DALLAS — The sweepstakes to land Japanese hard-throwing right-hander Roki Sasaki are underway.
The posting process for Sasaki to make the move to Major League Baseball began Tuesday, and his agent, Joel Wolfe, estimated Tuesday that three or four teams already had submitted initial presentations to pitch their organization to the phenom. Among them? The Chicago Cubs.
President of baseball operations Jed Hoyer confirmed Wednesday that the Cubs sent theirs to Sasaki’s agency as the organization looks to land another Japanese star alongside Seiya Suzuki and Shota Imanaga, two of the franchise’s best and highest-paid players.
“I know we’re very appealing to Japanese players,” Hoyer said Wednesday at the winter meetings. “Obviously Shota and Seiya have had really good experiences.”
Wolfe is not sure yet what Sasaki will want to prioritize when picking his team. Money is one consideration that is not expected to factor heavily into his decision. Teams are limited in what they can financially offer Sasaki. Because he is an international amateur free agent, the money must come from an organization’s international bonus pool. The 2025 signing period begins Jan. 15; Sasaki’s posting window runs until 4 p.m. Jan. 23.
“There were some accusations, allegations — all of them false — made about predetermined deals, things like that,” Wolfe said. “However, MLB rightly wanted to make sure that this was going to be a fair and level playing field for everyone, so they did their due diligence and interviewed numerous parties ahead of time to make sure that that was the case. They wanted to make sure that Roki would most likely, while he would have the opportunity to sign in ’24, give himself the best opportunity to get the best deal for him and for Chiba, and that Chiba would also have that opportunity. So, it made sense to post at this time so that he could go into the ’25 pool when the teams have much more substantial international bonus money.”
Teams’ pools range from $7.55 million — the Tampa Bay Rays, Milwaukee Brewers and Seattle Mariners among them — to $5.14 million — the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Francisco Giants. The Cubs have $6.26 million along with 11 other teams. Once the 2025 signing period opens, teams can trade for international pool money, in $250,000 increments, up to 60% of their initial total.
Although Wolfe didn’t pinpoint many specifics of what Sasaki will value when weighing his options, he did note the pitcher has paid attention to teams’ success both this year and recent history and kept an eye on what his World Baseball Classic teammates have done. Sasaki, 23, has talked with a lot of players, including foreign players who have been on his Nippon Professional Baseball team, Chiba Lotte, and asks a lot of questions about weather, comfortability and pitching development.
Wolfe plans to meet with Sasaki in person over the next couple of days and map out a schedule to meet with teams “hopefully” beginning next week. He does not know how many teams will get a meeting with Sasaki. The right-hander plans to return to Japan before Christmas and possibly stay one to two weeks. Before returning to the States, Wolfe expects they would discuss whether Sasaki at that point travels to see some cities or returns to have more in-person meetings.
“We’re going to leave it open-ended depending on how the first round of meetings go, how many meetings he actually has, how many total meetings he plans to have,” Wolfe said. “But we didn’t give teams a hard deadline to submit (presentations) because we want them to be able to put the time in to do it right. Obviously some teams were already working on these things, some of them for months, I believe.”
Signing Sasaki would be a coup for a Cubs organization that has invested time and resources to making inroads in Japan, evident by their signings of Suzuki and Imanaga. Sasaki who dealt with shoulder inflammation/soreness in 2024, posted a 2.35 ERA and 129 strikeouts over 111 innings (18 games) for Chiba Lotte. He could have set himself up for a massive payday like Yoshinobu Yamamoto got from the Dodgers last offseason if he waited two more years to be posted.
Wolfe called it a difficult question to answer as to why Sasaki wanted to be posted now.
“Some of it is Japanese culture, some of it is just Roki Sasaki — there are no absolutes in baseball, and through Roki’s eyes, there are no absolutes in life,” Wolfe explained. “He does not take anything for granted. It is not an absolute lock, as some people in baseball have assumed that two years from now, he’s going to get a Yamamoto contract. Baseball just doesn’t work that way. If you look at the epidemic of injuries, it’s not just here. They have the same potential issues. He could have Tommy John surgery. He’s had two shoulder injuries; he’s had oblique injuries. Things may not go the way they want.
“The other thing is, it’s always been his dream to come to the major leagues since he was in high school. He’s grown up idolizing players like Yu Darvish and (Masahiro) Tanaka and (Daisuke) Matsuzaka. This is something he has always wanted to do, and when he went to WBC and he was around some of these major-league players, it really rubbed off on him that he became sure that this is what I want to do as soon as possible.”
Wolfe assumes the Padres will be a team Sasaki seriously considers because of Darvish’s presence. The Dodgers have long been speculated to be among the front-runners too. The restrictions of being signed within an international bonus pool help even the playing field, and Wolfe indicated Sasaki will “absolutely” consider all market sizes.
“I think that there’s an argument to be made that a small- or mid-market team might be more beneficial for him as a soft landing coming from Japan,” Wolfe said. “Given what he’s been through and not having an enjoyable experience with media, it might be. It might be. I’m not saying it will be, but I don’t know how he’s going to view it.”
Playing on the West Coast, closer to Japan, versus elsewhere hasn’t been brought up, Wolfe said, and seems unlikely to be a factor. He estimated at least half of major-league teams scouted Sasaki this year. Hoyer and the Cubs are among those who have gotten in-person looks.
“The success of Seiya, the success of Shota, hopefully, has shown the other players around the NPB that Chicago is a destination that really thrives in that type of environment, and we’re excited to showcase that and use those guys to showcase that,” general manager Carter Hawkins said.
The Cubs possess an advantage of understanding what goes into helping Japanese players make the transition on and off the field when coming to the majors. On the baseball side, there are adjustments to the strike zone and how to attack big-league hitters. Having access to more analytical information and data than in the NPB means knowing how to best convey and utilize that for Japanese players, something Imanaga appreciated during his rookie season in learning how to meld it with trusting the feel for his pitches.
“What we’re most proud of, though, is the foundational things from an environment perspective,” Hawkins said.
Adapting culturally sometimes can be tougher than getting used to a new league. Hawkins credited major-league video coordinator and Pacific Rim liaison Nao Masamoto and his wife for helping assimilate the families of Japanese players over the years. Shingo Murata, part of their research and development department, has been vital in helping interpret some of the intricacies of the language that the Cubs use on the baseball side with their coaching staff and directly to the player. Other infrastructure, including nutrition and strength and conditioning, have helped ensure Japanese players are getting what they need in every facet.
The Cubs have developed a general blueprint for attracting Japanese players to their organization the previous three years with their successful pitches to Suzuki and Imanaga. That doesn’t mean they run it back the same each time they make a presentation. The Cubs have learned from each experience, and it is expected to help guide their approach with Sasaki.
“At the end of the day, you realize that these guys are competitive baseball players that want to be better at baseball,” Hawkins said. “And so yes, I’m most proud of the things that we’ve done off the field because they’re just less obvious. But in terms of what’s most important, it’s how do we help these players be the best versions of themselves? That’s what we’ve learned, that’s where the focus has to be.
“Making sure that we’re focusing on ways to enhance and optimize their game, that’s something that we’ve definitely learned, and then definitely made sure we don’t sell ourselves short that way.”
