Yankees become first team to reveal theyve landed Roki Sasaki meeting

The Yankees introduced one starting pitcher on Wednesday and 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.It is unclear how many teams will meet with Sasaki, but Cashman & Co.already have made it further than they did when Shohei 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.Sasaki and his agent, Joel Wolfe, had asked teams for virtual presentations as the first step in the free-agency process.The Yankees submitted theirs and have become the first publicly known team to get their 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 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 being treated 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.

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