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SAN DIEGO -- It¡¯s been a week since Japanese ace Roki Sasaki was posted, and per the timeline laid out by his agent Joel Wolfe, Sasaki could begin meeting with teams as soon as this week.

Almost certainly, the Padres will be one of them. Wolfe seemed to acknowledge as much last week, saying he assumes that San Diego ¡°would be a team [Sasaki] would seriously consider.¡±

OK then! It¡¯s time for the Padres to make their pitch to one of the sport¡¯s top international stars. Here¡¯s what that pitch might look like and why San Diego might be the right fit:

1. It¡¯s a unique opportunity

Let's start by talking baseball. Strictly baseball. When Wolfe was asked explicitly what Sasaki is looking for in a suitor, his answer started with the obvious: Sasaki wants to win.

"The best I can say is he has paid attention to how teams have done as far as overall success, both this year and in years past," Wolfe said. "He does watch a lot of Major League Baseball."

Sure, there are organizations that have won more than the Padres recently. But San Diego has reached the postseason in three of the past five years -- in a baseball-centric market that is uniquely hungry for a winner.

¡°I feel like we're in a good spot for a multitude of reasons,¡± said Padres manager Mike Shildt. ¡°One, we're in San Diego. We sell out our ballpark every night. We have a very competitive ballclub. And it's a chance for him to come in and create a legacy for himself -- to help win the first World Series.¡±

2. Deep Japanese ties

Clearly, Sasaki has an immense level of respect for Yu Darvish, one of his childhood favorites and a teammate at the World Baseball Classic.

Wolfe, who is also Darvish¡¯s agent, wouldn't delve into the specifics of that relationship. But he did praise general manager A.J. Preller in the summer for his handling of Darvish¡¯s personal matter -- which kept Darvish away from the team.

The Padres haven¡¯t specified the level of Darvish¡¯s involvement in this process, but ¡­

"Yu will be involved," said Shildt. "To what degree? That will be up to Darvish and, of course, A.J. will help shepherd that. I feel confident Darvish will take his rightful spot in doing what he can."

Of course, the organizational ties to Japan run much deeper than Darvish. Japanese pitching icon Hideo Nomo is a senior adviser to Preller, and the team has long made scouting in Japan a priority, even as other organizations cut back. It recently landed them lefty reliever Yuki Matsui, another of Sasaki's teammates at the WBC.

3. The right market?

Of everything Wolfe said last Tuesday in Dallas at the Winter Meetings, this might¡¯ve been most notable:

¡°There¡¯s an argument to be made that a smaller or mid-market team might be more beneficial for him as a soft landing coming from Japan, given what he¡¯s been through and not having an enjoyable experience with the media. It might be. I¡¯m not saying it will be. I don¡¯t know how he¡¯s going to view it, but it might be beneficial for him.¡±

To reiterate a separate point Wolfe made, Sasaki isn¡¯t ruling out big-market clubs. But he was clearly upset by the way his family was thrust into the spotlight amid rumors he would be leaving Japan. While the Dodgers remain among the favorites to land Sasaki, this would seem to be a point in the favor of the Padres.

Plus, there¡¯s something to be said about the market itself. It¡¯s a baseball-crazed city. It¡¯s a city hungry for a championship. It¡¯s a city that fills the ballpark every night. But it¡¯s also not the type of place where Sasaki would be squarely in the national public eye. Or the type of place he¡¯d be booed off the mound or badgered in public.

4. Pitching development

Here¡¯s another area Wolfe explicitly mentioned. And since the arrival of pitching coach Ruben Niebla in 2021, the Padres have been advanced and progressive in their pitching development. In February, they opened a pitching and biomechanics lab at Point Loma Nazarene University.

The Padres have been adept at managing workloads, too, under Niebla. They turned Michael King and Seth Lugo into aces who recently received Cy Young Award votes. Both were career relievers before arriving in San Diego. They were eased into the rotation with parameters but not restrictions.

Sasaki's case is obviously different. But some parallels apply. He's a 23-year-old starter who missed time in the past two seasons with shoulder and oblique injuries. He's yet to reach 130 innings. And he's coming from Japan, where he was often expected to pitch only once per week.

Sasaki must be eased into the rigors of pitching in a big league rotation. But if there's an organization that has proven capable, it's this one.

¡°You¡¯ve got Ruben spearheading those efforts with a great team of people around him,¡± Preller said. ¡°It¡¯s a really good spot for a pitcher. ¡­ We hear it from pitchers all the time, wanting to be here, be in San Diego, because they feel like they¡¯re going to get better. That¡¯s something that we¡¯re proud of.¡±

5. "Weather and comfortability"

Hey, I'm only bringing it up, because Wolfe brought it up first. Speaking last week, he cited "weather and comfortability" as two areas Sasaki is looking for.

I probably don't need to go into much detail here. The weather and comfortability in San Diego is excellent. Additionally, Sasaki would be a pitcher at Petco Park, one of the sport's best pitchers' parks, which should bring its own measure of comfort.

Ultimately, it probably won't be the reason Sasaki makes his decision. But, hey, it can¡¯t hurt.