{"id":24162,"date":"2025-01-06T16:53:53","date_gmt":"2025-01-06T16:53:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=24162"},"modified":"2025-01-06T16:54:50","modified_gmt":"2025-01-06T16:54:50","slug":"texas-rangers-seen-as-obvious-front-runners-for-japanese-pitching-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=24162","title":{"rendered":"Texas Rangers Seen As &#8216;Obvious Front-Runners&#8217; for Japanese Pitching Star"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure>\n<div>\n<figure class=\"base_1ruub6q\" data-mm-type=\"image\"><picture class=\"base_1emrqjj\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"base_1emrqjj\" title=\"Mar 20, 2023; Miami, Florida, USA; Japan starting pitcher Roki Sasaki (14) delivers a pitch during the first inning against Mexico at LoanDepot Park\" src=\"https:\/\/images2.minutemediacdn.com\/image\/upload\/c_crop,w_3545,h_1994,x_368,y_140\/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto\/images\/ImagnImages\/mmsport\/inside_the_rangers\/01jgs14t84p3p8xpjhex.jpg\" alt=\"Mar 20, 2023; Miami, Florida, USA; Japan starting pitcher Roki Sasaki (14) delivers a pitch during the first inning against Mexico at LoanDepot Park\" \/><\/picture><\/figure>\n<div class=\"wrapper_brpv6a\"><em>Mar 20, 2023; Miami, Florida, USA; Japan starting pitcher Roki Sasaki (14) delivers a pitch during the first inning against Mexico at LoanDepot Park \/ Sam Navarro-Imagn Images<\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_4pezpf2at\">The Texas Rangers have a fully-stocked cupboard of starting pitchers.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_4g15byxf8\">But what\u2019s the saying? One can never have enough starting pitching?<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_tsbjscxos\">Multiple reports deem it unlikely Sasaki will sign immediately.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_nr2bkl3eo\">Rosenthal said that every team was interested in him, but approximately 10 were waved off.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83c\udf99\ufe0f <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Ken_Rosenthal?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Ken_Rosenthal<\/a> with the latest on Roki Sasaki:<\/p>\n<p>&quot;The Dodgers, the Mets, the Yankees, the Padres, the Rangers&#8230; those are the obvious front-runners.&quot; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/nDgnBZWYlt\">pic.twitter.com\/nDgnBZWYlt<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/FoulTerritoryTV\/status\/1875254731683328148?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 3, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_oc2da1jxr\">The Rangers are among at least five teams seen as front-runners, along with the Los Angeles Dodgers, the New York Mets, the New York Yankees and the San Diego Padres.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_em67g7drn\">This is not a situation where the Rangers can necessarily be out-bid.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_ydp1o5s13\">Due to his age (under 25) and his limited professional experience (less than six years), he\u2019s subject to international signing bonus rules.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_jav1f02ld\">That means he\u2019ll only receive up to $7.5 million in international bonus money.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_smsf2rlg2\">Since he\u2019s seen as a pitcher who is Major League ready, he would also make the MLB minimum for a first-year player, should he make the team.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_v75m9ua7f\">That is part of what intrigues teams like the Rangers.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_0c1e7o7dm\">Sasaki has cost control and whatever team he signs with will have control of his rights. Plus, he has a 100-mph fastball and an array of pitches.<\/p>\n<p data-mm-id=\"_7wxx0nmsc\">But, Texas has a history of landing Japanese free agents, most notably pitcher Yu Darvish.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Texas Rangers have a fully-stocked cupboard of starting pitchers. But what\u2019s the saying? One can never have enough starting pitching?  The Rangers may be ta<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":24165,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Texas Rangers Seen As &#039;Obvious Front-Runners&#039; for Japanese Pitching Star - NEWS USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportnews.azontree.com\/?p=24162\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Texas Rangers Seen As &#039;Obvious Front-Runners&#039; for Japanese Pitching Star - NEWS USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Texas Rangers have a fully-stocked cupboard of starting pitchers. 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