Mets bid for Juan Soto now north of $700 million, still seeking starting pitching
The star Japanese pitcher will reportedly be posted during the Winter Meetings
What’s Up with the Mets? 🍎
The Mets still want to sign additional starting pitching - they have shown interest in RHP’s Nathan Eovaldi, Jack Flaherty, Nick Pivetta and Walker Buehler, and they remain interested in retaining LHP Sean Manaea (Athletic)
RHP Roki Sasaki will be posted during the Winter Meetings - the Mets are among at least six teams expected to be involved in the bidding (ESPN)
The Dodgers remain the favorites to sign Sasaki (New York Post)
The Mets and the Yankees have offers in the $710-730 million range, with the Mets offer believed to be slightly higher than the Yankees offer right now (New York Post)
The Dodgers have made a highly competitive offer for Juan Soto, but are not viewed as a favorite to sign him (ESPN)
The Yankees are not Soto’s first or second choice right now (ESPN)
Rumor Mill 💨
The Cubs are showing interest in signing RHP Walker Buehler (Athletic)
The Phillies are interested in re-signing RHP Jeff Hoffman (Athletic)
The Tigers have expressed interest in re-signing RHP Jack Flaherty (Athletic)
Nolan Arenado has a very small list of teams he would consider for a trade (ESPN)
The Orioles would prefer to avoid signing free agent pitchers who received qualifying offers (Athletic)
Notes on the Mets and Roki Sasaki… ⚾️
Star Japanese RHP Roki Sasaki will reportedly be posted by his current team, the Chiba Lotte Marines, in the NPB during the Winter Meetings in the coming week. He will have 45 days to sign with a major league team from the moment he is posted, and is reportedly likely to sign after January 15, which marks the beginning of the 2025 international free agent signing period.
For the Mets, Sasaki is an obvious fit and meets the criteria for the kind of pitcher they should be committing to long-term. He’s just 23 years old and has had a stunningly good career to this point in Japan.
Aside from the typical injury risk that comes with hard-throwing pitchers, teams are better able now to determine if a pitcher from an international baseball league can be successful or not in the majors thanks to their ability to analyze spin rates and biomechanics. As such, the general consensus on Sasaki is that his stuff would be elite in the major leagues.
However, there are some challenges for the Mets if they want to sign Sasaki.
First off, they have to stave off the Dodgers and the Padres, who, according to the New York Post, are among the favorites to sign Sasaki. Second, I’m guessing the Mets would have to trade for more international pool money, as they have already committed $5 million of their $6.2 million allotment in the 2025 signing period to 16-year-old SS Elian Peña (Athletic).
Below are notes on Sasaki as his free agency is set to begin…
Sasaki, 23, had a remarkable 10-5 record with a 2.32 ERA with 129 strikeouts and just 32 walks in 18 starts spanning 111 innings for the Chiba Lotte Marines in the Nippon Professional Baseball League in 2024
Throughout his 64-game career in the NPB, he has an impressive lifetime ERA of 2.10. However, he faced significant challenges in 2024 due to a torn oblique and arm issues which limited him to just 21 starts
He pitched for Team Japan in the 2023 World Baseball Classic, striking out 11 over 7 2/3 IP in the tournament
Since Sasaki is still under 25 years old, he can only be signed to a minor league contract and receive International Pool money, rather than a standard free agent contract. This distinction is similar to the $2.3 million deal Shohei Ohtani signed with the Angels in 2018
The team that signs Sasaki will pay the Marines a 20% share of the total contract value he receives
Sasaki will be under team control for six seasons, and can become a free agent after the 2031 season
David Stearns scouted Sasaki in Japan in September
Teams can trade for up to 60% of their allocated pool money (for the Mets, that value is approximately $3.7 million)
Winter Meetings 🎺
The Winter Meetings are set to officially begin on Monday at the Hilton Anatole Hotel in Dallas, Texas.
Mets manager Carlos Mendoza is scheduled to speak with the media at 5:40 p.m. ET on Monday, December 9.
The MLB Draft Lottery will be held on Tuesday, December 10 at 5:30 p.m. ET and will be aired live on MLB Network.
The Mets are not in the draft lottery this year. They will have the 28th pick in the first round of the 2025 draft, which takes place in July during All-Star Week. Per MLB, “the order of the postseason teams is determined by when they get eliminated and their revenue-sharing status. Those 12 teams will choose in the following order: Wild Card Series losers, Division Series losers, Championship Series losers, World Series loser, World Series winner. Within each of those groups, clubs will be sorted by revenue-sharing status, with payee clubs selecting before non-payee clubs. If two or more clubs have identical winning percentages in the immediately preceding championship season, the selection order of those clubs will be determined by winning percentage in the next prior championship season, with any remaining ties resolved by the tied clubs’ respective championship season winning percentages in each preceding year, until the tie is broken.”
The Rule 5 draft will be held on Wednesday, December 11, at 2 p.m. ET. The Mets have the 21st pick in this draft, although they are not obligated to choose any of the available players. The Mets currently have 32 players on their 40-man roster, 33 if Clay Holmes is included, meaning there is some wiggle room for them to take a chance on a player. If the Mets do choose a player from the major league portion of the draft, they must pay the player’s former club $100,000 and carry that player on the active roster the entire season. If they don’t, they must then be waived. If the player clears waivers, they offer that player back to their former club for $50,000. The player can only be outrighted off the 40-man roster and sent to the minors if their former team declines to take the player back. They could also select a player on another team’s behalf and then trade that player to the other team.
The Mets notably left RHP Dominic Hamel and RHP Mike Vasil off their 40-man roster this winter, leaving them exposed to other teams in the Rule 5 draft. But they would have to be carried for the entire 2025 season on a major league roster, or be return back to the Mets for the aforementioned fee of $50,000.
For more on this year’s Winter Meetings, check out MLB’s primer here.
Around the League 🚩
SS Willy Adames agreed to sign with the Giants for seven years, $182 million (ESPN)
OF Tyler O’Neill agreed to a three-year, $49.5 million contract with the Orioles with an opt-out after the first season (New York Post)
The Rangers signed former Mets RHP Adrian Houser to a minor league contract (Just Baseball Media)
Gary Sánchez is going to the Orioles on a one-year contract (New York Post)