Right-hander Rocky Sasaki The Lotte Marines re-signed with Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball team today on a one-year contract, per Stephen Wade of The Associated Press.
The deal puts to rest rumors circulating earlier in the offseason that Sasaski would attempt to jump from NPB to MLB this winter. Such an arrangement was unusual for a Japanese player looking to continue his career in the United States. MLB posting rules state that players must be at least 25 years old and have played at least six professional seasons before they can sign with a major league club on anything other than a minor league contract.
Some players (most notably Shohei Otani) They jump ahead of those criteria, although in doing so they limit their direct earnings to what clubs can offer them from their international bonus pool. The reported pools range from $4,144,000 to $6,366,900 for this year's signing period, and it is unlikely that a team will be willing or able to allocate its entire pool to one player. For example, Ohtani only received a $2.3 million bonus when he first signed with the Angels before the 2018 season.
Given Sasaki's talent, there is no doubt that he will be able to drive much more if he continues normally through the deployment system. Yoshinobu Yamamoto He signed the richest free agent deal for a pitcher in MLB history earlier this winter, and Sasaki could be looking to rival that amount through the posting system given his career 2.00 ERA and 34.4% strikeout rate in 46 NPB starts. Sasaski combined a triple-figure touching fastball with a fork ball that allowed him to dominate the World Baseball Classic and become the youngest player in NPB history to throw a perfect game while setting an NPB record for strikeouts in a single start with 19.
According to a report from Kyodo News, Sasaki made no secret of his MLB aspirations during a recent press conference. Al-Dhahirah was quoted as saying that he has a desire to play in major tournaments “in the future,” and that he conveys these feelings to Lotte every year, and that the club understands its goals. The report also includes comments from Marine Corps Executive Officer Naoki Matsumoto. Matsumoto indicated that there is no truth to the rumors of a dispute between Sasaki and the club regarding the right-hander’s future plans, and that Sasaki’s desire to play in major tournaments was known to the club before the 2023 season.
Wade notes that some reports out of Japan have indicated that Sasaki has negotiated the ability to leave for the majors before his usual deployment schedule, perhaps even as soon as the following offseason. However, that being said, neither Sasaki nor the Marines have given any hint regarding the timeline for the right-hander's jump to the major leagues. When asked about the timeline for his move to the United States at the aforementioned press conference, Sasaki demurred in favor of focusing on the upcoming 2024 campaign. Whether the move comes at the end of next season or sometime in the future, Sasaki has shown the ability to be a game-changing arm for any club and will instantly become one of the most attractive free agents in the class he joins.
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