Do the SF Giants have a chance at landing young superstar pitcher?

The Chiba Lotte Marines recently posted young star pitcher Roki Sasaki, making him eligible to sign with any major league team. What are the odds that the SF Giants sign him?

Do the SF Giants have a chance at landing young superstar pitcher?

There have been plenty of connections between the Giants and Sasaki. Will those connections materialize into a contract?

First and foremost, now that Sasaki has been posted, the clock is ticking. His 45-day window began on December 10, 2024, and runs through January 23, 2025.

There is a good chance that he signs closer to the end of that period. The reason comes down to money. The 2024 international signing period is nearing an end with many teams, including the Giants, having depleted much of the bonus pool that they have available. It bears mentioning that the Giants have a considerable amount leftover from this year's class. Those funds do not roll over.

Sasaki could still receive a considerable sum if he signed during the 2024 signing period but every team's bonus pool is reset once January 15 rolls around.

For the Giants, they are tied with the Los Angeles Dodgers with the lowest bonus pool available in 2025. This is due to the Giants signing Matt Chapman and Blake Snell last offseason. They both rejected a qualifying offer last winter, so each signing cost the team $500,000 in bonus pool money.

The Giants still have $5.1 million available to spend, but it bears mentioning that this is now a hard cap based on the 2017 - 2021 Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). Teams cannot exceed their bonus pool like they could in the past.

The Giants have long been connected to one of the top names in this year's class in Josuar Gonzalez out of the Dominican Republic. They are also connected to other top names including infielder Yulian Barreto of Venezuela and outfielder Djean Macares of Aruba.

The signing bonsues for each of these players have not been made public yet. There is a good chance that both team and player have a verbal agreement as to what it will be. That will become publicly available once the new signing period opens and these deals are completed.

Based on the rankings and what that equates to in terms of signing bonuses, Gonzalez could earn a signing bonus in the neighborhood of $3 million. This is just a guess by the way. He is viewed as one of the top players in this year's class. Last year, Dawel Joseph was one of the top players in his class and received a $3.3 million signing bonus from the Seattle Mariners.

If Gonzalez ends up getting that type of bonus, that will amount to about 60 percent of the team's bonus pool. Plus, Barreto and Macares have to be factored in as well.

This does not leave much room in the Giants' already small pool to land a player like Sasaki. It could still happen but they would need to sway him on qualitative factors and potential endorsements.

On the other hand, teams like the Dodgers and San Diego Padres have been lightly connected to the top names in this year's class, giving them more resources to use. This is likely by design as both teams have been viewed as the frontrunners to land Sasaki.