The New York Mets won’t end up landing Roki Sasaki, league sources said.
With the international signing period starting this week, league sources said the Mets were informed that Sasaki, the highly sought-after right-hander from Japan, would play elsewhere.
New York was one of several teams that reportedly met with Sasaki, who can only be signed through each team’s international bonus pools, which range from roughly $5.1 million to $7.5 million. It’s unclear how much money Sasaki is seeking from a bonus pool. The Mets intend to allocate a huge chunk of their bonus money (around $5 million) to Elian Peña, a Dominican shortstop long tied to them.
The Mets missing out on Sasaki, 23, further underscores the club’s need to develop pitchers from their farm system. Prospects such as Brandon Sproat, Blade Tidwell and Jonah Tong may one day be major-league starters, but they need to demonstrate continued success in the upper levels of the minor leagues. Until the Mets churn out homegrown pitchers (perhaps David Peterson taking a step forward last season presents a good sign), they must continue to look externally for help. And it’s incredibly rare for pitchers in their mid-20s to become available in free agency.
Thus, it was important for the Mets to re-sign someone like Sean Manaea to a multiyear deal. Mets president of baseball operations David Stearns is not naturally inclined to go long on starting pitchers. But good pitching doesn’t come cheap — nor does it always come on short-term arrangements. With Manaea, the Mets landed someone with top-of-the-rotation potential but did so with a three-year deal more in line with their comfort zone. The veteran offers some stability to the rotation.
Manaea described the Mets as a “perfect fit” while speaking with reporters on a video call for the first time since re-signing on a three-year deal in late December. He cited how much his wife enjoyed the family atmosphere and how much he appreciated pitching coach Jeremy Hefner allowing him to be himself as the pitcher worked through changes.
Manaea said he spoke with a couple of other clubs but did not feel he was particularly close to signing anywhere else.
-At least one team discussed the possibility of going four or five years with Manaea, league sources said. Ultimately he signed a $75 million deal that contained deferrals (which lowered his annual average value to closer to $22 million).
During the offseason, Manaea has worked out with Pete Alonso in Tampa. The two are close friends. Predictably, Manaea said he “very much” hopes the Mets and Alonso can work out a deal.
“Whatever happens with Pete, I’m always going to support him,” Manaea said, “but I would definitely love to have him back on the Mets and be our first baseman.”
As of last week, right-handed pitcher Paul Blackburn was throwing from 120 feet, people familiar with the matter said. Blackburn underwent a cerebrospinal fluid leak repair procedure on Oct. 11. At that time, the Mets said a typical timeframe to return to play from such a procedure is four to five months.
Speculatively, if Blackburn is not fully built up for a starter’s workload by the end of spring training, the Mets could use him as a long reliever. They signed Griffin Canning to a one-year deal as a possible sixth starter. Rival evaluators compared the idea of Blackburn as a long reliever to Trevor Williams’ role with the Mets a few years ago because of his ability to locate pitches.
(Photo of Sean Manaea: Wendell Cruz / USA Today)
