Joel Wolfe of Wasserman, agent for NPB star Riki Saakitold SNY’s Andy Martino, “Market size is not a factor in players’ decisions in any way.” At the Winter Meetings, the agent believed Sasaki might prefer to go to smaller markets after clashing with Japanese media. However, Wolfe stressed at the time that this was just his opinion and that he and Sasaki had not yet discussed the matter in depth. It seemed like the pitchers weren’t paying any attention to it.
Sasaki has held preliminary meetings with at least seven teams, most of them big-market franchises. Previous reports said he met with the Dodgers, Rangers, Yankees, Mets and Cubs. The Giants are also believed to have held a meeting. Jeff Sanders of the San Diego Union-Tribune reported today that the Padres were also allowed to hold a meeting earlier this month during Sasaki’s visit to the United States.
Wolf met with multiple reporters tonight (including Tim Healy of Newsday and Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register) to provide details about the process. He said all in-person meetings were held at Wasserman’s Los Angeles office. Wolfe declined to say how many teams were involved. He said 20 clubs sent preliminary presentations via PowerPoint, videos or books to express interest.
It seems like every meeting follows a specific protocol. According to Wolfe, Sasaki specifically asked the team not to bring any players. He also limits each conversation to the same amount of time (less than two hours), ostensibly to put each team on equal footing. As planned, Sasaki then returned to Japan for vacation.
It’s unclear whether any other teams besides the reported seven have met with Sasaki. Tigers president of baseball operations Scott Harris said last week that Detroit made an initial proposal, but as of Friday they had not received word on whether they would meet. Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said this morning that Boston is in a similar situation (paraphrased by Alex Spear of The Boston Globe ).
Wolff hasn’t closed the door on allowing one or two more teams to take initial sit-downs, though agents say they’ll start narrowing it down soon (via MassLive’s Chris Cotillo ). Sasaki hasn’t visited any team cities — except for a stop in Los Angeles, because Wasserman is headquartered there — but he may visit after the New Year.
The international amateur free agent signing period will begin on January 15th. However, his posting deadline is 45 days, which lasts until January 23. Wolfe said Sasaki may not yet have made a decision when the signing window opens and could make a decision before the release deadline. While the agent didn’t stress it, it would give MLB teams just over a week to trade international signing bonus allocations, which would increase what they can offer Sasaki. Teams can receive up to 60% of the initial value of their respective prize pools. Teams’ initial pool allocations vary, all ranging from $5.1462MM to $7.5555MM.
