Cody Snavely
According to Kiley McDaniel of ESPN, star international pitcher Rōki Sasaki will likely be posted this offseason. Indications are trending that Chiba Lotte Marines will post the star righty for Major League Baseball Clubs.
The Los Angeles Dodgers already have two of the best Japanese players currently playing on their team: right-handed pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who signed a massive 12-year $325 million contract, and two-way multi-MVP winner Shohei Ohtani, who signed a 10-year $700 million deal last winter.
Rōki Sasaki has already been heavily favored to join the Los Angeles Dodgers due to geography and the large presence of Japanese players in the Dodgers organization. However, McDaniel, in the same report, did state that a smaller market team would also be something the right-hander could consider.
Unlike Yamamoto, who secured the largest contract for a starting pitcher in Major League Baseball history when he was posted last winter, Sasaki will have to settle for much less because he has less than six years of service time in Japan.
Per MLB rules, foreign-born players under the age of 25 with fewer than six seasons of professional experience are subject to international bonus pool restrictions.
McDaniel also mentioned that despite being the favorite, as the Dodgers were with Yamamoto and Ohtani, and having the most money to spend in the international market, with a league-best $2.5 million at their disposal, it will be a bit more complicated.
The biggest factor is that Sasaki’s overall numbers and velocity were down this past season in Japan, leading many MLB scouts to think that he’s nursing an injury while also stating that some scouts believe he’d prefer a smaller market, unlike Los Angeles or New York.
If Sasaki is posted, it will be a massive boost in what is already expected to be a great offseason riddled with free-agent talent.
The young 22-year-old righty has a record of 30-15 with a 2.02 ERA in 414.2 innings pitched in his four seasons in the NPB. He got a taste of major league talent when he helped Team Japan in the 2023 World Baseball Classic.
Like Yamamoto, if the Dodgers were to sign Sasaki, they would have to pay the Chiba Lotte Marines a flat 25% posting fee of the minor league contract, nowhere close to the $50.6 million the Dodgers paid last season to the Orix Buffaloes.
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