Cubs not currently viewed as one of Roki Sasaki's top two choices by local insider

In the coming weeks, we'll get the long-sought answer on where Roki Sasaki will call home for much of the next decade - and while he'd be a perfect fit for the Chicago Cubs, at least one local beat writer doesn't see the team in the driver's seat of the sweepstakes at this point.

“Can they get Roki Sasaki? You know, I don't think they're the leader," Cubs insider Sahadev Sharma said on Monday's episode of the North Side Territory podcast. "I don't think they're the number two ... I'm not ruling them out because we still haven't gotten clear word on what he wants."

As Sharma noted, there are more questions than answers when it comes to Sasaki and his unique free agency experience. The official signing, we know, will come after Jan. 15 when the international signing pools re-set for 2025, but there's nothing preventing a verbal agreement prior to that date.

Chicago was among several teams that got to make a pitch to Sasaki and his representation but face stiff competition from a number of interested suitors - including both New York clubs, the Dodgers and the Padres, among others. The club's recent acquisition of Kyle Tucker certainly won't hurt their standing in terms of being viewed as a team with a legitimate chance to win in 2025, but it remains to be seen if there's any fallout between the Cubs and Seiya Suzuki over his likely role as a full-time DH that bubbled to the surface during the winter meetings.

The fact Suzuki and Sasaki share the same agent, Joel Wolfe, makes me a little more concerned about that than I'd otherwise be - but, as Jed Hoyer has reminded us recently, the Cubs have had great success with Japanese players in recent years, starting with Yu Darvish and, more recently, Suzuki and Shota Imanaga.

Coming out of the holidays, we'll see how it all plays out. But from the early indications, the Cubs shouldn't be putting all their eggs in the Sasaki basket - and the good news for fans is there's no sign Hoyer is doing so, either.