Roki Sasaki won’t be eligible to officially sign with an MLB organization until mid-January, but that hasn’t stopped him from making headlines in December. Last week, it was reported that the NPB phenom had met with at least three MLB teams: the Yankees, Mets, and Cubs. Today, Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young confirmed that representatives from his club met with Sasaki last week (per Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News). Meanwhile, Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports the Giants are “believed to have met” with Sasaki and his representatives.
It comes as no surprise that both teams are interested in Sasaki. The Giants could use more starting pitching, and they’re likely to add at least one starter this offseason, whether it’s Sasaki or someone else. The Rangers, on the other hand, already have a full rotation, but regardless, Sasaki is the kind of player any team would make room for. The two-time NPB All-Star is widely considered one of the most promising young pitchers in the world, and his earning potential is capped by the rules of international amateur free agency. As of right now, Texas can’t pay him any more than a $6,261,600 bonus, while San Francisco can’t offer him more than a $5,146,200 bonus.
The Rangers have long had an eye on Sasaki. At the beginning of the 2024 season, they were one of eight teams that reportedly sent representatives to watch Sasaki pitch in Japan. One can also understand why Sasaki would be interested in joining their club. Not only are the Rangers recent World Series winners, but they have been one of the most active teams this offseason on both the trade and free agent markets. Furthermore, Sasaki’s agent Joel Wolfe recently mentioned that Sasaki grew up “idolizing” numerous Japanese pitchers who made the jump from NPB to MLB. The first example Wolfe named was Yu Darvish, who signed with the Rangers when he first arrived stateside in 2012. Evan Grant points out that a pair of front office executives who were “key” in signing Darvish, assistant general manager Josh Boyd and Pacific Rim Operations Director Joe Furukawa, are still working in the organization.
As for the Giants, POBO Buster Posey has been particularly vocal about his interest in Sasaki. Speaking at the Winter Meetings, he told reporters (including Maria Guardado of MLB.com), “We’d be over the moon to add a guy like that.” While Posey only spoke of Sasaki’s talent, one has to presume he’s also captivated by the price tag. The Giants have been closely linked to free agent Corbin Burnes this winter. But Burnes is presumably looking to sign a contract worth well over $200MM. According to Susan Slusser, there are questions about whether or not ownership will be willing to foot that bill. In Sasaki, the Giants could add a top-of-the-rotation starter for a fraction of the market price.
From Sasaki’s point of view, it’s worth noting that San Francisco is much closer to Japan (and has a bigger Japanese population) than New York, Chicago, or Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington. Neither Sasaki nor Wolfe has suggested the pitcher has a geographic preference for where he signs, but Giants general manager Zack Minasian has expressed hope that San Francisco’s relative proximity to Japan will make “a big difference” (per Guardado). Minasian also mentioned the pitcher-friendly confines of Oracle Park as a potential draw. After all, Sasaki is used to pitching in a very different offensive environment – runs are harder to come by in NPB. What’s more, he is presumably looking to put up numbers that are as impressive as possible. Six years in the future, those numbers will help him cash in big as an unrestricted free agent.
Ultimately, we still know very little about what Sasaki’s thinking or where he might end up. The Dodgers and, to a lesser extent, the Padres are frequently cited as the front-runners to sign him, but it’s not for nothing that he has met with so many other teams. (Nor is it clear if he has met with either the Dodgers or Padres yet.) Slusser identifies the Diamondbacks as another NL West suitor for his services, though it’s unclear if he has met with anyone from the team. Meanwhile, the Phillies are the only club we know for certain has not met with Sasaki. Last week, POBO Dave Dombrowski revealed that although the Phillies would love to speak with Sasaki, they have not been invited to do so.
Which team wouldn’t want to meet with sasaki? He’s the most talented Japanese player to come here since… ever
Ever?…darvish, ohtani, nomo , matsuzaka, tanaka to name some other supremel talented pitcher with just as impressive or more impressive resumes in the npb
He didn’t say pitcher. He said player. Ichiro would like a word with him…
Some Mariner fan if he’s forgetting Ichiro. Just sayin’ :shrugs:
Ichiro hit nothing but singles and him being the Mariners franchise player is why they didn’t make the playoffs for 20 years.
