Inside The Pinstripes

Yankees Remain in on Roki Sasaki in Free Agency Sweepstakes, Per Insider

The Yankees may not be done with adding another ace to their starting rotation as they have a chance to form an elite unit.

Logan VanDine

Mar 20, 2023; Miami, Florida, USA; Japan starting pitcher Roki Sasaki (14) delivers a pitch during the first inning against Mexico at LoanDepot Park. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
Mar 20, 2023; Miami, Florida, USA; Japan starting pitcher Roki Sasaki (14) delivers a pitch during the first inning against Mexico at LoanDepot Park. Mandatory Credit: Sam Navarro-Imagn Images / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images
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Despite already making a huge offseason move to improve their starting rotation for the 2025 season, the New York Yankees may not be done adding in this area.

According to MLB insider Jim Bowden, the Yankees are "still in" on Japanese free agent starting pitcher Roki Sasaki even after signing lefty ace Max Fried to an eight-year, $218 million contract last month.

Other teams that Bowden listed as potential landing spots for the right-hander are the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers and possibly the San Francisco Giants.

This news also comes after SNY's Andy Martino reported that Sasaki's agent Joel Wolfe told SNY in a text after a zoom call with the media on Monday that, "Market size isn't a factor."

Sasaki pitched for the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Nippon Professional Baseball League and was dominant during his four years pitching in Japan.

Across four seasons, the 23-year-old went 29-15 with a 2.10 ERA, notching a total of 505 strikeouts in 394.2 innings pitched. Sasaki was eventually posted by the Marines on November 8, 2024, which came as a bit of a surprise given he is only eligible to receive a minor league deal. This is because Sasaki is under the age of 25.

The Yankees have made it a point this offseason to improve their rotation after it was plagued by injuries and inconsistency in 2024. Adding Fried was certainly a great start and enhanced their run prevention strategy after losing superstar outfielder Juan Soto to the Mets.

New York may seem like a long shot for Sasaki with the Dodgers and the Padres seen as the favorites in landing the young hurler. But they should still be a team to watch out for as the Bronx Bombers are looking to build off their first World Series appearance since 2009.

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Logan VanDine
LOGAN VANDINE

Logan is a graduate of Rider University where he majored in Sports Media and minored in Sports Studies. During his time at Rider, Logan worked for Rider's radio station, 107.7 The Bronc as a sports host, producer and broadcaster, and for the school's paper: The Rider News. He began his time with The Rider News as a section writer for sports and was a copy editor for two years followed by being one of the sports editors during his senior year. Logan also placed third in the New Jersey Press Foundation Awards for sports feature writing. Aside from his work on Yankees and Mets On SI, he is also a writer for FanSided covering the New York Giants and Mets and also covers the Giants for Total Apex Sports.

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