Can The New York Mets Land Roki Sasaki?

ESPN insider Jeff Passan wrote in a December 7 article that, "Among the other teams expected to be significant players in the Sasaki sweepstakes: the San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers, New York Mets and San Francisco Giants."

The Athletic's Jim Bowden echoed Passan's sentiment about the Mets being major players during his December 9 appearance on CBS Sports, where he said, “I know that the Wasserman Group, who are representing him, are very high on [Mets pitching coach] Jeremy Hefner, and that does have some influence here."

Sasaki's agent Joel Wolfe addressed the media on December 10. At one point, he said, "Roki has had a tough go of it the last couple of years. The media in Japan... has been very tough on him.

"His dream is to come [to America] to the major leagues," Wolfe continued, per SNY.

Given how notoriously critical New York media can be at times, this take raised eyebrows on where Sasaki might want to play.

Then Wolfe made an interesting declaration about what sort of market it might make sense for Sasaki to start his MLB journey.

"Yeah, absolutely," Wolfe said when asked whether Sasaki would consider small market teams, per SNY. "I think that there's an argument to be made that a smaller, mid-market team might be more beneficial for him as a soft landing.

"Might be. I'm not saying it will be," Wolfe continued. "But it might be beneficial for him to be in a smaller market."

This sentiment doesn't bode well for the Mets.

However, Wolfe seemed to quickly backtrack his words when adding, "[Sasaki] hasn't said anything negative about any particular city, and he actually hasn't said anything overly positive about it. We haven't had any detailed discussions about any particular cities yet," when asked if he thinks Sasaki could handle playing in New York.

"I think he can handle [New York], just based off what I've seen," Wolfe added.

It sounds like there's still much to be discussed when it comes to where Sasaki will land. But for now, the Mets should still feel confident that they're among the top contenders to sign the superstar.