Despite glut of starting pitching, Yankees could be in on 'really gifted talent' Roki Sasaki

Roki Sasaki is being posted by the Chiba Lotta Marines, and because he is just 23, he is qualifying under MLB rules as an international amateur free agent – the same as Shohei Ohtani did – so that means just about all teams could be in on him.

The Yankees, even with a surplus of starting pitching, will certainly be among them.

“He is really gifted, and very young, but he has done quite a bit in Japan,” Yankees skipper Aaron Boone said in a media session Monday. “We know it’s a unique and special talent, a guy with top of the rotation qualities, and hopefully we’re in the mix with him. I haven’t started to have those conversations within the organization, but we’ve known of him for a couple years – we’ve heard a lot about him and (Yoshinobu) Yamamato in concert – and I understand this is a really special talent.

Sasaki’s bonus can only come from a team’s international amateur free agent bonus pool, so when he is pfficially posted will make a difference.
Teams have 45 days to negotiate with a player once he is posted, so if that happens before Dec. 2, he would have to be signed under the 2024 bonus year (which expires Jan. 15), so the Yankees at $1.4872 million have more left than all but two teams, the Orioles ($2.1473 million) and Dodgers ($2.5025 million) pending any further trades for bonus pool money.

Ohtani got $2.3 million, and under the rules, Chiba Lotte would get 20 percent of whatever bonus he signs for (so in theory, a max of $500K or so if it’s the Dodgers), making this more of an incidence of making the player happy than a financial windfall.

“I wasn’t surprised, because from the outside I was aware of his situation and his age, and that it’s more in line with how Ohtani came over, but I knew there was some angst between him and the organization for a number of those years,” Boone said of the pending posting. “I had heard a year or so ago it might be in play, and then a few weeks ago it was maybe 50/50 scenario, but I guess the realization of it happened quick, especially playing all the way through October.”

The Yankees currently have a strong depth chart with eight pitchers who made MLB starts plus JT Brubaker returning from Tommy John – but with varying degrees of team control in that group, the chance to get a potential ace like Sasaki for six years at a low salary could be too much to pass up, and allow the Yankees to explore other avenues via trade to help the team elsewhere.

“There’s always needs to address, but in the end, you never know if trades come into play, or what ends up making the most sense,” Boone said. “You’re trying to improve where you can, so sometimes you try to hammer an area of strength. You never know how it will play out. Brian (Cashman) casts a wide net, and you’re ultimately trying to improve your team and compete for a title, but you never know how that’s going to go –it could be hammering a strength, filling a hole, or addressing a weakness.”

Whatever happens, the Yankees already know what they, or someone else, will be getting.

“I’ve seen some video, so I know about the triple-digit heater and the forkball. This is a guy that you can certainly envision coming over here and being a dominant ace,” Boone said. “He has that skill set, and I hear really good things about the makeup. Certainly aware there was a special pitcher coming this way.”