Japanese star pitcher Roki Sasaki to be made available to MLB teams with Mets, Yankees interested
NY Post
A Monster is coming to Major League Baseball, and the Yankees and Mets — and truly all 28 other teams — will be interested.
Roki Sasaki, the “Monster of the Reiwa Era,” will get his wish to pitch in the majors next season.
The Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball announced overnight they intend to make the star starting pitcher available through the posting system that will make Sasaki the kind of bargain even tiny markets can fit into a budget.
The right-hander throws 100 mph, is renowned for a devastating splitter and turned 23 last week. He is so determined to pitch in the majors that he will arrive before his dream contract arrives.
If Sasaki waited two years, he would be treated as a full-fledged, professional free agent and could seek the kind of 12-year, $325 million mega-deal that Yoshinobu Yamamoto signed with the Dodgers last December.
Sasaki was not willing to wait and will come to the majors subject to international bonus pool restrictions — he will be treated as an amateur who can only earn a few million in a signing bonus while agreeing to a minor league contract (though his chosen team surely will add him to the major league roster).
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