Red Sox Expected To Make 'Very Serious' Push To Sign 23-Year-Old Japanese Superstar

What does Craig Breslow have up his sleeve?

Dec 9, 2024; Dallas, TX, USA; Boston Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow speaks with the media at the Hilton Anatole during the 2024 MLB Winter Meetings. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

The Boston Red Sox haven't made much noise since the Garrett Crochet trade. Have they been lying in waiting for something even bigger?

Boston did well to add Crochet, a 25-year-old potential ace, to its rotation for at least the next two seasons. But with more room to improve their starting rotation, is it possible the Red Sox could add an even younger future superstar?

Japanese sensation Roki Sasaki, the 23-year-old fireballer on his way to join a Major League Baseball team this season, is the most coveted prize on the market. Because he is only eligible to sign a minor-league deal, any team can realistically afford him, which should make all 30 teams desperately want him.

Ever since Sasaki declared he would be coming to the U.S. in 2025, the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres have been installed as the heavy favorites to land the future ace. He played with Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Yu Darvish in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, after all,

However, the Red Sox have been players in the Sasaki sweepstakes from the jump. Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow even traveled to Japan to watch him pitch in the middle of the major-league season. Does that foretell a potential upset on Boston's behalf?

On Wednesday, Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com reported that the Red Sox were expected to make a "very serious" pitch to Sasaki, giving them as good a chance as any American League team to pull off a surprise and lure the talented righty away from the West Coast.

"In the AL, the Red Sox are very serious about making a pitch to the Sasaki team. The main selling point might be the history of Japanese pitchers having success and positive experiences playing in Boston: Daisuke Matsuzaka, Uehara and Junichi Tazawa," Mayo said.

"They have an impressive pitching development program and it certainly doesn’t hurt when the general manager, Craig Breslow, can speak directly to it (as opposed to just handing it off to “the experts”). Breslow also personally scouted Sasaki for one of his starts in Japan in September."

Mayo also conducted a poll of 20 MLB executives, none of whom thought Sasaki would sign in Boston. 11 of the executives chose the Dodgers, seven chose the Padres, and the San Francisco Giants and Texas Rangers each received one vote.

The Red Sox are clearly long shots, but Breslow should at least get an opportunity to show how convincing he can be. No one ever knows what a player is thinking besides the player himself, and perhaps in a dream scenario, Sasaki can be persuaded to come to Boston.

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