The Los Angeles Dodgers appear to be Roki Sasaki’s final meeting before his signing window opens on Wednesday.
According to The Athletic‘s Ken Rosenthal and Fabian Ardaya, the Dodgers were scheduled to meet with Sasaki and his camp on Tuesday, and the reigning World Series champions were expected to feature “several of their stars” in their pitch to the coveted right-hander.
While it’s unclear which players Los Angeles brought to their meeting, Rosenthal and Ardaya wrote that the Padres had Yu Darvish, Manny Machado, and Joe Musgrove present for Sasaki’s tour in San Diego.
Under MLB’s international amateur signing rules and the posting system between Major League Baseball and Japan’s Nippon Professional Baseball, Sasaki can sign with an MLB team during the window starting at 9 a.m. ET / 6 a.m. PT Wednesday and ending 5 p.m. ET / 2 p.m. PT on Jan. 23.
However, The Athletic‘s report says that “Sasaki is expected to make a decision closer to the end of his posting window.”
Because Sasaki is under 25 and has not played six seasons in NPB, he is classified as an international amateur and limited to a minor-league contract subject to international signing bonus pools, which range from $5,146,200 to $7,555,500. Starting Wednesday, teams may make trades to increase their signing bonus allotment by up to 60 per cent from their initial figure.
Sasaki’s fastball tops out at 100 m.p.h. He was 10-5 with a 2.35 ERA in 18 games last year, striking out 129 hitters in 111 innings in a season limited by shoulder inflammation. He has a 29-15 career record with a 2.10 ERA over four injury-shortened seasons with NPB’s Chiba Lotte Marines.
— With files from The Associated Press
