DALLAS — New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman saw star Roki Sasaki pitch when he flew to Japan to get eyes on Yoshinobu Yamamoto in 2023.
“Big arm with a big desire to be great,” Cashman said, “and I know his intent is to be one of the game’s greatest pitchers on the planet. We certainly would love to participate in allowing that to happen.”
The Yankees haven’t been told when they’ll get a chance to meet with Sasaki, the 23-year-old flamethrower who was posted this week during the MLB Winter Meetings.
Cashman said they have a presentation prepared for Sasaki, who had a 10-5 record with a 2.35 ERA in 18 starts for the Chiba Lotte Marines last season and will only cost international bonus money to sign via MLB rules. The Yankees have $6,261,600 available.
Brian Cashman said the Yankees have a presentation prepared for Roki Sasaki. The team hasn’t been told yet when it’ll get a chance to meet with the Japanese star who grew up a big Masahiro Tanaka fan.
“Big arm with a big desire to be great,” Cashman said. “And I know his intent…
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Teams can also trade for an additional 60 percent to their pool, which means the Yankees could top out at $10,018,560.
The Los Angeles Dodgers seem like the favorites to land Sasaki. They also have Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani and Yamamoto. The San Diego Padres also seem like possibilities with Yu Darvish potentially a key recruiting tool.
“Extremely talented player,” Cashman said. “Everyone is going to want to have a chance to inquire. So we left it at that and we’ll see where it takes us.”
Sasaki’s agent, Joel Wolfe, said Tuesday at the Hilton Anatole that Sasaki would consider all teams but that a “smaller, mid-market team” might be a softer landing spot for him.
“We’re gonna leave it open-ended,” Wolfe said, “depending on how the first round of meetings go, how many meetings he actually has, how many total meetings he plans to have,” Wolfe said. “Teams have already begun sending presentations both in video and PowerPoint, PDF form, that sort of thing. But we didn’t give teams a hard deadline to submit that information because we want them to be able to put the time in to do it right. Obviously some teams were already working on these things, some of them for months I believe.”
On Tuesday, the Yankees agreed to give lefty starting pitcher Max Fried an eight-year, $218 million deal to slot him behind ace Gerrit Cole. The deal won’t take them out of the running for Sasaki.
Sasaki grew up a fan of former Yankees righty Masahiro Tanaka. Cashman said he wouldn’t reveal whether the team would tap Japanese players who excelled with the Yankees to recruit Sasaki.
“Clearly with (Hideki) Matsui and we had the chance to trade for Ichiro Suzuki, who’s going to the Hall of Fame,” Cashman said. “Obviously Tanaka, (Hiroki) Kuroda. We have had some great players who played here, who enjoyed playing here. But that doesn’t guarantee any individual’s decision piggybacking on those types. But I know those players are great resources to speak about the great experiences they had here.”
On Wednesday, the New York Post reported that the Yankees were in “serious” pursuit of Houston Astros outfielder Kyle Tucker.
A league source told The Athletic that the Yankees had spoken with the Astros about Tucker, and that reigning American League Rookie of the Year Luis Gil, a righty starting pitcher, came up in conversation.
Asked if Houston would consider trading Tucker or Framber Valdez, general manager Dana Brown said the Astros would “listen on anybody.” On Wednesday, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Chandler Rome reported that the Astros had been speaking with the Chicago Cubs about a potential trade for Tucker.
Cashman was asked directly if he planned to speak with the Astros about any of their players.
“I would expect us to have conversations with all teams about what availability of players on their roster are, as well as all agents of players in free agency that we like, too,” he said. “We’ll check every box and ascertain price tags and that will be true of anything in the marketplace.”
MLB Trade Rumors projected Tucker to make $15.8 million in his final year of salary arbitration in 2024. Last season, he was an All-Star, hitting .289 with 23 home runs, 49 RBIs and a .993 OPS in 78 games.
Outfielder Spencer Jones, one of the Yankees’ top prospects, didn’t quite mash at Double-A Somerset. In 122 games, he had a .789 OPS, striking out 200 times in 482 at-bats — the second-most whiffs in all of the minor leagues.
Cashman preached patience with Jones, who offers a rare blend of size at 6-foot-6 with immense power and surprising speed in center field and on the bases.
“I think he’s capable, obviously, clearly of more,” Cashman said. “I think he’s going through his journey of development. The physical beast — these bigger guys.”
Cashman liked Jones’ development to Dellin Betances and Aaron Judge — two players of similar size who saw struggles in the minors before blossoming in the majors.
“Trying to work through his physicality and then all of a sudden it all clicked in,” Cashman said of Betances. “Same with Aaron Judge. Aaron Judge’s best years have been as a major leaguer, not on the minor-league side.
“So these superior physical beasts that Spencer Jones would also qualify as, their development takes time. All those tools are real. The excitement is all there. You also have to be patient.”
(Photo of Tucker: Troy Taormina / Imagn Images)
