Two days before the Winter Meetings officially begin, the annual baseball wheeling-and-dealing exhibition grew more interesting.
Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki is expected to be posted during the Meetings this week, The Post’s Jon Heyman confirmed Saturday, which will open a 45-day window in which clubs try to recruit him to their side.
The interested teams, which should encompass all 30, will have to sell themselves on fit more than financials.
The 23-year-old righty is being treated as an international amateur, and thus his contract will be restricted to the pool of money that teams allocate toward the international free agent market.
The Yankees and Mets begin with $6,261,600 with which they can distribute to international amateurs who sign in 2025.
The Mets already have agreed to a deal worth around $5 million with 17-year-old Dominican infielder Elian Peña, which represents a huge chunk of their budget.
The club still could walk away from the contract, which is non-binding, but doing so would harm its reputation and cost a top prospect.
They also could look to trade for additional IFA funds.
If the Mets believe they have a real shot at Sasaki, they surely would figure out a way to get him the necessary money.
He is seen as one of the best young pitchers in the world, pitched to a 2.10 ERA with 505 strikeouts in 394 ⅔ innings in four seasons in NPB and will represent the best baseball bargain since the Angels signed Shohei Ohtani.
The Dodgers, who are the defending champions and who feature Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in their rotation, are seen as the front-runners.
The Padres are believed to have a strong chance, as Sasaki is close with Yu Darvish.
The Yankees can sell their strong history with Japanese players — and strong history on the field — and the Mets can use Kodai Senga to entice Sasaki.
There have been no signals concerning what Sasaki will be valuing in the team he chooses.
When Sasaki is posted, which reportedly will occur Tuesday, teams can begin pitching the pitcher, who will be eligible to sign beginning Jan. 15, when the 2025 IFA market opens.
In the meantime, teams do not know if they should keep a sixth rotation spot open — but if chosen, any team would improvise and be thrilled at landing a top-of-the-rotation arm who throws 100 mph, owns a devastating splitter and will play for relative pennies.