The courtship to convince Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki to join their ranks continues and the Los Angeles Dodgers held their formal meeting on Saturday, to be the sixth team to hold talks with the most sought-after free agent available, following the deals for Juan Soto and Corbin Burnes.
The Los Angeles Dodgers are joined by the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants as the teams that have already held their first meeting among a list of 20 accepted suitors, as the Japanese phenomenon will not meet with all the teams, who because of the value with which he will arrive in MLB all want him.
Shohei Ohtani: Raising the bar for american Baseball with Japanese culture
At 23 years old, Sasaki can only aspire to a minor league contract for a maximum of $7,555,500, which makes him the object of desire for all teams, while he is expected to announce his decision as soon as the international signing period opens on January 15.
Does Ohtani want to intervene in Sasaki’s choice?
Experts place two teams as favorites to land the Japanese jewel in the winter market, first the Dodgers, for having in their ranks the two-way star Shohei Ohtani, and pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the other is the San Diego Padres, because there is also the veteran Yu Darvish, whom Sasaki admires. All three were his teammates on the Japanese National Team in the World Baseball Classic.
Although there are rumors that the two Japanese Dodgers were at the meeting, a few days ago, according to Beth Harris of Associated Press, she revealed a statement from Ohtani in which he ruled out actively recruiting Sasaki: “I consider him a friend, so we talk from time to time about baseball in general and life. I will respect his decision to sign wherever he wants and I think he will do well wherever he goes.”
Whether or not they attend the meeting, both are a positive influence to take into account, but in the same competition is Darvish with the Padres, and Shota Imanaga and Seiya Suzuki with the Chicago Cubs
According to a report from the NY Post, Joel Wolfe, Sasaki‘s agent, is taking into account the history of MLB teams to take his client, in addition to the development of young pitchers.
Joel Wolfe believes that Sasaki would do well to choose a small market, because he did not have pleasant experiences with the Japanese media, which would lead him to opt for something more discreet, which is where the Cubs could step up, along with a factor that puts them on par with the Dodgers, as they compete in popularity in Japan.
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