M's are in on Roki Sasaki

[D-train]

Do the Mariners have a shot at signing him?
Sasaki might be as talented as any pitcher to ever come out of Japan, and because he’ll make the league-minimum salary, he has a chance to be the best bargain in MLB for the next several years.

At that price, every MLB team should be interested in a 23-year-old with ace-like upside, and indeed the Mariners are preparing to make a recruiting pitch to Sasaki’s camp when he’s posted, per industry sources.

The Mariners could make a compelling case around their history of success with Japanese pitchers — Kazuhiro Sasaki (2000-03), Shigetoshi Hasegawa (2002-05), Hisashi Iwakuma (2012-2017) and Kikuchi (2019-21) all made at least one MLB All-Star appearance with Seattle — and their recent success of developing young pitchers, notably Logan Gilbert, George Kirby, Bryce Miller and Bryan Woo.

[Big_Maple]

We need a hard throwing lefty. And, he'd give us flexibility - either a 6 man rotation (which many are opposed to but which is more common in Japan) and/or allows us to actually part with one of golden untouchable 5 for a decent position player upgrade.

https://archive.ph/XsqVP

Make it so, Number one.

(too bad he's going to the Dodgers)

[Donn Beach]

It's like Ohtani, there's going to be a limit on bidding. He may choose to go to the dodgers but they aren't going to just buy him

[Big_Maple]

It's like Ohtani, there's going to be a limit on bidding. He may choose to go to the dodgers but they aren't going to just buy him

"The Los Angeles Dodgers signed Yamamoto to a 12-year, $325 million contract on December 27, 2023. The Dodgers also had to pay a $50.625 million posting fee to the Orix Buffaloes."

Sounds like they bought Yamamoto to me. If they want Sasaki, they'll just open their wallets or make deferred contracts or whatever. And why the hell wouldn't Sasaki want in on a team that has Yamamoto and Ohtani already??

If he doesn't go to the Dodgers it's because they didn't want him.

[Seattle or Bust]

It's like Ohtani, there's going to be a limit on bidding. He may choose to go to the dodgers but they aren't going to just buy him

"The Los Angeles Dodgers signed Yamamoto to a 12-year, $325 million contract on December 27, 2023. The Dodgers also had to pay a $50.625 million posting fee to the Orix Buffaloes."

Sounds like they bought Yamamoto to me. If they want Sasaki, they'll just open their wallets or make deferred contracts or whatever. And why the hell wouldn't Sasaki want in on a team that has Yamamoto and Ohtani already??

If he doesn't go to the Dodgers it's because they didn't want him.

You can't "buy" Sasaki. He's not 25 and hasn't played in the pros for 6 years.

"The caveat of the posting system is that foreign-born players are subject to international bonus pool money restrictions unless they are at least 25 years of age and have played as a professional in a foreign league recognized by Major League Baseball for a minimum of six seasons."

It's like when Ohtani came to the US and signed with the Angels. You have to sign a MiLB contract.

"Because he was under 25 years old, Ohtani was subjected to international signing rules. This capped his bonus at $3.557 million and limited him to a rookie salary scale, while the signing team also had to pay a $20 million posting fee to the Fighters."

[Donn Beach]

That's the intriguing angle, assume dipoto will be back at again getting his international money in order and dusting off his sales pitch

[GL_Storm]

This is where the ballpark works in your favor.

[D-train]

Having a six man instead of trading one of them for a bat would be a complete waste and wouldn't upgrade the team in least.

[DavidGee24]

We're not getting him, Ichiro will see to it that we don't.

[roosevelt]

I doubt he will be interested in playing for this organization...