SF Giants not among the favorites to sign international star pitcher

Late on Friday night, it was announced that the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball are expected to post star pitcher Rōki Sasaki according to Jeff Passan of ESPN. Passan listed several teams in the mix but the SF Giants were not part of that group.

SF Giants not among the favorites to sign international star pitcher

It has been assumed for quite some time that the Los Angeles Dodgers would be the favorites to sign Sasaki. However, Passan does pump the brakes on that assumption. He mentions that the New York Mets and New York Yankees are expected to heavily pursue the hard-throwing pitcher.

Furthermore, the San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs, Toronto Blue Jays, Texas Rangers, and even the Tampa Bay Rays are identified as potential landing spots for Sasaki. Passan does leave the door open for other teams to enter the mix, but the Giants are absent from his initial pool of teams. Of course, that could change as time goes on.

Interestingly, Sasaki just turned 23 at the start of November. This is a significant detail for prospective teams and should realistically expand his market size to all 30 organizations. Yoshinobu Yamamoto signed a 12-year, $325 million pact with the Los Angeles Dodgers last winter.

The righty pitcher was considered one of the best pitching talens on the planet and waited until he turned 25 to come stateside. This gave him the ability to leverage free agency without being bound to the spending limits of international free agency.

On the other hand, Sasaki will be considered an international free agent. This means that he will sign a rookie contract with a sizable signing bonus. However, the ceiling of that bonus will be relatively low as teams are often limited to spending limits for international free agents.

For example, the Giants and Dodgers will have about $5.1 million in bonus pool money apiece for the upcoming 2025 in January. The Giants are already projected to sign the top position player on the market.

This is to say that teams typically have to operate within those confines. They can exceed that amount but there will be stiff penalities for the ensuing two cycles.

Interestingly, both the Giants and Dodgers have left considerable bonus pool money on the table for the 2024 cycle. It is believed that this was done intentionally by the Dodgers to be able to allocate the largest signing bonus possible for Sasaki.

It is not yet known whether Sasaki will be posted during the 2024 or 2025 cycle. That will be an important detail for a lot of teams.

The righty pitcher just completed another strong season for the Chiba Lotte Marines where he posted a 2.35 ERA with 129 strikeouts against 32 walks in 111 NPB innings in 2024. He flashes a high 90's fastball with an above-average splitter.