Jed Hoyer's trip to Japan hints at Cubs hoping for miracle with top Japanese pitcher

Chicago Cubs president Jed Hoyer has made a habit of taking trips to Japan in recent seasons to better assess the free agents who will soon join Major League Baseball.

It was Hoyer's trip to Japan last season that may have ignited the Cubs' interest in starting pitcher Shota Imanaga. Hoyer, who also attended a start of Yoshinobu Yamamoto in Japan last summer, seems to have made a trip once more this season.

According to a Yahoo Sports article out of Japan, Hoyer was among the executives in attendance during Roki Sasaki's latest start. Sasaki, turning 23 in November, is viewed as the best starting pitcher to make the next transition from NPB to MLB but there has been some pushback from his current team. Sasaki requested to be posted last offseason in a move that his team, the Chiba Lotte Mariners, declined. While Sasaki is expected to submit another request this offseason, it seems that the current expectation is that the Mariners will decline it once again.

MLB Trade Rumors has a great breakdown of why the Mariners would be inclined to decline Sasaki's request until he is, at least, 25. To summarize, with Sasaki being under 25, he would only be allowed to sign a minor-league deal with a Major League team but also be subject to the bonus pool limits for international free agents. Sasaki may be willing to sacrifice some money at the start of his Major League career but it's also worth noting that the posting fee that the Mariners would receive would also be far less than if they waited until he was 25.

Another free agent target that Cubs fans will only be able to dream of.

Sasaki has been excellent during his time with the Mariners. In just over 380 innings pitched over the course of four seasons, Sasaki has a 2.45 ERA. Even more impressive is his 5.77 strikeout-to-walk ratio during his time in NPB.

To bring this back into the context of the Cubs having an interest in Sasaki, it would likely only be on the off chance that he is posted before he reaches 25. Once Sasaki turns 25, he can get a deal similar to the $325MM deal that Yamamoto signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers last season. In other words, the Cubs likely wouldn't be spending that type of money given the precedent they set last offseason by steering clear of Yamamoto.