The Baltimore Orioles left around $2.1 million unspent from their 2024 international signing bonus pool, while the Los Angeles Dodgers left about $1.9 million in a year when there was talk of Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki becoming available.
Major League Baseball’s international amateur signing period lasts from Jan. 15 to Dec. 15, and Sasaki wasn’t posted until Dec. 8. The 2025 signing period will start on Jan. 15, and teams will have until Jan. 23 to reach a deal with the 23-year-old. This means Sasaki will sign during the 2025 period.
The 2025 bonus pools range from $7,555,500 for eight teams to $5,146,200 for teams like the Dodgers and San Francisco. The Dodgers are among the many teams interested in Sasaki.
“He’s someone that is obviously a major priority for us, and we’re going to do whatever we can, and know that there are a lot of other teams that are going to do the exact same thing,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said at the winter meetings.
San Diego, with a $6,261,600 pool for next year, is seen as one of the favorites to sign Sasaki, along with the Dodgers. Sasaki’s agent, Joel Wolfe, said he expects Sasaki to “seriously consider” San Diego, where Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish plays and Hideo Nomo is a special adviser.
“I feel like the organization is in a really good place with Sasaki,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said at the winter meetings. “If there’s an open market competition to be had, I feel like we’re in a good spot for a multitude of reasons.
One, we’re in San Diego. We sell out our ballpark every night. We have a very competitive ballclub. It’s a chance for him to come in and create a legacy for himself to help win the first World Series.”
Most teams typically spend their international signing bonus allotment on Latin American players.
Other teams that had more than $500,000 unspent this year include San Francisco ($767,500), Boston ($740,000), Colorado ($647,800), and the Chicago White Sox ($640,000).
Atlanta, the New York Yankees, and Texas spent exactly their allotments. Teams are not allowed to exceed their bonus pools.
Fourteen teams had less than $100,000 unspent.
Players born from Sept. 1, 2006, to Aug. 31, 2007, were eligible to sign between Jan. 15 and Dec. 15, and signing bonuses of $10,000 or less didn’t count against a team’s allotment.
