Red Sox Chances To Land Standout Pitcher Takes Hit After Latest Report

It feels like prized international free agent Roki Sasaki gets further and further away from joining the Boston Red Sox with each passing day.

The Red Sox pitching target on Thursday reportedly met with the New York Mets. And the Red Sox got more discouraging news Friday if they are indeed still in the Sasaki sweepstakes.

Sasaki reportedly met with both New York teams Thursday as the Yankees also flew out to Los Angeles for some facetime with the Japanese star, according to the New York Post’s Jon Heyman.

“He’s obviously a tremendous talent,” Yankees general manager Brian Cashman told reporters earlier this week, per Heyman. “It’d be nice to have Yankee Stadium be his home, but the decision will be up to him. All we can do is share everything and anything that we can about ourselves and what we provide.”

The 23-year-old right-handed starting pitcher is expected to hold at least one more in-person meeting with an MLB team before heading back to Japan for Christmas, but it reportedly isn’t with the Red Sox. Sasaki was set to meet with the Chicago Cubs on Friday, per 670 The Score.

The Red Sox sure appear to be on the outside looking in on the race for Sasaki. The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres have long been viewed as the favorites for his services and with both New York teams in the mix plus Chicago, it will be tough for Boston to beat out that type of competition.

The Red Sox were seen as “very serious about making a pitch to the Sasaki team,” according to MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo, but it’s unclear if they secured an in-person meeting with Sasaki.

Boston did seem like a fit to fill Sasaki’s needs as his agent Joel Wolfe said his client is looking to sign with a team that has a track record with Japanese players and can develop pitchers. The Red Sox would check both of those boxes as Daisuke Matsuzaka, Hideki Okajima, Koji Uehara and Junichi Tazawa have all had success with Boston over the last two decades.

Sasaki, who went 29-15 with a 2.10 ERA and posted 11.5 strikeouts per nine innings during his four seasons playing professionally in Japan, won’t sign with a team until the international signing period opens on Jan. 15. He’ll come at a much cheaper price, too, than other starting pitchers currently on the free agent market since he’s deemed an international amateur.

Perhaps the Red Sox signaled they were long shots to acquire Sasaki by reportedly adding a veteran starting pitcher Friday.