Japanese ace Roki Sasaki has alerted the New York Yankees that he will not be signing with him, according to multiple reports on Monday.
The 23-year-old star is expected to sign with an MLB team in the eight days between Jan. 15, when the international bonus pool resets, and Jan. 23, which is the final day of his posting from his NPB team, the Chiba Lotte Marines.
Because Sasaki is under 25 years old, MLB teams can only sign him to a minor-league deal and use their international bonus pool money, meaning his deal should range between $6 million and $8 million.
Susan Slusser of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that the San Francisco Giants have also been told they are out on Sasaki. The right-hander is expected to sign with a west-coast team — which will also take the Mets out of the running shortly — as the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres are deemed the favorites.
Sasaki would have been a luxury for a Yankees rotation that had already improved this winter. General manager Brian Cashman doled out the largest contract to a southpaw in MLB history when he signed former Atlanta Braves ace Max Fried to an eight-year, $218 pact. He joins a rotation that is headlined by Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon.
The addition of Sasaki could very well have given the Yankees the best rotation in the American League and one of the top units in the majors. The Dodgers, though, could be amassing one of the finest stable of starting pitchers the game has ever seen. They signed two-time Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell this offseason, and he will join a rotation that already boasts Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Tyler Glasnow.
