Japanese Phenom Will Officially Be Posted by His Club Sparking Phillies Rumors

Another Japanese phenom is set to be available for Major League Baseball teams to sign this offseason, and the Philadelphia Phillies could jump into the mix.

Mar 20, 2023; Miami, Florida, USA; Japan starting pitcher Roki Sasaki (14) delivers a pitch during the first inning against Mexico at LoanDepot Park / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

There is some huge breaking news that could affect the Philadelphia Phillies this offseason.

Per Jeff Passan of ESPN, Japanese pitching phenom Roki Sasaki will be posted by the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball this winter that will allow him to be signed by all 30 Major League teams.

This is massive on two fronts.

Not only is someone who evaluators believe is one of the greatest pitching talents in the world now imminently coming stateside for the upcoming campaign, but he also is doing so at 23 years old, which means he can only be signed as an international free agent.

That takes his price tag down from something that would be in the hundreds of millions of dollars, to something that is likely less than $10 million since he can only sign a minor league contract.

For the Phillies, this is a major development.

Despite them eyeing outfield help and bullpen arms, it was also reported they are still going to aggressively pursue a trade for Garrett Crochet to bolster their starting rotation.

If Philadelphia is truly looking to add another starter, then they would not have to give up any assets to land Sasaki by signing him as part of their international class this winter.

Don't forget the Phillies were all in on bringing Yoshinobu Yamamoto to town this past offseason, reportedly offering him a megadeal that would have broken the bank.

Sasaki, arguably as great of a talent, would cost a fracture of what Yamamoto ultimately got.

There is no doubt that Dave Dombrowski and the front office should be aggressively pursuing the 23-year-old phenom who has already put together a mythical-like performance during his young career which includes a 12-inning, 21-strikeout, 194-pitch complete game in high school and a 19-strikeout perfect game for Lotte two seasons ago.

With finances being front and center regarding how Philadelphia will go about this offseason, bringing in an all-world talent like Sasaki for this little amount of money is a no-brainer if they can get it done.

It's not yet known when Lotte will post their superstar pitcher, but when he becomes available, the Phillies should go all in again just like they did with Yamamoto.