Roki Sasaki's decision draws nearer
Roki Sasaki's market is now down to three suitors. The Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, and the Toronto Blue Jays. The aforementioned clubs are long regarded as the heavy favorites to sign the 23-year-old Japanese star.
We are 24 to 48 hours away from learning where Roki Sasaki will sign because the international signing period begins tomorrow.
Toronto ostensibly has a legitimate chance at this point; Sasaki visited the city and saw the Jays' home facilities over the weekend.
MLB Network's Jon Morosi had this to say about Roki Sasaki's chances of signing in Toronto:
They also have notably an excellent pitching program and Pete Walker as their pitching coach, look at the pitchers who have gone there and excelled, Jose Berrios, Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt and more recently Bowden Francis coming in.
Yusei Kikuchi had a really strong season last year prior to the trade. The Blue Jays are known as a good place to go as a pitcher, and they also have a really strong Japanese community in the city of Toronto.
What an amazing culture Toronto has. I think for all three teams you can build a very strong case and at this moment in time it will be very close because all three clubs are offering the same amount of money.
The right-hander's camp began informing teams yesterday that they'd been eliminated from the running, with the New York Yankees, New York Mets, San Francisco Giants, Texas Rangers. and Chicago Cubs all learning they would not be Sasaki's eventual destination.
Landing Sasaki would be something of a coup for a Jays front office that has finished runner-up in so many notable free agent and trade pursuits overt the past two offseasons.
He'd give the Jays rotation depth they badly need at the moment, and do so with front-of-the-rotation upside and a minimal salary, of course.
That'd leave more funds both for bringing in another prominent bat to pair with Vladimir Guerrero Jr., whose extension status looms over the team as he approaches his final year before free agency.
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