When it was revealed that Roki Sasaki was going to be made available this offseason for any MLB team to sign, it felt inevitable that the right-hander would sign with a team in the NL West.
The Los Angeles Dodgers were seen as early favorites to land Sasaki, and it isn’t hard to see why. They not only give Sasaki the best chance to win, but they also have both Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto on their roster. If it wasn’t the Dodgers, the San Diego Padres seemingly had a great chance. They’re also out west, have a great roster, and have Yu Darvish to dangle as a potential teammate.
Both the Dodgers and Padres make a lot of sense, and might even be considered co-favorites to land him where things stand right now, but the New York Mets might be a team standing in their way, according to Jim Bowden of The Athletic.
Roki Sasaki's agency is "very high" on Jeremy Hefner's ability to develop pitching, per @JimBowdenGM
Sasaki is said to be valuing endorsement opportunities, winning, and pitching development as he decides which team to play for, per Bowden pic.twitter.com/7h6dO8BGJd
— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) December 10, 2024
It sure sounds like the Mets are serious contenders to sign Roki Sasaki
Sasaki wants endorsement opportunities, a chance to win, and good pitching development. Well, the Mets play in the largest media market in the world, are a team that just went to the NLCS without Juan Soto, and have Jeremy Hefner – a pitching coach that Sasaki’s agency is “very high” on, according to Bowden.
It’s very clear that the Mets check the first two boxes on Sasaki’s wishlist, but the third one is particularly interesting. The Mets’ reputation pitching-wise might not be as great as the Dodgers and Padres, but what Jeremy Hefner did last season cannot be ignored.
The Mets took several chances with pitchers like Luis Severino and Sean Manaea and saw them work out better than anyone could’ve imagined. Severino wound up turning a cheap one-year deal into a three-year deal worth upwards of $20 million annually, and Manaea is expected to earn even more money than Severino did.
What fellow Japanese right-hander Kodai Senga did in his rookie season with the Mets, finishing as the NL Rookie of the Year runner-up and seventh in the NL Cy Young award balloting, cannot be ignored, either.
Given the fact that Sasaki cannot sign the same kind of deal that Yoshinobu Yamamoto did last offseason thanks to international free agency rules, Sasaki’s best shot at eventually cashing in would be to land with the team that gives him the best opportunity to succeed. The Mets have a great culture, are in a great market, have a ballpark suited for pitchers, and, again, have Hefner.
The Padres and Dodgers should be considered favorites, but the Mets have a lot to offer, too. The one thing that really isn’t in their favor is their location on the East Coast. If Sasaki can look past that, the Mets would seemingly have as good of a chance as any other team out there to get him.
