Everything Cubs fans need to know about Roki Sasaki's posting

Roki Sasaki, despite being just 23 years old, is the most highly-touted Japanese player to come to Major League Baseball since Shohei Ohtani. A starting pitcher with ace-caliber stuff, it's anticipated that he could immediately slot into a big-league rotation and make an impact.

His jump to the States is anything but typical, though. Unlike last winter, when Yoshinobu Yamamoto bagged a 12-year, $325 million contract from the Los Angeles Dodgers, money alone won't determine where Sasaki signed. Because he decided to leave Japan prior to his age-25 birthday, he is classified as an amateur by Major League Baseball rules, meaning he's only eligible for a minor-league deal with a bonus paid from the team's international bonus pool.

That means the entire league is on a relatively level playing field in what it can offer him, at least in the short term. He would not return to free agency until the 2030-2031 offseason, making him a potential steal for the next half-decade.

When will Roki Sasaki be posted?

Technically, Sasaki could be posted any day. But there are some considerations to take into account. MLB's international signing period runs from 1/15 to 12/15 each year; most clubs reload their international bonus pools on 1/15 - so there's some logic that, even if he's posted before that date, he won't officially sign until mid-January, when more teams have their full international pool at hand.

Once he's posted, he has a 45-day window to sign - so, again, the thinking would be that will happen at some point in December and, even if he settles on a team, it'll be made official during that 2025 signing period. Again, unless he's dead-set on the Dodgers, who have the most remaining international bonus money left in this year's pool, it makes the most sense to wait.

What will Roki Sasaki's contract look like?

It won't break the bank - and it's one of the reasons a budget-conscious team like the Chicago Cubs can't be overlooked here. Once he's on an MLB roster, he's only due the league minimum salary until he starts going through salary arbitration toward the end of the decade.

Again, if this was about money, he would have waited two more years before coming over from NPB. It's clearly not a dollars-motivated move - so the team that's willing to sell him on the whole package: outlook, development, experience, etc. - will be the one who comes away with his services.

Roki Sasaki free agency: Are Cubs a serious suitor

Yes. Jed Hoyer has made multiple trips to Japan in recent years to scout Sasaki and the team has had a very intentional presence in that market since he took over baseball operations in 2020. Given dollars aren't the end-all, be-all here, it gives a team that plays in a world-class city like Chicago with recent history committing to a pair of Japanese players in Shota Imanaga and Seiya Suzuki a real chance to land him.

Keep in mind Yu Darvish continues to rave about the organization, even four years after the Cubs traded him to the Padres on the heels of a Cy Young runner-up finish. San Diego is expected to be a primary player in this market, so who knows what that means for his potential impact on everything, but he carries a tremendous amount of respect with Japanese players that cannot be underestimated.

The agency representing Sasaki, Wasserman, is intimately familiar with the Cubs, having represented Darvish, Suzuki and Javier Baez. That could also be a feather in Hoyer's cap as he looks to land the type of talent that, frankly, hasn't been in the cards for the team since he started calling the shots.