Believe me I’ve seen ichiro but he doesn’t throw 102 with huge spin rates
@Darren
he also scored over 1,200 runs, had over 2,500 his, style over 400 bases, had s lifetime batting average of .323 and a .365 obp while playing elite defense. have some respect
Lol oh my mistake were you talking about trevor bauer?
No, he just wins the ROY and MVP in the same season, help a team to have the most wins in a single season and shatters the record for hits in a season. No, he doesn’t throw 102, but he is one of the top two to come over so far.
Yes he’ll be better than any of those pitchers
Ohtani and Ichiro would like a word
Cardinals.
Tormented
Since …. Yamamoto a year ago
Let alone Ohtani and Ichiro
Most talented Japanese player to come here ever? No way lol
He on a plane to Toronto now…
Laughing all the way…Not signing with Toronto. It seems no one is.
Hearing reports the Blue Jays are interested
Update: They are also interested in the trade market.
it should read, every team invited to make a proposal, met with Sasaki.
Knicks
Read again, declined to meet with Phillies
“Not invited” to meet with him. Didn’t say why though.
Maybe because he doesn’t want to play for the Phillies so why waste everyone’s time?
Batteries going to sell out in the Philly metro area when Sasaki’s team comes to town if he’s scheduled to pitch.
Are suggesting the fine folks of Philadelphia are somewhat overly aggressive to opponents?
Phillies fans never forget. If J.D. Drew did an autograph signing at a show within a day’s drive of Philly two and one half decades later he would need stitches.
Sasaki’s only escape now is to sign with the Phillies.
A stadium filled with halfwits and hoodlums. No wonder the Phil’s have not been offered a meeting.
Lowlifes who think it is funny to be aholes.
When don’t batteries sell out in Philly? Thinking of opening a battery bodega down there…
So the Giants “believe they have met with Sasaki”? I really think they should confirm that with someone.
Well… They met with somebody on zoom who asked for 5 million dollars
Reading comprehension isn’t your strong suit
The lack of “are” does make it a little ambiguous
I’ll buy a jersey, subscribe to MLBTraderumors prime, buy MLB TV subscription, sell my soul; anything for the Giants to add him….but we all know he’ll end up a Dodger 🙁
Are you running a holiday special deal on your soul? For 25% off I’d consider the purchase…
He will be a Ranger. He has very close ties to the Rangers.
We can dream but Japanese players (with the notable exception of darvish and a few others) always seem to sign on the west coast becuase it’s closer to home. Plus the dodgers already have ohtani, SD already has darvish…rangers have zero japanese presence on the team. Not the end of the world, just saying it’s a disadvantage.
Kyle Higashioka could be one to help. He speaks Japanese. Don’t know any other catchers who do honestly.
@Guyerbassist Tomoyuki Sugano just signed with the Orioles a few weeks ago.
West coast or Chicago. Cubs have two elite Japanese players. Probably better for him as they already have a translator available. Wont cost him half his bank account. Ohtani’s translator pled guilty immediately and it was the fastest open and shut investigation by mlb ever. He was to report to prison here. Bet he never made it.
Glad to hear he is open to small markets even though he has not met with any of them
How do you say Dodgers in Japanese?
If he’s a true competitor, he won’t sign with the Dodgers. He’ll sign with a team looking to unseat the Dodgers as champions. While I’d love to see him in Boston, I doubt that is a possibility so I hope he signs with the Giants or the Padres in the NL West. If he joins the Dodgers, they might as well ask him for his ring size in spring training.
Suddenly, baseball is basketball — and it happened without anyone even noticing.
An All-Star team can lose to a AAA team in a 5 game playoff series.
@smuz
That’s what the league wants us to think, but that’s just not true. When was the last time the Pirates/Rays/Athletics won a 5 game series against a team like the Dodgers.
