Latest Roki Sasaki comments give Chicago Cubs fans slightest hint of hope

While Corbin Burnes signing with the Arizona Diamondbacks can be considered one of the biggest surprises of the Major League Baseball offseason, it's no surprise that the Chicago Cubs were not involved in the bidding for Burnes.

The Cubs remain in the market for a starting pitcher with the Cubs hoping to add high-velocity pitcher who can offer up a different perspective for opposing hitters than the pitchers the Cubs currently have in their rotation.

It's more likely than not that addition to the rotation would come via trade but the Cubs remain in the mix for Japanese starting pitcher Roki Sasaki. Sasaki's agent, Joel Wolfe, confirmed on Monday that 20 teams expressed interest in Sasaki over the course of the past month but the 23-year-old starting pitcher has been selective with who he meets with.

Previous reports have confirmed that the Cubs were one of the handful of teams that met Sasaki before he traveled back to Japan. Sasaki is expected to sign between January 15 and January 23, once the international signing pool resets for teams. The Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres have widely been considered to be the favorites for Sasaki but Wolfe pushed back on that idea when talking about what the starting pitcher desires.

"I believe Roki is also very interested in the pitching development and how a team is going to help him get better, both in the near future and over the course of his career. He didn't seem overly concerned about whether a team had Japanese players on their team or not, which, in the past, when I represented Japanese players, that was sometimes an issue," Wolfe explained.

The Cubs can point to Shota Imanaga for why Roki Sasaki should join rotation.

While it may not matter to Sasaki that the Cubs have Shota Imanaga and Seiya Suzuki already on their roster, Imanaga's development last season could be something that works in the team's favor. At the time of his signing with the Cubs, Imanga was projected near the bottom of the Cubs' rotation with the ceiling of being a No. 3 starter. After his first season, Imanga's floor may be that of a No. 3 with his ceiling being a top-of-the-rotation starting pitcher.

Sasaki's desires doesn't mean that the Cubs are the clear favorite to sign him, the benefit of the doubt still lies with the Dodgers and Padres, but the North Siders have a track record that they can point to with Imanga's success last season.