This is the reason the Brewers may have a legitimate shot at free agent Roki Sasaki

Finding an ace starting pitcher on an affordable contract is not easy for a team like the Milwaukee Brewers. However, there is one out there on the open market that would be a bona fide top of the rotation starter, money is not an obstacle, and the Brewers have a surprisingly good shot at landing him.

Roki Sasaki was just recently posted to MLB clubs by his team in Japan, the Chiba Lotte Marines. Expectations among many in MLB media was that Sasaki would choose a team like the Dodgers or Padres, a large market club on the west coast, where he can make a ton of money in endorsements.

That's because Sasaki is only 23 years old and doesn't have enough experience to come over as an international free agent, so he's subject to amateur signing bonus restrictions and the bonus pool that teams use for the 16 year old players from Venezuela and the Dominican Republic. That total pool is only a handful of millions of dollars and every team is capped. The Brewers have one of the largest bonus pools for international money. That gives them an edge in this race.

What's also giving the Brewers a possible edge in the Sasaki pursuit is what Sasaki's agent, Joel Wolfe, just said at the Winter Meetings.

Brewers status as a small market could actually help Milwaukee in Roki Sasaki sweepstakes

A small to mid market team would be more beneficial to Sasaki and give him a soft landing in America without a large, highly critical media, according to his agent.

We already knew before that Sasaki preferred a destination that had a strong pitching development system that could allow him to blossom since he is still so young and needs some refinement to adjust to big league hitters.

Well, all of this is lining up the Milwaukee Brewers as the perfect destination for Sasaki. It's the smallest market in baseball with a great reputation for developing pitching and a stout defense behind him. It's a smaller media presence in Milwaukee as well and it fits everything it sounds like he's looking for.

Whether the Brewers ultimately land Sasaki remains to be seen. He won't sign until January 15th when the international signing bonus pools re-open and reset. That way every team has a fresh pool to spend, although if a team were to spend their entire pool on Sasaki, they'd have to drop a bunch of the international players they've had lined up the past few years. Sasaki may not quibble too much over a few hundred thousand dollars, instead preferring to find the right fit and worry about money later. Again, it remains to be seen.

So far, though, it doesn't sound like the big market Dodgers and Padres are nearly the favorites that everyone thought them to be. If Sasaki is preferring a smaller market, the Brewers are the perfect destination.