Roki Sasaki Has Ruled Out Fourth Team as Dodgers Target Narrows Down Potential Suitors
Roki Sasaki is narrowing his list of suitors as his Jan. 23 deadline to sign nears.
On Monday, there were three teams who were reportedly informed they were out of the sweepstakes. Now, there’s a fourth.
Evan Grant of Dallas Morning News reports the Texas Rangers will not be signing the Japanese superstar.
That leaves the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, Toronto Blue Jays, and Chicago Cubs as teams who had a first meeting and are known to still be in the running.
The Blue Jays and Padres have had second meetings with Sasaki, as reported by The Athletic. It’s unclear if the Dodgers had a second meeting with Sasaki at this point in time.
Sasaki has been a top priority for the Dodgers all offseason long. President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said at the Winter Meetings that the team would do whatever they could to try to lure the superstar to Los Angeles.
“He is someone that, obviously, is a major priority for us,” Friedman said. “We are going to do whatever we can and know that there are a lot of other teams that are going to do the exact same thing. … We’re gonna put our best foot forward about what we feel like we can provide short-term, long-term, with our pitching group, veteran players, and do everything we can to put our best foot forward.”
Sasaki must sign before Jan. 23, when his 45-day posting window expires. He’s expected to sign after Jan. 15, when the next international signing period begins.
Roki Sasaki deciding between Dodgers, Padres, Blue Jays
Japanese free agent pitcher Roki Sasaki could be nearing a decision. The 23-year-old phenom has narrowed it down to the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays, according to Jeff Passan of ESPN.
Passan adds that Sasaki will decide by the closing of his posting window on January 23.
Though Sasaki won’t officially sign until MLB’s international signing period opens on January 15 at the earliest, news has started to trickle out about which teams are out of the running for the righty’s services. Jon Heyman of the New York Post reported on Monday that both New York teams — the Mets and Yankees — are officially out. Reports have also surfaced that Sasaki has decided against signing with the Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants.
Whoever winds up with Sasaki could potentially have the deal of the offseason. Despite Sasaki having ace-level stuff and an NPB track record to match, teams can only offer him money out of their international bonus pools, meaning he can’t sign a contract on par with other Japanese players like Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Sasaki won’t be able to make big money until he hits free agency several years down the line.
Depending on the team, that means Sasaki’s maximum salary next year will be around $7.5 million. That’s helped level the playing field for teams going up against the big-spending Dodgers who could simply outbid their competition. LA does have the cachet of being the defending World Series champs on their side — as well as a stacked roster fully capable of repeating. But the Padres have Yu Darvish, Sasaki’s mentor, already on staff.
As for the Blue Jays, their window of contention is closing quickly with Vladimir Guerrero Jr. and Bo Bichette about to hit free agency, so Toronto needs to be as aggressive as anybody.
