As expected, the Chicago Cubs got a chance to present to Roki Sasaki, a league source confirmed to The Athletic, trying to sell the prized Japanese pitcher on their vision for the future.
While the baseball industry doesn’t necessarily view the Cubs as the front-runner, much is unknown about Sasaki, except for his immense talent and relatively minimal contract expectations. The Cubs are also part of the small group of teams that have a strong presence in Japan and a successful track record of onboarding players from Nippon Professional Baseball. That credibility helped set up Friday’s meeting in Los Angeles, which was first mentioned by Bruce Levine of Marquee Sports Network and 670 The Score.
Sasaki’s representation includes Joel Wolfe of the Wasserman agency, which previously negotiated deals for Yu Darvish and Seiya Suzuki, placing those Japanese players in Chicago at different points in their careers.
Shota Imanaga, an All-Star during his rookie season with the Cubs this year, is a shining example of the team’s pitching infrastructure and willingness to help players assimilate from Japan.
During Major League Baseball’s Winter Meetings last week, Cubs president of baseball operations Jed Hoyer confirmed that the team had already submitted its introductory materials for Sasaki’s review.
Without getting into specifics about the recruiting pitch, Hoyer simply said: “Over the years, we’ve had a lot of Japanese players that have had good experiences in Chicago.”
Sasaki, 23, is younger and less polished than Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who signed a 12-year, $325 million contract last offseason and then helped the Los Angeles Dodgers win the World Series. Sasaki did not wait for the chance to secure a massive deal, entering the posting system at a time when he’s classified as an international amateur free agent, a status that limits his next contract to a club’s international bonus pool.
Next year’s signing period opens on Jan. 15. The Cubs’ projected allotment for that upcoming window is nearly $6.3 million, which is roughly in the middle of the pack, though Sasaki has made it clear that money is not his top priority.
(Photo: Yuichi Yamazaki /AFP via Getty Images)
