I don't think the Pirates will get Sasaki (though I agree with Fogel that we should try to do whatever we can), but I honestly do think there is a pitch to get Sasaki on the Pirates. It's Paul Skenes.
I was one of, if not the most vocal anti-FO people in terms of the decision to start Skenes in the minors. I will be for Chandler if he looks good in ST but that's a topic for another day. It's possible to try and make a counterfactual argument that Skenes would have had the same exact success if he had skipped the minors assignment this year (and effectively skipped the minors altogether, given that his post-draft appearances were closer to a PR tour), but we'll never know.
He had the space and time to iron out his approach, get comfortable with sequencing, sharpen the new pitch, etc. It's pretty much impossible to argue that the results could have been any better. I barely feel the need to type out the rest of the thought -- he legitimately contended for Cy Young and will likely be looked at as a top-1 or 2 favorite headed into next season.
The Pirates pitch is as simple as the money basically being a wash wherever he goes and the fact that we had a similar situation with the most hyped pitching prospect in 20 years and have safeguarded his transition into young phenom. I continue to think that the Pirates are worth criticizing on tons of fronts, but it's hard to find much to really gripe about given how the whole situation turned out.
I have not followed all the ins and outs of Sasaki or much else this offseason, so I don't know exactly what's going on with him. I haven't seen anything about a landing spot that's more than rumor. If he's essentially going to have a somewhat-typical rookie contract type situation, with the similar-to-Skenes big payday awaiting after it ends, then I think there's a pretty strong argument that development and best situation for his career should be a high priority. There's no denying that there are other teams that have had success and have better resources, etc., but it's also the case that a guy like Yamamoto had some real ups and downs, though he's a harder comparison since he's slightly older.
Some degree of it can be chalked up to Skenes just being a 1/1 type of player, but regardless, there's much more of a level playing field here if the player wants to make sure he gets the best development possible. The Pirates pitch is that they'll help him transition to MLB as the best pitcher possible which will set himself up for the same kind of long career that a typical amateur draft player wants.
