Add the Dodgers to the list of teams with confirmed in-person meetings with highly sought-after international free agent Roki Sasaki.
The meeting is not a surprise – the Dodgers are considered the favorite to sign the 23-year-old Japanese right-hander. When Sasaki was officially posted by his Nippon Professional Baseball team, the Chiba Lotte Marines, on Dec. 11, Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman called it a “major priority” for the Dodgers to sign him.
The Dodgers are the sixth team known to have had meetings with Sasaki and his agent, Joel Wolfe.
Texas Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young confirmed in mid-December that his team had met with Sasaki. There have also been reports of meetings between Sasaki and the New York Yankees, New York Mets, Chicago Cubs and San Francisco Giants.
At the Winter Meetings earlier this month, Wolfe said he has been contacted by more than 20 teams interested in signing Sasaki.
Sasaki is expected to shrink the number of teams he is considering and hold a second round of meetings with those teams in 2025. Sasaki’s posting window closes Jan. 24. He cannot sign before Jan. 15, when the 2025 international signing period begins.
“The best I can say is he has paid attention to how the teams have done as far as overall success, both this year and in years past,” Wolfe said at the Winter Meetings. “He does watch a lot of Major League Baseball. He’s paid attention to what his (World Baseball Classic) teammates have done. He’s talked to a lot of players, foreign players that have been on his team with Chiba Lotte. He asked a lot of questions about weather, about comfortability, about pitching development and just watching what other Japanese players in the major leagues are doing and how they are doing.”