Many baseball fans seemingly have a hard time distinguishing between possible and likely. Strange, for a game in which probabilities play such a big part and dominate the discussions about it.
If he’s a true competitor, he won’t sign with the Dodgers. He’ll sign with a team looking to unseat the Dodgers as champions.
———————–
That would be very disrespectful. He will sign with the Dodgers to play with Ohtani and Yamamoto or the Padres to play with Darvish.
Mustard
Cubs have Shota and Seiya.
Though I don’t think he’ll go to mid-West.
Dorothy
If he is a true competitor, he will sign with the Colorado Rockies to show everyone that talent can tame Coors.
Nah…. Dodgers or Padres.
Man, hearing all these different sales pitches from all kinds of different teams has to be dizzying. Plus he’s in foreign country n doesn’t understand the language. Totally reliant on his interpeter. Need to trust that person alot hence Ohtani finding himself in his predicament earlier this season.
It would be interesting to see the source for the statement that San Francisco has a “bigger Japanese population” than those other cities, given that New York City is ten times larger than San Francisco, and Chicago and Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington are both more than three times larger. I also wonder who we are including in the “Japanese population” these days.
Honolulu and Los Angeles have the largest Japanese populations in the U.S.
Los Angeles, NYC, Honolulu, San Francisco and Dallas in order of absolute numbers rather than percentage.
Not suggesting that is important to him, just fact-checking the article.
I think it will be San Diego or Los Angeles. For Mets, Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Texas and Seattle, he could be the ticket to winning the division, not the case with San Francisco.
What’s your source? And again, how is “Japanese population” defined? Does it including only foreign born? So yeah, I’m also fact-checking the article, and now your assertion as well.
And you are right, none of this has any known bearing on Sasaki’s decision-making process. Even his agent doesn’t seem to know his client’s priorities. So we are hearing really just a lot of uninformed speculation.
First born and multi-generational per the 2010 Census.
With some census info for 2022
The no state income tax should be a factor, especially if you’re making league minimum. The Rangers new TV deal which will broadcast in multiple states could also be worth noting.
Endorsement money would be bigger joining LA or NY teams
Not necessarily true in LA considering Ohtani and Yamameatballs are already there. A report a month or so ago mentioned Yamameatballs only made about $5 million in endorsements, finding it hard to get much of the sloppy seconds from Ohtani.
How about a good young team that was one of the final four in the AL last year, has a great manager who was top 3 in the AL and got them there with pitching chaos, drafts well, was recently rated the #1 milb system and has a pipeline for sustainable contention, has the Coach of the year, who just happens to be their pitching coach and a wicked pitching lab that has had great results making pitchers better including having the unanimous Cy Young winner this year. A place where he could become the face of the franchise and be part of a 3 headed pitching monster for years to come.
Why not Detroit? For that matter why not Tampa or Cleveland who also do well developing and maximizing pitchers talents.
The longer this continues the more I think he ends up a padre
Well, it has to continue for at least 3 more weeks, so……
Right. He could end up with any team, but he seems to like Darvish, Dodgers are already loaded with Japanese talent (which may not be what Sasaki is looking for), and they are geographically as close to Japan as LA… And they are fairly competitive as a team to challenge the big bad Dodgers for their title. The more I read about Sasaki the more I feel he ends up in SD. Having said that, I wouldn’t be surprised if he did indeed become a Dodgers or Giant or Cub or Yankee.
@rays in the bay. He has to visit the padres first. Not sure if he’s hitting the teams he’s on the fence about first.
@rays. The longer it continues he’s not signing til the 15th. It was in the article.
Maybe he saw Santana say no to the Mariners and that peaked his interest in Cleveland. “What’s going on over there”, the thought.
I love false narratives.
I think the first line of the article is incorrect. It’s not that he’s ineligible to sign before the 15th, but will maximize his salary if he does. He’s already been posted, so he should be able to sign any time he wants within the 45 day signing period.