The Major League Baseball offseason is in the home stretch. Today is Jan. 13 and some teams have pitchers and catchers report to spring training on Feb. 10. Less than a month!
And yet, a good number of free agents remain. On our free agent tracker, three of the top eight are still unsigned. We could extend that out to five of the top 12, seven of the top 15 or 23 of the top 50. The message remains the same: There’s plenty of work to be done between now and the start of spring training.
One of the top names remaining is Alex Bregman and R.J. Anderson has a breakdown of his market.
As for the rest, we’ll gather the news and rumors of the day right here. It’s Roki Sasaki Day, apparently, so go check out our list of best landing spots for him.
Sasaki will choose from three teams
Roki Sasaki, one of the most coveted available pitchers of the offseason, has narrowed his list of preferred destinations. ESPN reports that Sasaki has narrowed his suitors to the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, or Toronto Blue Jays. He’ll sign any time between Wednesday, when the international free agency window opens, and Jan. 23, when his posting window closes. This list of finalists comes just after the Chicago Cubs were reportedly told they had been eliminated from the running. For some time, the Dodgers have been regarded as the favorites to sign Sasaki.
Earlier in the offseason, CBS Sports ranked the 23-year-old right-hander as the No. 7 available free agent in the current class. Here’s part of that write-up:
Sasaki is the most talented pitcher not already in an MLB organization. He’s been on the global radar since throwing a 19-strikeout perfect game as a 20-year-old in 2022. He combines elite velocity with a devastating swing-and-miss splitter/forkball. Sasaki has dealt with his share of injuries, limiting him to 33 combined starts across the last two seasons. His earning potential is completely suppressed because of his amateur free agent classification. Nevertheless, a fully actualized Sasaki has a chance to be an immediate impact starter in the majors.
Because Sasaki is so young and because he has just four seasons of service time in NPB, Japan’s top professional league, he’s subject to international signing rules and must sign before the 2025 signing period ends. Because he’s subject to international spending caps, his bonus will be far below market value. As such, factors beyond money will play a major role in which team Sasaki chooses.
The 23-year-old right-handed starting pitcher was 10-5 with a 2.35 ERA and 129 strikeouts in 111 innings in Japan’s NPB last season. He has a career 2.02 ERA and ace-level stuff.
As you’ll see below, earlier on Monday the Yankees, Mets, Rangers, and Giants all learned that Sasaki would not be signing with them.
No Sasaki for Giants
The Giants have been informed that free agent starting pitcher Roki Sasaki will not be signing with them, according to general manager Zack Minasian (via San Francisco Chronicle). He said as much during a press conference announcing the signing of Justin Verlander. This all means that the Giants’ rotation right now appears to be Logan Webb, Robbie Ray, Verlander, Kyle Harrison and Jordan Hicks.
Yankees out, too
The Yankees have been told they are not going to land Sasaki, according to YES Network. The Yankees’ rotation right now looks like this: Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, Carlos Rodón, Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt with Marcus Stroman available as the sixth starter, though rumor has it the Yankees are floating him in trade offers.
Mets also out on Sasaki
The Mets have also been told they are out of the Sasaki sweepstakes, according to the New York Post.
The Mets right now are betting on David Stearns’ ability in getting the most out of his pitchers. It’s Sean Manaea, Kodai Senga, Frankie Montas, David Peterson, Paul Blackburn and converting-from-relief Clay Holmes.
Sasaki says no to Rangers
Sasaki’s camp has informed the Rangers that he’ll be signing elsewhere, the Dallas Morning News reports. The 2023 World Series champions will be looking to rebound from a disappointing 2024. Without Sasaki, the Rangers will go with a rotation fronted by Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, and Jon Gray.
The Blue Jays hosted Sasaki for a meeting, and presumably a pitch to sign with the team, last week, according to The Athletic. It’s a long list of teams heavily pursuing Sasaki, including but not necessarily limited to the Dodgers, Padres, Cubs, Rangers and now the Blue Jays. As noted above, the Giants are out while the Yankees and Mets also appear to be, so perhaps Sasaki’s camp has started to inform teams they are out of the running.
So do the Padres (again)
The Padres entertained Sasaki in San Diego over the weekend after his trip to Toronto, according to The Athletic, a follow-up seemingly not afforded to every suitor. Does that mean they’re a favorite? Who knows. Maybe he just wanted some tacos.
Sasaki bidding impacts IFA
The deadline for Sasaki to sign is Jan. 23, while the international free agent signing period reopens Jan. 15. A lengthy report in The Athletic notes teams interest in Sasaki are having to maneuver around both the IFA period and hopefully signing Sasaki. They’ll need all the bonus money for a few years in order to ink Sasaki, which means illicit handshake agreements for international teens are being broken.
A good illustration here would be Darell Morel from the Dominican Republic, who was supposed to land with the Dodgers. Instead, he’s now expected to sign with the Pirates for $1.8 million, according to Baseball America, while the Dodgers hold onto their IFA money and wait out Sasaki.
Words like “crazy” and “absolutely insane” were used by The Athletic to describe what is going on here with the IFA period and Sasaki bidding coinciding here for a few days.
