As the Los Angeles Dodgers prepare to offer Roki Sasaki a contract when the international signing period opens Jan. 15, they certainly seem confident that the Japanese phenom is going to accept it.
The Dodgers have some of the deepest pockets in Major League Baseball and typically spare no expense when it comes to pursuing coveted free agents, but Sasaki’s international prospect status limits MLB teams to signing him strictly using their international bonus pool money.
Given these restrictions, Los Angeles is already trying to gain an edge over their competition by clearing bonus pool space and even putting other international signings on hold.
Latest Dodgers international moves hint they’re getting close to Roki Sasaki decision
Following Marcos Grunfeld’s report from earlier this week that the Dodgers were asking members of their 2025 international signing class to hold off until 2026 in order to clear space in this year’s bonus pool, Francys Romero reported Saturday that the club had brought back to the market two of its highest bonuses for thus year’s international signing period: shortstop Darrell Morel (Dominican Republic, $1.1M) and outfielder Orlando Patiño (Venezuela, $400,000).
The Pittsburgh Pirates have reportedly already swooped in and nabbed Morel, who is now expected to sign with Pittsburgh for a $1.7 million bonus – $600,000 more than his original offer from the Dodgers – when the international signing period opens Jan. 15.
L.A. currently has $5.1 million in international bonus pool money of a maximum amount of just over $7.5 million.
In sending Morel and Patiño back to the market and asking their other international signees to delay their signing by a year, the Dodgers are squeezing out every dollar they have to make a competitive offer Sasaki.
Sasaki is expected to sign with an MLB team in the next international signing period, which opens Jan. 15. A second round of meetings with teams is expected to take place around this time, though whether the Dodgers have received a second meeting with the 23-year-old pitcher is not known at this time.
That said, it was already widely believed that Sasaki would land in Los Angeles. The Dodgers’ latest international moves have all but confirmed it.
