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As the MLB winter meetings start to heat up, dominoes all across the league are beginning to fall. The biggest one of them all toppled on Sunday night when Juan Soto agreed to a record-setting 15-year contract to sign with the New York Mets. The other most highly-anticipated free agent sweepstakes can now commence after star Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki was posted to free agency.
Sasaki now will have until January 23 to sign with a team before his posting window closes. However, fas shouldn't wait around to see where Sasaki will be playing next season. He may not be signing for a while, according to Jon Morosi of MLB Network.
“With Sasaki’s posting period opening today, all signs point to him signing with an @MLB team between Jan. 15 and Jan. 23,” Morosi reported on X, formerly Twitter. “The new @MLB international signing period (for all players) begins Jan. 15, and Sasaki’s posting window closes Jan. 23.”
Waiting until January 15 will allow Sasaki to get the most money possible in his first season in the MLB. The 2024 signing period for international players. When the 2025 period officially begins on January 15, Sasaki will be able to sign with a club for a maximum of just over $7.5 million per year. If he were to go to either New York team, the San Francisco Giants or the Los Angeles Dodgers, Sasaki would have to settle for slightly less than that.
Where might Roki Sasaki sign?
Another elite international pitcher is entering the MLB landscape as Roki Sasaki is getting ready to make the jump over to the MLB. Sasaki went 10- with a 2.35 ERA and 129 strikeouts in 111 innings this season with the Chiba Lotte Marines.
The favorites to sign Sasaki are obviously the Los Angeles Dodgers due to their rich history of signing international stars and Sasaki's existing relationship with Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. The three of them helped Japan win the World Baseball Classic in 2023 over the United States, so Sasaki may want to sign with his old teammates and be in Los Angeles.
The Dodgers can only offer Sasaki just over $5.1 million as opposed to the maximum $7.55 million, so Sasaki would be giving up a little bit of money. However, it would still be easy to see him going there.
Sasaki could also decide to play alongside WBC teammate Yu Darvish with the San Diego Padres and rival the Dodgers in the coming years. Sasaki and Darvish would give the Padres an elite one-two punch in their rotation as they look to avenge their five-game NLDS loss to the Dodgers.
The Dodgers and the Padres seem to be the primary favorites for Sasaki at the moment, although it is still very early in the process. Other teams such as the Boston Red Sox and the Seattle Mariners have a chance to make some noise in the Sasaki sweepstakes as the winter progresses.
