MLB Insider Reveals Why Dodgers Target Roki Sasaki’s Decision Could Be Delayed
Although Roki Sasaki could sign with a Major League Baseball team when the international signing period opens on January 15, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal details why his signing on that date won’t be the case.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are fine-tuning their pitching rotation as they look forward to 2025. Shohei Ohtani appears to be ready to go by May, Cy Young award winning pitcher Blake Snell signed with the Dodgers earlier this offseason, and Tyler Glasnow is expected to be ready for spring training.
Los Angeles is eager to make an offer to the 23-year-old, but are limited to a roughly $5.1 million in its international player pool. By Sasaki not signing right on Jan. 15, the Dodgers — as well as other teams — can build up their bonus pool and make a larger offer, according to Rosenthal.
“A team can acquire up to 60 percent of its original pool that way,” Rosenthal wrote. “Those deals, however, are not allowed before Jan. 15. Each also can yield an increment of only $250,000 in pool space, unless a team parts with its entire remaining pool in a single transaction.”
Sasaki must make his decision by Jan. 23 when his posting window closes.
Sasaki’s agent Joel Wolfe, who also represents Yoshinobu Yamamoto said that his client is “by no means a finished product.”
“He knows it and the teams know it. He is incredibly talented. We all know that,” Wolfe said. “But he is a guy that wants to be great. He’s not coming here to be rich or to get a huge contract. He wants to be great. He wants to be one of the greatest ever. I see that now and he has articulated it.”
From what we know about Sasaki, and the plans he has for his career, waiting longer to sign with a ball club may be less about the money and more about finding a perfect fit.
The 23-year-old phenom certainly has set quite an expectation for himself in being one of the greatest this sport has seen, but Wolfe knows that his client is prepared for the challenge.
“To be that he knows he has to challenge himself,” Wolfe said. “I’m not speaking for Roki. I’m speaking my own opinion that in order to take it to another level he (realized he) had to come here and play against the best players every day and tap into all the resources that major league teams have to help him become one of the best pitchers not just to come out of [Nippon Professional Baseball] but in Major League Baseball. That’s what he wants. That’s why he came.”
Photo Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
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