Yankees AL East Rival Met With Roki Sasaki as Signing Decision Looms
The Athletic's MLB insider Ken Rosenthal called the New York Yankees one of the frontrunners to sign 23-year-old Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki during a January 3 appearance on Foul Territory TV.
"But it certainly seems like the teams that we've heard mentioned — the Dodgers, the Mets, the Yankees, the Padres, the Rangers, and some others — those are the obvious front-runners based on simply the fact that they have met with Sasaki and other teams have not," Rosenthal said.
However, it appears that things have changed slightly. A January 13 article from Rosenthal and The Athletic's Andy McCullough revealed that another team has met with Sasaki: the Toronto Blue Jays.
"The Toronto Blue Jays, a silver medalist for one free agent after another the past two offseasons, are trying again," the article wrote.
"Club officials last week hosted prized Japanese right-hander Roki Sasaki in Toronto, sources briefed on the meetings told The Athletic."
The article then adds, "Sasaki, 23, can sign with a major-league club starting Wednesday, when the international signing period opens. He is not expected to decide immediately, but must choose by Jan. 23, the deadline for him to sign under the posting process. The Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, Texas Rangers, Seattle Mariners, New York Mets and Chicago Cubs are among the teams believed to be pursuing him."
Conspicuous by their absence in that last sentence of the teams "believed to be pursuing" Sasaki are the Yankees. However, since there was no additional information provided about the Yankees' inclusion, this could simply be the result of these insiders not receiving direct confirmation that New York is still in play.
But given past reporting and New York reportedly being "confident" about their chances of signing Sasaki, it's probably safe to assume they're still pursuing him until it has been explicitly stated that they're not.