The Chicago White Sox would be considered a longshot to sign Japanese superstar pitcher Roki Sasaki, but they could potentially be a team in play with these latest reports.
Japanese superstar pitcher Roki Sasaki will be bringing his talents and his electric fastball to the United States and Major League Baseball for this coming 2025 season. The 23-year-old star has currently had meetings with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Texas Rangers, crosstown rival Chicago Cubs, and both the New York Mets, and Yankees have all been confirmed to have had meetings with Sasaki.
Sasaki Agent Joel Wolfe Confirms reports
In a new article posted in MLB Trade Rumors by Anthony Franco, Franco reported that Sasaki’s agent Joel Wolfe while speaking to SNY’s Andy Martino said that:
“market size isn’t a factor either way” in the player’s decision.”
Wolfe also spoke with Tim Healey of Newsday and Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register with Plunkett reporting via his Twitter account that:
“All the in-person meetings were held at Wolfe’s office, not individual stadiums. All the teams were given the same amount of time — under two hours.
With Healey adding in:
“Joel Wolfe declined to specify which or how many teams Roki Sasaki met with, but other bits: * 20 teams reached out with PowerPoints, videos or even books * Each meeting with a team lasted the same amount of time, less than two hours, in LA * He asked that no players attend”
Now with the Chicago White Sox playing in Chicago which is the third largest television market in all the United States according to Statista.com signing any big-name player like Sasaki wouldn’t be a concern. However, in Sasaki’s case he does not care either way with playing in a small market or a large market like the White Sox play in, bodes well for any small market team who has any small chance of signing Sasaki.
Roki Sasaki’s Dominance
So far in his time in the NPB the 23-year-old Sasaki has been nothing short of amazing. If he was able to just hit the ball as great as he can hurl it over the plate, we would be looking at the second coming of Shohei Ohtani. Sadly, teams will just have to settle for a pitcher who can reach velocities of close to 102.5 miles per hour and has Ace level stuff. During his time in the NPB playing for the Chiba Lotte Marines to say Sasaki dominated would be an understatement.
In four seasons with the Chiba Lotte Marines Sasaki amassed a record of 30-15 with an astounding low 2.02 ERA, while having a 11.4 career strikeout per nine rate, which allowed him to strikeout 524 batters in 414.2 innings pitched. For the 2024 NPB season, Sasaki was great as usual which is why he has a desire to come over to the Major Leagues and see if he can make here as his compatriots before him also did. Going 10-5 with a 2.35 ERA and 129 strikeouts, in 111 innings pitched is the reason why Sasaki is being so sought after by most if not all Major League Teams.
The Posting Process
I could go into a whole diatribe of how the whole posting process for signing Japanese players work, in particular those players who don’t have the necessary service time and reaching the age of 25 to sign a free agent deal like we saw Yoshinobu Yamamoto did, so I’ll link the rule here. I will also let MLB.com Jonathan Mayo let you know what Roki Sasaki is able to sign for:
“All 30 MLB clubs have 45 days to negotiate with a player after he is posted. If no agreement is reached in that timeframe, the player returns to his NPB club for the coming season. He cannot be posted again until the following offseason.
Depending on when he is officially signed, his contract would fall under either the 2024 international signing period, which ends on Dec. 15, or the 2025 period, which opens on Jan. 15. If he’s posted before Dec. 2, he could only sign during the 2024 period since the 45-day negotiating window would expire before the ’25 signing period begins. If he were to be posted between Dec. 2-15, he could sign during either period, though he’d only have until Dec. 15 to negotiate a deal for the ’24 period.”
Why the Chicago White Sox Could be in Play for Sasaki
The chances of the Chicago White Sox actually signing Roki Sasaki are a slim, but you can never say never. MLB.com report Scott Merkin reported back in early December that the White Sox did make a presentation to Sasaki though no in person meeting had been confirmed. Merkin reports that the White Sox currently have about $6.261 million as their amount in their international signing allotment.
With the White Sox having a solid group of young arms like Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith seemingly on the precipice of being called up, having the talents of Sasaki (who isn’t that much older than them) anchoring this starting rotation along with current members Drew Thorpe and Jonathan Cannon, adding Sasaki would be a dream.
The White Sox also have a leg up on teams in the Japanese market with already having a former Japanese player play for them in Tadahito Iguchi who was on the team from 2005-2007. As I said the White Sox signing Roki Sasaki would be a longshot, but the White Sox have a lot of interesting pieces that he would be hard-pressed to not take a chance on.
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