Phillies News: The Philadelphia Phillies have just announced the return of their 35 years old veteran star to the starting roster…Read more

The Philadelphia Phillies are looking for a starting pitcher this offseason. When it was reported that Japanese baseball star Roki Sasaki would be released by his Nippon Professional Baseball team, a very interesting name came up.

That was big news in the sports world.

He can only sign as an international free agent because he is coming over before he turns 25. This means that all 30 teams in the league have a good chance of getting him.
For the Phillies, he might be just what they need in more than one way.

Not only is Sasaki one of the best pitchers in the world, but getting him would also send a strong message to Japan that they want to attract players who want to play in Major League Baseball.

When it comes to their reach in Asia, Philadelphia is a long way behind. This new front office regime wants to change that when it comes to their foreign presence.

They were ready to offer Yoshinobu Yamamoto a huge deal last winter to get him to sign with them, but he chose to go with the Los Angeles Dodgers instead.

The Phillies might see this as their chance to make a big move. If they do, it won’t cost them a lot of money because he can only sign a minor league deal.

Philadelphia is said to have looked at the young star in the past, so there is at least some interest.

We’ll see if that amounts to anything or not.

Dave Dombrowski and his staff got an update on when they might be able to sign Sasaki. Commissioner Rob Manfred said he thinks the right-hander will be in the 2025 international signing class, which means he would be able to sign after January 15.

This would let every team start over with the foreign signing pool, since most of the money has already been given to players with whom clubs in the league have made deals.

That’s good news for the Phillies.

As long as they have deals with the players they already have, they could keep them until 2024. Then they could focus on Sasaki and, if necessary, make him their only player from the 2025 class.

Again, Philadelphia hasn’t said if they want to do that or not, but they do know when the phenom will be ready to be signed.