While introducing one starting pitcher on Wednesday, the Yankees revealed they remain in the sweepstakes to land another.
The Yankees will be granted an in-person meeting with young Japanese ace Roki Sasaki, GM Brian Cashman said at a news conference welcoming Max Fried at the Stadium.
Sasaki and his agent, Joel Wolfe, had asked teams for virtual presentations as the first step in the unique free-agency process.
The Yankees submitted theirs and have become the first publicly known team to get its foot in the door.
Cashman said the in-person meeting would be in California “soon” but declined to provide a date.
The Sasaki sweepstakes are unlike any other in Major League Baseball since Shohei Ohtani picked the Angels.
Because Sasaki, a 23-year-old star righty who throws 100 mph and carries a devastating splitter, is not yet 25, he is classified as an international amateur.
No team can blow him away with money, only able to offer the few million dollars in its pool for international free agents.
Sasaki is placed in the same bucket as the teenagers from Latin America whose earnings are capped.
A front-of-the-rotation arm can be recruited but not bought.
“He’s obviously a tremendous talent,” Cashman said of Sasaki, whom he saw pitch in Japan. “It’d be nice to have Yankee Stadium be his home, but the decision will be up to him. All we can do is share everything and anything that we can about ourselves and what we provide.”
It is unclear how many teams will meet with Sasaki, but Cashman & Co. already have made it further than they did when Ohtani made his way to MLB before the 2018 season.
Ohtani declined to meet with any team on the East Coast, and the Yankees never were given a chance to attempt to woo the two-way superstar.
The Yankees have a shot at Sasaki — but no one knows how remote or likely the shot will be.
Wolfe himself said at the Winter Meetings that he did not know what Sasaki will value in choosing his team.
The agent acknowledged it might be beneficial for Sasaki, who had negative experiences with Japanese media, to prioritize a smaller market, but the comment was more conjectural than factual.
Wolfe did provide a few clues that could boost the Yankees’ odds, saying that Sasaki has “paid attention to how teams have done as far as overall success” and listed Masahiro Tanaka as one of Sasaki’s pitching idols.
Cashman declined to reveal whether Tanaka would be part of the Yankees’ recruiting pitch.
The Yankees already have six capable starting pitchers after signing Fried and trading Nestor Cortes.
They surely would love to off-load the $18 million due Marcus Stroman.
If Sasaki does wind up in The Bronx, the Yankees likely would adopt a six-man rotation as has become customary with Japanese pitchers who are accustomed to pitching weekly.
“Impressive pitcher,” pitching coach Matt Blake said of Sasaki. “Good athlete, good arm, obviously really good splitter.”
