The most sought-after free agent this winter might be a guy who won’t cost teams very much.
That, of course, is start Japanese righthander Roki Sasaki, who was posted Dec. 9 by his NPB team, the Chiba Lotte Marines. That opened a 45-day window in which Sasaki can negotiate with MLB teams, who can only sign him as an international amateur, using only the money from their international bonus pools. This offseason, those pools reset on Jan. 15, so I wouldn’t expect Sasaki to sign before then. The 45-day period expires Jan. 23.
Yesterday, Sasaki’s agent Joel Wolfe of the Wasserman Group (who also represents Cubs outfielder Seiya Suzuki) gave a few details of the process to MLB.