SAN ANTONIO — Roki Sasaki is potentially this winter’s big Japanese pitching prize, and the Mets have begun their recruitment.
The team’s president of baseball operations, David Stearns, said Wednesday that he traveled to Japan in September to watch the right-hander pitch and express a level of interest in him by his presence.
Sasaki, 23, has not been posted by the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball.
It’s unclear if that will occur because of Sasaki’s age — as a player under 25 he would only be eligible to receive international bonus pool money instead of the kind of windfall that Yoshinobu Yamamoto got last winter from the Dodgers.
Yamamoto signed a 12-year contract worth $325 million.
Chiba Lotte, which would be receiving a posting fee based on the size of Sasaki’s MLB deal, would have greater motivation to wait until the pitcher turns 25 before allowing him to leave.
Shohei Ohtani arrived to MLB before the 2018 season under the same kind of circumstances Sasaki would be facing.
Ohtani, as a 23-year-old, received a $2.3 million signing bonus from the Angels and was paid the major league minimum.
“[Sasaki] is a unique talent,” Stearns said at the GM meetings. “He’s 23 and throws 100 [mph] and a nasty splitter.”
The Mets tried hard for Yamamoto last offseason (the Yankees were also among his serious suitors), with the pursuit lasting into late December.
That holdup delayed the pitching market, but Stearns indicated that won’t be the case if Sasaki is posted because of the smaller amount of money involved.
“I think one of the reasons the market was held up last year for Yamamoto was that teams didn’t want to spend resources prior to knowing whether they were going to get Yamamoto,” Stearns said. “In this case, I don’t see someone like Sasaki, who is going to be subject to the bonus pool limitations, holding up the rest of the starting pitching market.”
The Dodgers, who have Ohtani and Yamamoto locked up long term, will likely be the front-runner to sign Sasaki if he is posted.
Stearns said he didn’t meet Sasaki on his trip to Japan, but felt it was important to let the Mets’ interest be known.
“As much as anything, to express a level of interest and respect for these players that we are giving a concerted effort to see them in their environment,” Stearns said.