With just two days before the window to sign him opens, the field for star Japanese right-hander Rōki Sasaki has narrowed – setting up a likely battle between the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers for perhaps the most impactful addition this winter.
Sasaki, 23, can be acquired for a signing bonus within a team’s pool to acquire international players – and the signing team would control his rights for at least six years. That makes the former Chiba Lotte star a wildly valuable asset – and multiple teams have been informed they’re out of the running.
That process picked up steam Monday when San Francisco Giants general manager Zack Minasian told reporters that the club has been informed Sasaki will not sign with them; recent signee Justin Verlander gives the Giants five starters to begin camp.
Shortly thereafter, the New York Yankees’ YES Network reported that they, too, were informed Sasaki will not be signing with them, and The Athletic reported that the crosstown Mets, too, were out.
That leaves the Dodgers – with whom Sasaki met last month- and Padres – with Sasaki idol Yu Darvish in their rotation – as the likely favorites. Sasaki’s agent, Joel Wolfe, said on a media teleconference last week that Sasaki, who returned to Japan after the holidays after meeting with multiple teams at Wolfe’s Los Angeles office – likely wouldn’t add more teams in the running. He also noted Sasaki might visit teams in the running, but not necessarily.
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With that in mind, Sasaki visited the Toronto Blue Jays last week, although Major League Baseball’s lone Canadian team seems ripe for another disappointing letdown, in the wake of failed pursuits of two-way star Shohei Ohtani and slugger Juan Soto each of the past two seasons.
Still believed to be in on Sasaki: The Dodgers, Padres and Blue Jays, with multiple reports in Chicago saying the Cubs were informed they were out. The Dallas Morning News reported Monday that the Texas Rangers, longshots at best in the process, were also eliminated.
Yet the likeliest outcome remains Sasaki – who posted a 2.02 ERA in four professional seasons in Japan – landing with one of the two NL West heavyweights who battled in the NLDS last fall. Sasaki’s signing window runs from Wednesday through Jan. 23.
‘He is definitely driving the ship,’ Wolfe said last week, ‘and calling the shots.’