The Toronto Blue Jays Can Now Officially Sign Roki Sasaki
The Toronto Blue Jays shocked the baseball world this week by being named as a finalist for 23-year-old Japanese right-hander Roki Sasaki. The prodigee throws more than 100 MPH and features, perhaps, the best splitter in the world.
He was part of the 2023 World Baseball Classic team that won the Gold Medal for Japan, where was teammates with the likes of Yu Darvish and Shohei Ohtani.
Because he's coming over before the age of 25, Sasaki is only eligible to be signed through the international signing system. That period opened up on Wednesday, meaning that Sasaki is free to sign now. He has until January 23rd to sign, which is when the posting from his Japanese team expires.
In addition to the Blue Jays, the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres are named as finalists. Both of those teams are thought to be favorites, but for the Jays, even being in this position represents a surprise, so perhaps they can get a further surprise by closing the deal.
If the Jays were to land Sasaki, he would certainly land in the team's starting rotation. He'd likely join Jose Berrios, Chris Bassitt and Kevin Gausman in that group. Bowden Francis also figures to make the rotation while Yariel Rodriguez would likely end up in the bullpen.
Toronto is coming off a season in which they finished 74-88, good enough for last place in the American League East.
Thus far, they've signed relievers Yimi Garcia and Jeff Hoffman to multi-year deals this offseason. They also traded for three-time Gold Glover Andres Gimenez.
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