The Boston Red Sox, on all accounts, are slated for a very busy offseason. Following three frustrating years, the general consensus is that Red Sox ownership is willing to spend like the big market team that they are, thanks in part to the deluge of top prospects on the verge on making their Major League Baseball debuts. Those top prospects, however, are almost exclusively position players and the Red Sox’s biggest area of need is very clearly starting pitching. The Red Sox have been linked to multiple free-agent starting pitchers already this winter, and one MLB insider now has continued to fuel the fire by naming Boston the best fit for an international ace.

“The Red Sox have a promising pitching program under Andrew Bailey and their leadership team of manager Alex Cora and chief baseball officer Craig Breslow, along with minority owner Theo Epstein working behind the scenes, could provide a solid foundation for (Roki) Sasaki,” wrote Jim Bowden of The Athletic. “He could maximize endorsements in the large market of Boston and become the face of their pitching staff for years to come.” While many have predicted the Los Angeles Dodgers to have the upper hand in acquiring Sasaki because of the opportunity to play with fellow Japanese superstars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the Red Sox are a perfect fit.

The team’s reluctance to pay aged starting pitchers has been evident since the extensions given to Chris Sale and David Price. The posting system that Japanese players use to make the transition from Japan’s NPB to the MLB is the perfect workaround for the Red Sox. Just last week, Sean McAdam of MassLive reported that the Red Sox offered Yoshinobu Yamamoto $300 million last offseason. Sasaki is three years younger than Yamamoto at just 23 years old, and would be an ideal fit for a team that needs an ace atop their rotation.