Roki Sasaki‘s agent Joel Wolfe labels team meetings as ‘The Roki Film Festival’ following pitcher’s return to Japan
Roki Sasaki is now back in Japan after meeting with several teams to weigh options before deciding on his destination.
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Roki Sasaki (Image via Baseball America)
Japanese ace pitcher Roki Sasaki is now back in Japan following several weeks of meetings with various MLB teams. He’ll now be weighing his options before finally announcing the team name he wants to call home.
Furthermore, Sasaki has provided the MLB teams with a level platform to compete for his services by limiting meeting time to 2 hours. According to MLB insider Gary Phillips, the pitcher has given homework to the interested teams and will judge them based on their next presentation.
He is also expected to visit a couple of stadiums and cities following his next return. During a conference call, his agent Joel Wolfe talked about how 20 teams have given them presentations, films, and books to woo the 23-year-old.
Wolfe called it “The Roki Film Festival” as several MLB teams are competing for the pitcher’s services. Furthermore, since he is entering the majors before 25, he’ll be restricted to signing a lesser contract of $7.5 million at max.
The #Yankees & #Mets are among the teams reported to have already met with Rōki Sasaki in-person. Wolfe said Sasaki could meet with 1 or 2 more teams & visit 1 or 2 cities before this process ends.
— Gary Phillips (@GaryHPhillips) December 31, 2024
So far, Sasaki has only met with teams at Wasserman's offices to create a level… https://t.co/jwGaINwWFb
This makes Sasaki even more enviable to all teams, be it a smaller market or top teams like NY Yankees, and LA Dodgers. Currently, the favorites in the race are the Dodgers, and San Diego Padres, with the Yankees, Mets, and others lurking in the shadows.
Roki Sasaki denies player interference by any team during meetings
The Japanese ace Roki Sasaki strictly forbids any MLB teams to bring in players to woo him. Many talked about how the Dodgers might use Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto as a thread to connect with Sasaki, but now it seems impossible.
They were scheduled to meet with the pitcher and there were no reports of the management dragging the players to the meeting. The same goes for the Padres’ connection to Yu Darvish, and the Yankees’ connection to Hideki Matsui or Masahiro Tanaka.
During a conversation, Sasaki’s agent Joel Wolfe mentioned how he wanted to get into MLB despite age restriction because he wanted to dominate the game. Just like everyone else who dreams of making a name for themselves in the league, Sasaki wants to etch his name as the best.
He’s a guy that wants to be great. He’s not coming here just to be rich. He wants to be one of the greatest, ever.
Joel Wolfe as per insider Bob Nightengale on X.
Joel Wolfe said all of Rōki Sasaki's meetings have been limited to 2 hours, again to level the playing field. Sasaki asked that teams' players not attend the meetings.
— Gary Phillips (@GaryHPhillips) December 31, 2024
Sasaki also gave teams he met with an unspecified homework assignment to see how they communicate and analyze. https://t.co/RAQUIXbhQm
Sasaki will have to sign within his 45-day window or else he’ll be sent back to his club to complete the 2025 season. While the favorite teams are already listed, it’s not certain that he’ll sign with them. He can choose a team with smaller media attention as mentioned by Joel, or go in a totally unexpected route.
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Kaushani Chatterjee
(2121 Articles Published)