170 replies to this topic

[TwentyThirtyFive]

Make a real push here. Unless hes told you no already.

[Slidemaster]

Huge international stars don't go to smaller cities like Baltimore. They go to New York, Boston, LA, or some place similar.

[BSLMikeLowe]

Yeah, total pipe dream. He'll either end up in a major market or if it's a smaller market it'll be on the West Coast.

[makoman]

If anyone is interested, his agent spoke today

 

https://www.mlbtrade...all-market.html

 

Seems like, a lot is still up in the air, he will take into account long term and not just short term finances, and large market team is not guaranteed (though of course he'd say this), and he will likely sign after Jan 15 (of course, opens up to everyone).

 

You definitely try, but I would guess it's probably not possible in Baltimore. 

[BaltBird 24]

Yeah, we have to shop in the bargain bin Asian market. Koji Uehara, Wei-Yin Chen, Hyun Soo Kim.

These top tier guys aren't coming to Baltimore.

[Hooded Viper]

The main reason they go to the bigger cities is because the bigger cities have larger payrolls and spend more money. If the Orioles pony up he’ll be in Baltimore regardless of what he feels about the city.

[Mackus]

The main reason they go to the bigger cities is because the bigger cities have larger payrolls and spend more money. If the Orioles pony up he’ll be in Baltimore regardless of what he feels about the city.

Most teams can offer him the same amount. This won't be in primarily about contract offer from the team.

[makoman]

Most teams can offer him the same amount. This won't be in primarily about contract offer from the team.

Yeah, the money isn't an issue. I think very generally it may matter that NY and LA and I guess probably Seattle can offer a more robust Asian community, but it may or may not matter to Sasaki individually.

[TwentyThirtyFive]

Ive heard San Diego. I think he is very likely to go to a bigger market but Elias should have someone specifically working on him. Make a real effort until its obvious it wont be us.

[BSLMikeLowe]

The main reason they go to the bigger cities is because the bigger cities have larger payrolls and spend more money. If the Orioles pony up he’ll be in Baltimore regardless of what he feels about the city.

 

I think there are reasons beyond just money why international players prefer the major cities. A more diverse population, with more people from their home country that speak their language, eat the same food, etc., makes perfect sense as a scale-tipping factor. Baltimore offers little of appeal for Asian players who have plenty of other choices.

 

Furthermore, the only difference in money here for Sasaki is what a team can, and is willing, to pay him out of their 2025 international bonus pool. Even if every team is willing to give him their entire pool, the difference is still relatively small in the big picture. And I don't know that many teams are willing to max out their pool on just him, since we're so close to the start of the new signing period and I suspect many teams (Orioles included) have made handshake deals with Latin American players already that they don't want to renege on.

 

With that, I think Sasaki will want to try and earn as much as he can in non-baseball income. And doubling back to the first paragraph, his best opportunity for that is in a major market that has both a large Japanese-American population and whose games are regularly seen back in Japan (i.e. LAD).

 

As hard as this may be for some here to accept, Baltimore just doesn't check the boxes for a player in his particular situation. Thanks to the O's competitiveness and an obvious open spot in their rotation, the Orioles might not be in Sasaki's Bottom 10 if he were to rank all 30 clubs in order of preference, but they sure won't be in his Top 10 either.

[Mackus]

He'll certainly have opportunity for more lucrative local endorsement deals in a major market than he would in Baltimore, but I would imagine that Sasaki will have an order of magnitude and maybe two greater endorsement money coming in back in Japan regardless of where he is playing.

If he waited two years he'd have a chance at $200M+ compared to the $11M or so a team could max out at right now. I think his decision will come down to a lot more than market size.

Obviously the Orioles are a long shot here, every team is, really, even the Dodgers aren't better than a coin flip to land him. But I think there is enough of a shot to keep watching here. Not enough of a shot to avoid doing other things to address the rotation, but the timing is such that there will probably still be trades to make after he signs on Jan 20 or whenever.

[BSLMikeLowe]

Agree that much of his endorsement potential is in Japan. But I think that potential is greatly enhanced if his games are televised more frequently over there. I’m unfamiliar with the rules and arrangements MLB has with overseas broadcasts, but I suspect you could watch just about any Dodgers game on TV over there, and probably not so much Orioles (unless you subscribe to the MLBTV package for outside the US). I imagine if you are already on a team with Ohtani, you will have more people watching you over there. Also, if most of your games are on the West Coast, the timing of your games is more convenient for people in Japan to watch.

[weird-O]

Yeah, the money isn't an issue. I think very generally it may matter that NY and LA and I guess probably Seattle can offer a more robust Asian community, but it may or may not matter to Sasaki individually.

This was my first thought. Ultimately, he's going to be a much wealthier guy, no matter where he ends up this go 'round. I know it would factor into my decision making, if I was going to Japan, and a team's city had a substantial American community.

[Mackus]

If I moved to Japan a primary reason would be to get away from Americans. 

[BSLMikeLowe]

If I moved to Japan a primary reason would be to get away from Americans. 

lol, same here.

 

Question is, do you need to leave the US in order to reach the pinnacle of your career field?

[Slidemaster]

If I moved to Japan a primary reason would be to get away from Americans.

That's primary perk.

[tennOsfan]

I'm sure money's a big driver. Whether games are broadcast back home, I doubt they care much about other than possible endorsement deals back there. The big thing about locating near a robust Asian community seems key to me - if I'm living in a foreign country, it sure would be nice to order up some home cooking when I'm there. That's where Baltimore loses to LA/NY/Sea/SF.

 

That'd be like me living in Japan - I'd pick the town where a bunch of Southerners lived and had a country cooking restaurant with legit biscuits and gravy.

[dude]

15th has passed and we don't have an (announced) deal so Sasaki is into the next IFA signing period.  45 day window and this next 30 is dead and he burned 10 on the front side, so we know in (less than) the first week of the  next IFA signing period.

[BSLMikeLowe]

According to reports Sasaki has told the Yankees and Giants he does not intend to sign with them.

 

https://www.mlbtrade...of-running.html

[Mackus]

Orioles not among those teams reportedly being informed that they're out so must mean we're still in, right!  Right!?