It would have been great to see Roki Sasaki shock the world and sign with the Chicago White Sox. The 23-year-old Japanese pitching sensation coming to the Southside certainly would have re-energized the franchise.
Alas, Sasaki is reportedly not considering the White Sox as the team he signs with this offseason.
Teams that are still in on Roki Sasaski: Dodgers Padres Cubs Yankees Mets Rangers maybe Giants not the White Sox others could be added to list
— Jim Bowden⚾️ (@JimBowdenGM) January 1, 2025
It is not surprising to see him not consider Chicago AL's team considering it was a long shot he would play for the Pale Hose i the first place.
The only thing working in the club's favor was 2005 World Series legend Tadihito Iguchi managed Sasaki in Japan. The Sox presentation likely included Sasaki anchoring a rotation that could feature fellow potential aces in top pitching prospects, Noah Schultz and Hagen Smith.
Otherwise, it was going to be hard to outdo the San Diego Padres or the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Padres have Yu Darvish who is reportedly close to Sasaki and the Dodgers can boast Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto thriving. The New York Yankees and the Mets also are much more appealing than the White Sox.
For what it’s worth….Roki Sasaski favorite player growing up was Masahira Tanaka #Yankees and considers Yu Darvish his Godfather #Padres ..not that it means anything but both teams are in his mix
— Jim Bowden⚾️ (@JimBowdenGM) December 31, 2024
Plus, the Cubs would likely be the Chicago team he signs with since they have recently had a great reputation among Japanese players.
At least the White Sox were one of the 20 teams to express interest in signing Sasaki.
General manager Chris Getz confirmed the team would make a presentation. It does not sound like the club got an in-person meeting but teams were able to submit presentations.
The 10 teams that did not check in committed organizational negligence. How many times has that applied to the Sox--especially when the owner laughed at the thought of trying to sign Ohtani in free agency.
Sasaki is considered an amateur international free agent. All a team has to do is dip into their international bonus pool money to get his services, pay the Chiba Lotte Marines the posting fee, and he then comes with the club control just like any other prospect.
That literally should make him available to all 30 big-league teams. At least, the White Sox did the minimal and gave it a shot. Nothing wrong with shooting your shot as the old saying goes.
The other thing to come out of this pursuit is the Sox should lean more on their ties to Iguchi and see if he can help the franchise get back into being active in the Japanese player market.
The Sox have been inactive in that region after getting Iguchi. It would be nice for the club to become a destination among Japanese players again. Especially since a lot of players have come out of Japan lately who have proven they can provide an immediate boost to a club.