The focus around the MLB free agency has shifted from Juan Soto to international free agent pitcher Roki Sasaki even though a lot of the same teams are involved as the New York Yankees and Mets are the first two teams to meet with him.
Sasaki is coming over from Japan where he has been dominating the NPB over the last few years and have decided to make the jump to the MLB as he will be allowed to sign as of January 15th 2025.
Reports state the Yankees and Mets are the first team's to meet with Roki Sasaki
According to reports, the Yankees and Mets were in Los Angeles yesterday to both meet with Sasaki and pitch him on signing with their team once he become a free agent in less than a month.
Both New York clubs visited Los Angeles on Thursday and made their pitches for the young, star Japanese righty, The Post has learned. -Heyman
Apparently, despite both the Mets and Yankees meeting with Sasaki, he is interested in player for a smaller market team as he had bad experiences with Japanese media in the NPB.
Hurting their case could be the market size (Sasaki, who has had poor experiences with Japanese media, may prefer a smaller city), and Japanese players have favored the closer West Coast. -Heyman
Sasaki's agent, Joel Wolfe has also mentioned that Sasaki has kept track of MLB team's track record with Japanese players while also taking notes of their player development and overall success.
According to his agent, Joel Wolfe, Sasaki has paid attention to MLB clubs' track record with Japanese players, overall success and history with developing pitching arms. -Heyman
Despite the Blue Jays stating that they are interested, there has been no update on if they met with Sasaki or if they have let his team know that they would be interested in signing the young superstar.