Whichever team signs him would pay him a league-minimum deal in terms of Luxury Tax money, as he would sign as an IFA in a similar manner to how teenage prospects sign out of foreign countries with signing bonuses.
Roki Sasaki To Be Posted Soon, Yankees Not Ahead Of the Pack
The New York Yankees will aggressively hunt for talent wherever they can get it, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to be the frontrunners for Roki Sasaki. Every team in baseball can afford him since he will have a contract similar to a rookie, with three years of league-minimum pay followed by three years of arbitration. The Los Angeles Dodgers are the prohibitive favorites for his services as not only do they roster the two best Japanese players in the sport right now, but are a development powerhouse on the West Coast.
Sasaki has a career 2.10 ERA with 1,543 strikeouts across 394.2 innings in the NPB, and while there are concerns about his ability to remain healthy throughout the season, his talent is undeniable. The Yankees would love to add someone with this much talent for cheap, but the main rival to the Dodgers in this free-agent saga will likely be the Padres, who just like the Dodgers, are on the West Coast and also have a star Japanese player in Yu Darvish, whom Roki Sasaki idolized.
Free agency does bring an element of chaos to the table that gives the Yankees a non-zero chance at landing Sasaki, but the expectation is that the Dodgers will sign him. Buster Olney of ESPN reported that his decision has likely already been made and that he believes it’s the LA Dodgers who Sasaki has chosen. The Yankees are interested in other top starters on the market including Corbin Burnes and Max Fried who they’ve held conversations with this offseason.
Right now the focus is on Juan Soto, who could make a decision anytime soon, and the whole baseball world awaits the news of where the star outfielder will end up this winter.
