One of the best pitchers in baseball will be available soon.

On Saturday morning, the Chiba Lotte Marines announced they&#8217;ll post 23-year-old righty Rōki Sasaki this off-season. Due to his age, Sasaki will be signed as an international free agent (it’s unclear if it’ll be in the 2024 or 2025 class), meaning that all 30 teams in Major League Baseball have the finances to sign him to a minor league deal.
Of course, there are favourites to sign the right-handed pitcher. The reigning World Series champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, are seen as the heavy favourites to sign Sasaki. Part of that is due to them having the most remaining international free agent bonus pool for the 2024 class. Still, they also have two Japanese superstars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who were teammates with Sasaki in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
As you can imagine, the Blue Jays are also linked to the 25-year-old as they tend to be with all big-name free agents. <a href="https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/42280725/chiba-lotte-marines-post-japanese-star-roki-sasaki-mlb">In an article released for ESPN</a> in the wee hours of Saturday morning, Jeff Passan listed the Jays as one of seven other teams that could land the pitcher due to the city being a large international hub. The other teams listed were the San Diego Padres, the New York Mets and Yankees, the Chicago Cubs, the Texas Ranger, and the Tampa Bay Rays.
Any Japanese player who is posted under the age of 25 (Sasaki just turned 23) is signed as an international free agent, meaning there is a certain limit to how much they can sign for. A big determining factor is when Sasaki will be posted. As it stands, the Blue Jays don’t have a ton of bonus pool remaining, about $154,000 according to Avery Chenier of Gate 14, while the Dodgers have the most money ($2.5 million) remaining for this period.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
Sad to announce the Jays won&#39;t be getting Roki Sasaki if he is posted in November. He will count towards International Bonus Pool for &#39;24 which they only have $154K remaining compared to the Dodgers $2.5M.
The Jays could trade for up to $3,864,150 but only in increments of 250k. <a href="https://t.co/BoqFbYIboU">pic.twitter.com/BoqFbYIboU</a>
&mdash; Avery Chenier (@AveryChenier) <a href="https://twitter.com/AveryChenier/status/1854549371972399160?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 7, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&nbsp;
If Sasaki is posted in mid-January, the Marines stand to gain the most money available as every team’s signing bonus resets on January 15. Several teams have $7.556 million available, including the Rays, while the Blue Jays have $6.262 available for the period.
Update: According to Francys Romero, it&#8217;s believed that Sasaki will be available in the 2025 period, opening on January 15, 2025. This means that the Blue Jays will have more than enough to sign the right-handed pitcher.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
Several industry sources believe that Roki Sasaki will be eligible to sign for the 2024-25 international period that opens next January 15, 2025. 
Teams like the Padres, Rangers, Blue Jays or Tigers may have over $2 million in international budget and could compete for Sasaki.
&mdash; Francys Romero (@francysromeroFR) <a href="https://twitter.com/francysromeroFR/status/1855264282956476684?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 9, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
The question is, does Sasaki live up to the hype? It’s a simple answer, yes. Last season, the 23-year-old posted a 2.35 ERA in 111 innings pitched, with a 28.7 K% and a 7.1 BB%. For his entire Nippon Professional Baseball career, Sasaki has a 2.02 ERA in 414.2 innings pitched, with a 32.4 K% and a 5.6 BB%.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="550" data-dnt="true">
102.
Roki Sasaki is not messing around tonight 😳🔥 <a href="https://t.co/yIP4FHjCbh">pic.twitter.com/yIP4FHjCbh</a>
&mdash; FOX Sports: MLB (@MLBONFOX) <a href="https://twitter.com/MLBONFOX/status/1637955322428915714?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 20, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
On top of the inexpensive contract (for context Yoshinobu Yamamoto signed a 12-year, $325 million deal last off-season) and good results, Sasaki’s potential is among the league’s best as well. His fastball averaged about 97 mph but can often be found in the triple-digit range. That’s not even his best pitch, as his splitter is considered his best pitch. Add in an average slider, and you have a pitcher who could win multiple Cy Young awards.
It’ll be interesting to track what happens with Sasaki this off-season!
<hr />
As always, you can follow me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.

One of the best pitchers in baseball will be available soon.



On Saturday morning, the Chiba Lotte Marines announced they'll post 23-year-old righty Rōki Sasaki this off-season. Due to his age, Sasaki will be signed as an international free agent (it’s unclear if it’ll be in the 2024 or 2025 class), meaning that all 30 teams in Major League Baseball have the finances to sign him to a minor league deal.

Of course, there are favourites to sign the right-handed pitcher. The reigning World Series champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, are seen as the heavy favourites to sign Sasaki. Part of that is due to them having the most remaining international free agent bonus pool for the 2024 class. Still, they also have two Japanese superstars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who were teammates with Sasaki in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.

As you can imagine, the Blue Jays are also linked to the 25-year-old as they tend to be with all big-name free agents. <a href="https://www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/id/42280725/chiba-lotte-marines-post-japanese-star-roki-sasaki-mlb">In an article released for ESPN</a> in the wee hours of Saturday morning, Jeff Passan listed the Jays as one of seven other teams that could land the pitcher due to the city being a large international hub. The other teams listed were the San Diego Padres, the New York Mets and Yankees, the Chicago Cubs, the Texas Ranger, and the Tampa Bay Rays.

Any Japanese player who is posted under the age of 25 (Sasaki just turned 23) is signed as an international free agent, meaning there is a certain limit to how much they can sign for. A big determining factor is when Sasaki will be posted. As it stands, the Blue Jays don’t have a ton of bonus pool remaining, about $154,000 according to Avery Chenier of Gate 14, while the Dodgers have the most money ($2.5 million) remaining for this period.

https://twitter.com/AveryChenier/status/1854549371972399160

&nbsp;

If Sasaki is posted in mid-January, the Marines stand to gain the most money available as every team’s signing bonus resets on January 15. Several teams have $7.556 million available, including the Rays, while the Blue Jays have $6.262 available for the period.

Update: According to Francys Romero, it's believed that Sasaki will be available in the 2025 period, opening on January 15, 2025. This means that the Blue Jays will have more than enough to sign the right-handed pitcher.

https://twitter.com/francysromeroFR/status/1855264282956476684

The question is, does Sasaki live up to the hype? It’s a simple answer, yes. Last season, the 23-year-old posted a 2.35 ERA in 111 innings pitched, with a 28.7 K% and a 7.1 BB%. For his entire Nippon Professional Baseball career, Sasaki has a 2.02 ERA in 414.2 innings pitched, with a 32.4 K% and a 5.6 BB%.

https://twitter.com/MLBONFOX/status/1637955322428915714

On top of the inexpensive contract (for context Yoshinobu Yamamoto signed a 12-year, $325 million deal last off-season) and good results, Sasaki’s potential is among the league’s best as well. His fastball averaged about 97 mph but can often be found in the triple-digit range. That’s not even his best pitch, as his splitter is considered his best pitch. Add in an average slider, and you have a pitcher who could win multiple Cy Young awards.

It’ll be interesting to track what happens with Sasaki this off-season!

<hr />

As always, you can follow me on Twitter @Ryley_L_D.

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