Fastball

Boston Red Sox Not Currently Scheduled to Meet with Roki Sasaki

The Red Sox have already landed two big prizes in the free agent market, but it looks like it would take a minor miracle for them to land a third.

Brady Farkas

Japan starting pitcher Roki Sasaki (14) delivers a pitch during the first inning against Mexico at LoanDepot Park.
Japan starting pitcher Roki Sasaki (14) delivers a pitch during the first inning against Mexico at LoanDepot Park. / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
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After landing Garrett Crochet and Walker Buehler this offseason, the Boston Red Sox don't necessarily need another pitcher.

That said, every one in baseball is interested in landing Japanese free agent Roki Sasaki, but it doesn't look like the Red Sox have much of a realistic shot at him.

According to Mass Live, the Red Sox haven't met with the 23-year-old phenom, who throws upwards of 100 MPH, and they don't have a meeting scheduled at this point.

Sasaki has already met with some teams, including the New York Yankees and Texas Rangers. The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres remain the favorites at this point.

If the Red Sox are unable to land Sasaki, they will likely roll with Crochet, Buehler, Brayan Bello, Lucas Giolito and Tanner Houck in the rotation. They will probably push Garrett Whitlock to the bullpen and could use Kutter Crawford there as well. Crawford could also become trade bait.

The Red Sox are coming off a season in which they went 81-81 and finished third in the American League East. They haven't made the playoffs since the 2021 season and haven't won the World Series since 2018. With Crochet and Buehler in the fold, the Red Sox already appear much stronger than they did a year ago. They also went out and signed free agent reliever Aroldis Chapman to a one-year deal. They are said to be monitoring the market for third baseman Alex Bregman and are at least in the mix for him.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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