It appears the Phillies are out of the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes.
Dave Dombrowski, when speaking with reporters on Zoom Friday night, gave an update on the club’s pursuit of star Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki.
Dombrowski suspects that the Phillies haven’t made the shortlist of teams Sasaki is willing to meet with. Sasaki, according to multiple reports, is in the process of meeting with teams in Los Angeles, where his agency CAA is headquartered. The Yankees, Cubs and Mets are reportedly among the group of teams that have been granted a meeting with Sasaki.
The Dodgers and Padres are expected to be the favorites to sign him.
“We have not been invited to talk to him at this point,” Dombrowski said. “I’m not making any proclamations because we haven’t been told, but we’re probably running a little bit late if we’re going to be invited to the table. We’ve sent in our original information to him that was requested. They know that we would very much like to have a presentation. So far, we haven’t been invited to the table.”
The Phillies were long shots to sign Sasaki. All 30 teams have a strong level of interest in signing him because he comes at such a cheap price. Because he is under 25 and has less than six years of professional service time, Sasaki is considered an international amateur free agent. That means teams can only sign him using the money allocated to them in the international bonus pool. Signing him will cost a team seven figures, as opposed to the nine figures he would have gotten if Sasaki had waited until he was able to sign as a traditional free agent.
When it comes to signing star players out of Japan, the Phillies are at a huge disadvantage. Some of it is self-inflicted. The franchise has never signed a player directly out of Japan. The Phillies have rostered only two players from Japan — So Taguchi and Tadahito Iguchi. Iguchi, who had seven plate appearances with the Phillies in 2008, was Sasaki’s former manager at the Chiba Lotte Marines. Previous Phillies front offices not prioritizing scouting in Japan is coming back to hurt them now.
As a result, they are playing catch up with the rest of the league. The New York teams are also dealing with similar geographical disadvantages, but both have longer histories with signing Japanese players.
But some things are just out of the Phillies’ control. Most Japanese players that come to the United States prefer to be closer to home and sign with either west coast teams or midwest teams with spring training complexes in Arizona. It doesn’t help that Philadelphia International Airport has no direct flights to Japan.
Teams like the Padres and Dodgers also have a more extensive history with Japanese players, making them better equipped to help with the transition from NPB to MLB.
Sasaki, when choosing his next team, will likely prioritize his development over getting the highest dollar amount. He could sign with the Dodgers and team up with Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto or play with his idol Yu Darvish in San Diego. Other teams may be in it, but it’s hard to see Sasaki picking a team that’s not LA or San Diego.
Sasaki is expected to sign after the new international signing period opens up on Jan. 15.
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