Roki Sasaki set to take next step in free agency process with Mets, Yankees’ standing uncertain

Other free agent pitchers will get much bigger contracts this offseason, but none come with the intrigue of Japanese right-hander Roki Sasaki.

The 23-year-old was posted last week and is expected to sign during the early part of next year’s international free agent period, since he was posted Dec. 9 and has to finalize a deal by the end of the 45-day window, which is Jan. 23.

With in-person meetings expected to begin with prospective teams as soon as this week, there remains considerable uncertainty regarding where Sasaki will end up.

Throughout his lead-up to free agency, the Dodgers were considered the most likely landing spot.

More recently — and since his agent Joel Wolfe’s comments last week at the Winter Meetings, in which he said “I think there’s an argument to be made that a small- or midmarket team might be more beneficial for him as a soft landing coming from Japan” — that thinking has changed.

The Padres are now seen as a real threat for Sasaki, but that hasn’t stopped the Yankees, Mets — and of course, the Dodgers — from making their pitch for a player who figures to be on a path similar to Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who signed a $325 million deal with the Dodgers last offseason.