And then there were two.

According to reports from The Athletic’s Will Sammon and Francys Romero of BeisbolFR.com, the San Diego Padres appear to have dropped out of the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes, with the franchise pivoting to a pair of international prospects from the Dominican Republic, left-hander Carlos Alvarez and shortstop Jhoan De La Cruz.

Sammon added that Alvarez, originally committed to the Padres organization, had been pursuing other opportunities while the front office navigated its international bonus pool budget for the Japanese hurler. But now, per Romero, he’s expected to finalize his signing in the upcoming days and receive a bonus of approximately $1 million.

De La Cruz’s signing bonus has yet to be reported, though Romero previously indicated he had agreed to a contract in the $2 million range with San Diego.

Pivoting to Alvarez and De La Cruz supports the notion that the Padres are no longer considered a potential destination for Sasaki, whose posting window closes on Jan. 23. Thus, the 23-year-old’s suitors are down to the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers, both of whom were named finalists — along with San Diego — earlier this week.

MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand reported Wednesday that the Dodgers and Padres had been exploring trade scenarios to acquire additional funds for their respective international signing bonus pools. The Blue Jays have been searching for extra cash, too, as Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi reports.

Entering the 2025 signing period, which opened Wednesday, Toronto and San Diego had bonus pools of $6,261,600, whereas Los Angeles features a reduced amount of $5,146,200 for signing two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani — docked $1 million in spending for acquiring a qualified free agent and exceeding the luxury tax.

Teams may acquire additional international bonus pool money via trade but cannot procure more than 60 per cent of their original amount. For the Blue Jays, they can receive a maximum of $3,756,960 in extra spending.

Toronto has been inactive amongst international free agency thus far despite having several reported handshake agreements with other prospects, including Dominican shortstop Cristopher Polanco.