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The Boston Red Sox need starting pitching, and while there are plenty of options with MLB experience still on the market and available in trades, there’s an intriguing answer that chief baseball officer Craig Breslow should be very interested in – Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki.
Sasaki, 23, posted a 2.35 ERA, 1.036 WHIP and 10.5 K/9 in 18 games (111 innings) for the Chiba Lotte Marines this past season. Incredible, that was his worst season, in terms of ERA, in his career. Prior to 2024, he had never had an ERA above 2.02 (2022).
ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported last week that Sasaki is expected to be posted at MLB’s Winter Meetings this week, which would allow him to meet with teams before he’ll likely sign with a club when the new international signing period opens on Jan. 15.
Due to MLB rules, Sasaki will make much less than any of the pitchers on the market, meaning more teams should be in play for his services. That also means that it’s not a guarantee that the big spenders like the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets are the only teams who have a legitimate shot.
If Boston could land the Japanese ace, they’ll surely be ready to compete for a postseason berth in 2025. However, with so many other teams in the mix, they’ll likely have to try and sell him on their future, and we just saw that didn’t work with Juan Soto.
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