DALLAS — The Yankees are also preparing to acquire Aki Sasaki.
The club's scouts and general manager Brian Cashman himself came to Japan to get a first look at the young star pitcher, who was officially appointed this week so he can join the major league team next season.
Cashman said the Yankees have already prepared a virtual presentation that will represent what they hope will be several steps toward acquiring a pitcher who has interest from all 30 teams.
Each team submits a pitch to Sasaki, who then holds a meeting with candidates.
The post opened a 45-day window for Sasaki to sign the petition, but he will only be able to sign it until at least January 15th.
The 23-year-old is treated as an international amateur, making him eligible to sign only in the team's international free agency window, making him a potential ace who could be acquired for just a few million dollars.
“A great arm with a big desire to be great,” Cashman said at Wednesday's winter meetings. “His intentions are to be one of the greatest pitchers on the planet, and we want to be a part of making that happen.”
The Dodgers, who have already added Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto to their rotation, are seen as the favorites to win.
The Padres are a candidate due to the relationship between Sasaki and Yu Darvish. Sasaki's agent, Joel Wolf, said Tuesday that Masahiro Tanaka was one of Sasaki's baseball idols growing up.
Cashman did not say whether he would call on Tanaka to help the club pitch.
He cited positive experiences with Tanaka, Hideki Matsui, Ichiro Suzuki, and Hiroki Kuroda when selling the organization.
“This is a great place to play,” Cashman said. “This is a historically consistent winning culture, a team that makes the playoffs every year, a team that has a chance at a championship. Play in one of the great cities.
“We have a lot to offer. We'll definitely present all these facts and see where it takes us.”
Wolf said he doesn't know what Coach Sasaki will consider most important when deciding on his team. Wolf added, although speculative, that Sasaki may choose a smaller market because of his lack of experience in Japanese media.
“All I can say is he paid attention to how the team performed in terms of overall success, both this year and recently,” Wolf said. “He watches a lot of Major League Baseball. He takes care of himself. [World Baseball Classic] My teammates did it. He asked a lot of questions about the weather, comfort, pitching development, and how other Japanese players in the major leagues were doing. ”
