Padres out: Blue Jays and Dodgers remain in on Roki Sasaki
The San Diego Padres have been eliminated from the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes only the Toronto Blue Jays and Los Angeles Dodgers remain.
The San Diego Padres are out on Roki Sasaki, according to Francys Romero of Beisbol FR, leaving the Los Angeles Dodgers and Toronto Blue Jays as the two presumptive finalists to sign the 23-year-old Japanese right-hander.
MLB Network's Jon Morosi also reported the news saying the Padres are moving on to sign free agents Jhoan De La Cruz and Carlos Alvarez leaving no funds left for Roki Sasaki.
Romero adds the Padres will begin using their international bonus pool allotment on free agents Jhoan De La Cruz and Carlos Alvarez in the next few hours.
Carlos Alvarez had been originally committed to the Padres but has since been exploring other opportunities in the wake of their emergence as a Sasaki finalist. He'll now indeed sign in San Diego, which supports the notion that a signing of Sasaki is no longer in the cards for the Padres.
The Padres were one of three finalists to sign Roki Sasaki along with the Dodgers and Blue Jays according to multiple reports from earlier in the week.
In a previous article from Blue Jays Central on Wednesday indicated the Padres and Dodgers were each looking to add international bonus pool money via trade, which would increase what they'd be able to offer Sasaki as a signing bonus under MLB's international free agent rules.
Roki Sasaki's posting ends next Thursday on Jan. 23, meaning he has to sign an MLB contract before then. His team in Japan, the Chiba Lotte Marines, posted him on Dec. 9, opening a 45-day window for him to reach an MLB agreement.
Agent Joel Wolfe has previously suggested, however, that Sasaki's decision won't simply come down to who offers the largest bonus.
After all, if maxing out his earnings were Sasaki's top priority, he could've waited two more years until he was 25 and thus a «professional» rather than an «amateur» under MLB's international free agent structure.
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