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The winter meetings are underway in the MLB, and one team folks are keeping an eye on is the St. Louis Cardinals, as they are expected to trade away star third baseman Nolan Arenado in the near future. And yet, while a rebuild may be on the horizon for the Cardinals, that doesn't mean they are going to sit out the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes.
Sasaki, the superstar 23-year old Japanese pitcher, was posted for MLB free agency by the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball (Japan's top baseball league) on Monday, which meant that the race to land his signature was officially on.
With Sasaki being considered an international amateur, his contract will likely fall somewhere in the range of $5-7 million, which means every team has a shot to sign him. That includes St. Louis, who revealed they will make an effort to land arguably the hottest name left on the free agent market.
“We will make a pitch,” Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said on Tuesday at the Winter Meetings, per Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Cardinals set to make push for Roki Sasaki
Over four seasons with the Marines in the NPB, Sasaki has been simply sensational. He's fresh off a 2024 campaign that saw him post a 10-5 record with a sparkling 2.35 earned run average while racking up 129 strikeouts. And at just 23 years old, there's reason to believe that Sasaki is only scratching the surface of his potential.
The Cardinals may be tearing their roster down in some ways this offseason, but that shouldn't preclude them from making a push to land Sasaki, especially considering the discounted price he will be available for. St. Louis may not be considered the frontrunner for Sasaki, but they will be just as involved as every other team, and who knows, maybe they will end up winning the sweepstakes for his signature.
