Rangers left out of MLB Network's Roki Sasaki prediction despite recent report

Despite the fact that he won't be able to sign with his new club until the middle of January, Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki has been one of the hottest names in the MLB free agent market for months now.

The right-hander is set to make his jump stateside after an otherworldly four-year run on the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Japan Pacific League. He's turned himself into one of the most dominant starting pitchers on the planet and he's somehow still just 23 years of age.

Recently, it was confirmed that the Texas Rangers were one of the handful of teams to have met with Sasaki and his representatives at Wasserman, which was relayed by Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. The Yankees, Mets, Cubs and Giants have all also scored meetings with him.

All of this widespread interest is understandable, as Sasaki just wrapped up his age-22 season with a 10-5 record, a 2.35 ERA and 129 strikeouts versus just 29 walks in 111 innings in 2024. His 10.5 K/9 rate and minuscule 0.2 HR/9 rate are unheard of from players as young as Sasaki.

MLB Network leaves Rangers out of their projected pursuit of Roki Sasaki

Despite the fact that the Rangers have met with Sasaki, they were left off of a recent post from MLB Network identifying some of the top landing spots for him. This feels like an incorrect assessment.

The fact that the Rangers didn't make the cut from MLB Network is a bit of a head-scratcher, as they've had some considerable successes with Japanese pitchers over the past decade or so. Chief among them is Yu Darvish, who is one of the best Japanese players to ever try his hand at Major League Baseball. His five-year stretch on the Rangers went about as well as it possibly could have.

This is not to say that there's not going to be stiff competition, but the Rangers have already showed this offseason that they mean business. The front office clearly is not comfortable falling further and further out of contention so quickly after their 2023 World Series Championship.

While the initial meetings with Sasaki will not be about money, the Rangers have plenty of recent moves to point to when trying to further entice potential future additions. The club has already added two power bats, four relief pitchers, a backup catcher, and re-signed their staff ace, which is more than enough to show that 2025 is going to be a step in the right direction for them.

Texas landing Sasaki is far from a sure thing, but it's nowhere near an outlandish thought to say that the Rangers do have a legitimate shot at landing him and seeing him blossom into the second coming of Darvish atop their starting rotation.