Padres could target veteran Japanese pitcher to help entice Roki Sasaki in free agency

Sometimes, you can get the best of both worlds in baseball. You just need to play your cards right. With the 2024 season now fully behind the San Diego Padres, they are looking to build a super team for 2025 and beyond. San Diego has the capital and the star power to lure in several big-time players, and while that would be nice for the Friars, they also have some holes to fill in their roster.

Can the Padres check off both of these boxes with one nifty move? It won't be easy, but San Diego has an opportunity that can allow them to steal the biggest international player, Roki Sasaki.

Padres could target veteran Japanese pitcher to help entice Roki Sasaki in free agency

The Padres want the 23-year-old Japanese pitching sensation. Sasaki, the right-handed phenom, is on everyone's holiday wish list, including the Padres. However, since every team wants him, the Friars need to stick out above the competition.

What can they do to pique Sasaki's interest? Yu Darvish is trying to individually convince Sasaki to join the team, but maybe the Padres need strength in numbers. Insert Yusei Kikuchi, a 33-year-old free agent lefty who fired four quality starts in his final five outings of the season with the Houston Astros.

With Martín Pérez becoming a free agent, the San Diego Padres no longer have a left-handed starting pitcher. Although they have some enormous names in Michael King and Dylan Cease highlighting the rotation, every MLB team needs a southpaw somewhere mixed into the formula.

Adding Kikuchi to the rotation not only answers the Padres' calling of rostering a left-hander, but adding a second Japanese-born player to the team can help San Diego's pitch to Sasaki. The Los Angeles Dodgers are very much attempting a Sasaki signing, and could jut out as favorites to land him thanks to having two Japanese stars in Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto already on the team.

If the Padres can match the number of familiar names to Sasaki as the Dodgers, then maybe A.J. Preller is cooking with something legitimate. Kikuchi ended this past season with some red-hot numbers, which can benefit the Padres on its own. But it is through this potential move that can really open the door for San Diego to swoop in and ink a deal with Sasaki this offseason. It may sound crazy, but if it works, then this could be the most savvy move of Preller's career.

More San Diego Padres News and Rumors