San Francisco Giants Signing Roki Sasaki Will Be a Tough Sell

Despite interest, it will be hard for the San Francisco Giants to convince Roki Sasaki to sign.

Mar 20, 2023; Miami, Florida, USA; Japan starting pitcher Roki Sasaki (14) delivers a pitch during the first inning against Mexico at LoanDepot Park. / Sam Navarro-Imagn Images

It has been a big offseason already for the San Francisco Giants, as Buster Posey hasn’t disappointed so far in his first winter as the President of Baseball Operations.

Coming into the offseason, the Giants were expected to be major players this winter. So far, they have not disappointed. San Francisco might have lost Blake Snell to the Los Angeles Dodgers, but they were able to address their top priority, which was bringing in an impact bat.

The signing of Willy Adames gave the Giants arguably the best shortstop who was available this winter. Adames is capable of going right into the middle of the order, as he was an excellent fit for San Francisco.

Now that they made a big splash by improving their lineup, it seems like the focus for San Francisco has gone back to their pitching staff. Currently, they seem to be one of the teams interested in bringing in Corbin Burnes.

Burnes is the best starting pitcher left on the market, and is likely the best free-agent pitcher overall this winter. However, recently, Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report spoke about the Giants as a potential landing spot for Roki Sasaki. While every team will be interested in his services, it’s going to be a tough sell for San Francisco.

“Finally, a West Coast team. And according to Passan, the Giants are another club among the "significant players" for Sasaki. It may not hurt their cause that they have the entire Bay Area market to themselves, as the Athletics are all the way up in Sacramento. Unfortunately, the Giants' 2025 bonus pool is the smallest out of all 30 teams. And with their farm system ranked by Reuter as the worst in MLB, it could be tough to sell Sasaki on the club's ability to break free from a string of mediocre seasons.”

One of the major pluses for the Giants in the Sasaki pitch will be their location. Being on the West Coast makes travel to Japan that much easier and that is a big factor. Also, San Francisco is one of the best parks in the majors to pitch in, which, for Sasaki, should be appealing.

However, the 23-year-old obviously wants to come over to the majors and win. Despite a strong offseason with the addition of Adames, the Giants play in the best division in baseball, and they have the World Series Champions in their division as well.

While San Francisco should certainly be pursuing the young starter, it seems unlikely that they will be able to sign him.