"I'm sure Yu Darvish, Yuki Matsui met Roki Sasaki" - Padres ace weighs in on San Diego's pursuit of coveted Japanese free agent 

Roki Sasaki is reportedly on his way to MLB as the 23-year-old is expected to join a major league team when becomes an international amateur free agent in January.

The pitching sensation has been monitored by several MLB teams during his stint with the Chiba Lotte Marines in the Nippon Professional Baseball. Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres are the two teams reported to be heavily interested in the Japanese hurler.

When Padres ace Joe Musgrove was queried if he was learning any Japanese to help in the Padres' pursuit of Sasaki by sports broadcaster Marty Caswell, he quipped:

"We've got enough guys to their part. I know Yu Darvish was over there (Japan) to see his family, Yuki Matsui was there to see family. I'm sure they met up with him. I know they both have a good relationship. My part is going to be to show him Dan Diego, when and if comes here. I'm not too much worried about my Japanese."

(from 13:40 mark onwards)

As Musgrove mentioned, Yu Darvish reportedly shares a strong bond with the soon-to-be international free agent and his connection could help San Diego in pursuit of the young ace.

Roki Sasaki's agent denies agreement with Dodgers

Earlier this month rumors started to swirl of Roki Sasaki agreeing an unwritten agreement with the Dodgers. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred also made an indirect comment after reported concerns from MLB executives over the deal.

“The concern with those agreements comes when, for example, the American club has some priority access to players that are under control because it would allow them to expand the number of players they have under control. And we’ve always been scrupulous about not allowing those," Manfred said via SI.com.

However, Sasaki's agent Joel Wolfe denied the reports this week.

“While a bunch of executives who should know me better and do a lot of business with me insult my integrity by insinuating that I would be a part of some type of nefarious agreement,” Wolfe told The Athletic, “in reality, this is just poor sportsmanship.”

Sasaki is likely to sign for an MLB team when the international signing period opens on Jan. 15.