By The Associated Press’ Ronald Blum
NEW YORK Treasured Before selecting a club to sign with, Japanese free agent Roki Sasaki could visit one or two teams.
Joel Wolfe, Sasaki’s agent, stated on Monday that the 23-year-old right-hander received information from 20 Major League Baseball clubs. He and his group of supporters attended presentations this month at the Wasserman Media Group office in Los Angeles.
In preparation for his signing window, which runs from January 15 to 23, Sasaki has returned to Japan and is debating his options with his family and advisors. Sasaki will probably restrict the field, but he may meet with one or two more teams and travel to one or two places, according to Wolfe.
Without a doubt, he is making all of the decisions and steering the ship. Roki is a very specific, intelligent, and driven individual. In a 20-minute Zoom interview with media, Wolfe stated, “I’ve learned a lot about why he wanted to come to MLB right now and so badly.” He aspires to be a great man. He isn’t here merely to acquire a big deal or to become wealthy. He aspires to greatness. He aspires to be among the finest of all time.
According to reports, Sasaki has visited with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Chicago Cubs, New York Yankees, New York Mets, Texas, and San Francisco.During the winter sessions, Wolfe stated that he believed Sasaki would give San Diego careful thought.
Although he did not name the teams Sasaki met with, he did state that clubs were free to talk about their conversations in public.
According to Wolfe, we’ve discussed team location, market size, team success, and other topics a lot. He doesn’t appear to view it the same way other players do. His perspective is more global and long-term. It is my belief that Roki is also highly interested in pitching development and how a team can assist him improve both now and in the future.
General managers, assistant general managers, managers, pitching coaches, and personnel from the biomechanics, performance, and training departments attended the two-hour meetings, according to Wolfe. Although teams were instructed not to send players, some did so for video presentations.
He didn’t seem very worried about whether a team included Japanese players, which was occasionally a problem in the past when I represented Japanese players, Wolfe said.
Sasaki may only sign a minor league contract that is governed by the 2025 international signing bonus pools because he is under 25. Although they can begin exchanging allocation in $250,000 increments starting on January 15, team figures range from $7,555,500 to $5,146,200. They can only contribute up to 60% of what they had initially available.
When Shohei Ohtani inked a $2,315,000 incentive deal with the Los Angeles Angels prior to the 2018 season, he underwent a similar process.
It took him years to settle in as a player and, I’m sure, as a person when he first arrived, Wolfe said. Roki is far from a completed work. Both he and the team are aware of it. He has extraordinary talent. Everyone is aware of that.
According to Wolfe, several groups had been preparing their speeches for months. They arrived at his office via FedEx, electronic means, and even by hand.
According to Wolfe, it was truly something, even though the quality and distinctiveness varied. The Roki Film Festival was comparable. There were short films, PowerPoint presentations with a lot of detail, and some teams even created books. They have individuals who obviously devoted hundreds of hours to learning about Roki’s background, both personally and professionally.
According to Wasserman, the pitcher assigned each team Sasaki met with the same homework assignment.
On Tuesday, December 10, 2024, Joel Wolfe, the agent of Japanese player Roki Sasaki, addresses reporters during the Major League Baseball winter meetings in Dallas. (Photo by Tony Gutierrez/AP)AP
According to Wolfe, it was a fantastic chance for the teams to truly showcase their areas of expertise. It demonstrated their ability to evaluate and convey information to him, and it clearly illustrated his perspective when he was examining and formulating his selection criteria for various teams.
After playing with Ohtani, Yu Darvish, and Shota Imanaga as Japan won the 2023 World Baseball Classic and witnessing Imanaga dominate on the mound with the Chicago Cubs in the first half of the 2024 season, Wolfe said Sasaki made the decision to leave the Chiba Lotte Marines of Nippon Professional Baseball’s Pacific League.
Sasaki might get a major league contract as a free agent, potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars, if he waited until after the 2026 season to sign with an MLB team.
Speaking for myself, Wolfe stated: He understood that in order to advance, he needed to come here and play every day against the world’s top players and utilize all of the resources available to major league teams in order to… develop into one of the finest pitchers.
Link: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb AP MLB
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