MLB free agent Sasaki is narrowing down 20 interested teams originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
SAN FRANCISCO– Potential Giants target Roki Sasaki is spending the holidays with his family in Japan, but on Monday his agent gave new details about the continuation of the the most intriguing player on the market this offseason.
Wasserman’s Joel Wolfe said Sasaki met with the teams in person earlier this month and was deciding whether to hold more meetings or begin a second round, which would include a shrinking of the field and could include visits to baseball stadiums. Sasaki received interest from two-thirds of MLB organizations following his appointment, but Wolfe did not confirm any meetings or specific suitors out of respect for the process, which he said was complicated. On a Zoom call with reporters, Wolfe called it a “very unique process” for a “very unique player.”
Sasaki, 23, is considered the best international player in class who will be eligible to sign starting January 15 and will immediately become one of the top up-and-coming pitchers in the sport. He’s potentially sacrificing hundreds of millions by coming to the United States early, but Wolfe said he’s learned his client is very determined to prove himself in the MLB.
“Roki is by no means a finished product – he knows that and the teams know that,” Wolfe said. “He’s incredibly talented, we all know that, but he’s a guy who wants to be great. He doesn’t come here just to be rich or get a huge contract. He wants to be great. He wants to be one of the greatest greats of all time.” I see it now and he expressed it. To achieve this, he knows he must challenge himself. “
Wolfe said he didn’t ask the teams to refrain from talking about the meetings, but they did so anyway. It’s unclear exactly how many meetings Sasaki had, but Wolfe gave some insight into the process.
Shortly after Sasaki’s release earlier this month, Wolfe sent a letter inviting each team to send any relevant information to Sasaki. He said 20 teams submitted information, ranging from PowerPoint presentations and short films to books on how they could help Sasaki reach his potential.
“It was like a Roki film festival,” Wolfe said.
From there, in-person meetings were scheduled. Sasaki wanted a fair and level playing field, so each meeting so far has been held at Wasserman’s Los Angeles office and each team has been given the same two-hour time frame for their presentation. Sasaki requested that current MLB players not be involved in the meetings. He also gave each team that got an in-person meeting an “assignment,” Wolfe said, intended to show how they can analyze and communicate information.
Wolfe said he thinks the next step will be to trim the field, although that depends on Sasaki. He also said he didn’t expect Sasaki to sign immediately on Jan. 15, the day he will be eligible for the first time.
The Los Angeles Dodgers have long been considered the favorite to land Sasaki, but Wolfe has met with reporters twice to try to make it clear that his client is open-minded. He said Monday that Sasaki did not seem influenced one way or another by whether a team already has Japanese stars. His main goal is to find a team that can help him in his development as a pitcher.
THE The Giants hope to be that teamand president of baseball operations, Buster Posey has been open about his desire to add the right-hander, who possesses a triple-digit fastball and a long history of dominance in Japan, even at such a young age.
“I was watching some of his highlights and it’s kind of next-level mind-blowing stuff with the fastball and then the separation of that. Those were the two (pitches) that really stood out to me. That’s is a great one,” Posey said on the Giants Talk podcast two weeks ago. “(The situation is) very unique and it’s also to his credit as a player, isn’t it? His willingness to come when he arrives, he’s giving up a lot of money. He could have waited a few years plus and really being prepared, so I think it just shows his willingness to move forward and put his mark in the big leagues.”
