MLB rumors: Twins join Dodgers, Padres in Roki Sasaki sweepstakes

Roki Sasaki is looking like the next big thing coming out of Japan, and all MLB teams seem to be head over heels for the 23-year-old starting pitcher. And it’s not like Sasaki is ticketed to join a big-market team, as he is subject to the league’s amateur signing rules due to his age — which means that the Los Angeles Dodgers, while widely regarded as the favorite to sign yet another Japanese sensation, will have stiff competition for Sasaki’s services.

To that end, add the Minnesota Twins to the pile of teams that are looking to put their best foot forward in their pursuit of the 23-year-old Japanese starting pitcher.

“We have interest [in Sasaki]. If you’re in one of the rooms in this building and they don’t say that, that would be shocking to me. Obviously, we just want to understand what he’s looking for,” Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said during the winter meetings, via Bobby Nightengale of the Minnesota Star Tribune.

At this point, however, it’s not yet a guarantee for the Twins to land a meeting with Sasaki, as according to Nightengale, they are not one of the teams that have already sent Sasaki and his camp video and Powerpoint presentations declaring their interest in signing him.

Given the Twins’ budgetary limitations, they will want to throw their hat in the Sasaki ring and hope that he decides to take his talents to cold Minneapolis instead of the warmer Los Angeles or San Diego. They can at least boast that they have a $7.65 million in international bonus pool money, although it’s not quite clear how much that would matter in the end when they’re competing with the Dodgers, who already have Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto on the roster — two of the best Japanese baseball players in the world at the moment.