Do Cincinnati Reds Have a Chance to Sign Japanese Superstar Roki Sasaki?

Sasaki will have plenty of teams looking to sign him.

Greg Kuffner | 7 Hours Ago

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

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Cincinnati Reds

Roki Sasaki will be highly coveted among all of Major League Baseball.

The Reds are one of many teams hoping to talk to him. They'll have to compete with the bigger markets in hopes of actually signing Sasaki.

“I’d love to be able to have a conversation with him," Reds president of baseball operations Nick Krall said on Tuesday. "We’re going to try and do our best. He’s a player we scouted in Japan and we’ll see what happens.”

Teams have a 45-day window to negotiate with Sasaki. He was posted on Monday by his club on Monday according to Mark Sheldon of MLB.com.

In November, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced that Sasaki would be a part of the 2025 international amateur signing class, which actually benefits the Reds because they are among the clubs with the highest international bonus pools for 2025.

Would Sasaki sign with a smaller market?

“Yeah, absolutely," agent Joel Wolfe told Sheldon. "I think that there's an argument to be made that a smaller mid-market team might be more beneficial for him as a soft landing coming from Japan, given what he's been through ... and not having an enjoyable experience with the media.

"It might be, I'm not saying it will be, but I don't know how he's going to view it. It might be beneficial for him to be in a smaller market. But I really don't know how he looks at it yet, because I haven't had a chance to really sit down and discuss it with him in great detail.”

It would be surprising to Sasaki sign with the Reds, but you can't rule it out completely.

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