason. Because he is under 25, Sasaki cannot be treated as an unfettered free agent as, say, Yoshinobu Yamamoto was last year en route to signing a pitching record $325 million contract over 12 years. Instead, Sasaki will mirror when Shohei Ohtani came over after the 2017 season and could sign only a minor league contract and receive a bonus of what was in a team’s international bonus pool.
Ohtani signed for just $2.3 million. Even if Sasaki delays his signing until the 2025 period begins after Jan. 15, teams currently have roughly between $5 million-$7.5 million to sign him with the ability to potentially trade for a little more. But the dollars are a technicality not a reflection of someone who is viewed as having a chance to top Ohtani, Yu Darvish and Hideo Nomo as the greatest pitcher to come to MLB from Japan.
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