DALLAS — Roki Sasaki is about to enter into a unique process, following a path last taken by Shohei Ohtani.
When Ohtani left Japan in 2017, just about every team in baseball was in the running for his services. He picked the Angels, and six years later wound up signing for $700 million with the Dodgers.
Now, many assume Sasaki is going to end up as Ohtani’s teammate with the Dodgers.
His agent, Joel Wolfe, spoke to a throng of reporters Tuesday at the winter meetings. It was the first day of the 45-day window that opened when Sasaki was posted by the Chiba Lotte Marines.
Sasaki throws a 102-mph fastball. He was 10-5 with a 2.38 ERA and 129 strikeouts in 111 innings this season in Japan. He has a 2.10 career ERA in Japan.
The first question was what criteria Sasaki considers important for choosing his team.
“The best I can say is he has paid attention to the how teams have done as far as overall success, both this year and in years past,” Wolfe said. “He does watch a lot of Major League Baseball. He’s paid attention to what his (World Baseball Classic) teammates have done. He’s talked to a lot of players, foreign players that have been on his team with Chiba Lotte. He asked a lot of questions about weather, about comfortability, about pitching development and just watching what other Japanese players in the major leagues are doing and how they are doing.”
Sasaki is 23, which means he qualifies under the same rules as an international amateur, just like Ohtani in 2017. If Sasaki were 25, he would be a traditional free agent, like Yoshinobu Yamamoto last year. Yamamoto signed a record $325 million contract with the Dodgers.
Sasaki will be limited to whatever the team of his choice has in its international bonus pool, which ranges from around $5 million to $7 million.
That’s why Wolfe said he would not advise Sasaki to give much weight to the money.
“Given the gap in the bonus pool amounts is so negligible, my advice to him is, don’t make a decision…
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