Roki Sasaki Decision Coming This Week, Four Teams Already Out

There are two days remaining until the MLB international signing period begins on Jan. 15, when Japanese pitching prospect Roki Sasaki will initially have the chance to sign with a MLB team until Jan. 23, when the signing period ends. If he does not sign by the 23, he will return to the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan.

As the signing period rapidly approaches, four teams have been eliminated from the Sasaki sweepstakes. Both the New York Yankees and San Francisco Giants have been told that Sasaki will not sign with them. Giants general manager Zack Minasian confirmed to reporters Monday that they were informed Sasaki would not be choosing San Francisco. Sasaki is reportedly not interested in signing with the New York Mets either, per Andy Martino of SNY.

Yankees and Mets not expected to sign Roki Sasaki , league sources say. Yankees have been told they’re out. Mets not expected to sign him either.
— Andy Martino (@martinonyc) January 13, 2025

In addition, Sasaki has reportedly ruled out the Rangers from consideration as well, per Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News.

Sasaki has also met with the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, Chicago Cubs, and Toronto Blue Jays, who all appear to still be in the running to land the uber-talented 23-year-old.

Many believe that the Dodgers are the strongest contenders to sign Sasaki, who would join Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the defending World Series champions. The Dodgers have the most significant ties to Japan among teams Sasaki is considering, but there is no indication that Sasaki has officially made his decision. Outside of the Dodgers, Sasaki has a close relationship with Padres pitcher Yu Darvish.

But while the Dodgers and Padres are both in the conversation, Sasaki's agent, Joel Wolfe, has previously said that a team having other Japanese players is not as important to Sasaki as to other prospects coming from NPB.

"He didn't seem overly concerned about whether a team had Japanese players on their team or not, which, in the past, when I represented Japanese players, that was sometimes an issue," Wolfe said in December. "That was never a topic of discussion."

Wolfe instead has noted that Sasaki is concerned with pitching development and how a team will help improve to become great, two key factors that will heavily weigh into his decision over the next 10 days.