Dodgers international signing period revolves around Sasaki

2025 international signing period opens Wednesday. LA has the smallest total bonus pool in the sport, and are one of three teams in the mix to sign Sasaki, the biggest prize of all

The 2025 international signing period opens Wednesday, which is always a busy day for announced and reported signings of amateur players around the world. But this year, January 15 takes on even more importance as the sport waits on Roki Sasaki, one of the most coveted free agents in recent baseball history.

Sasaki has reportedly narrowed his list of major league suitors down to three teams — the Dodgers, Padres, and Blue Jays. Whichever team signs the 23-year-old right-hander is getting a major-league-ready pitcher at a pittance relative to what he would have cost in free agency.

Because Sasaki isn’t yet 25, and doesn’t have nine year of professional experience overseas, he is not a true free agent this winter, like Yoshinobu Yamamoto was last December when he signed a 12-year, $325 million contract with the Dodgers heading into his age-25 season.

Sasaki is subject to the international bonus pool system, and will get a signing bonus in the seven figures, maybe even seeping into very low eight figures if his eventual team can find a way to trade for more international bonus pool space starting Wednesday. If all goes well for Sasaki in the majors, he’ll get something near the minimum salary for his first three years in the majors, then more through three years of salary arbitration before reaching true free agency.

This is a rare path Sasaki has chosen, ceding millions of dollars for the chance to compete at the highest level two years earlier. Shohei Ohtani did this when he signed with the Angels prior to the 2018 season. Counting his $2.3 million signing bonus with the Angels plus all of his salaries for six years in Anaheim, Ohtani made about $42.25 million, and that was boosted by winning an MVP award by his fourth season.

By contrast, the true free agent Yamamoto will be paid a total of $155 million in the first six years of his Dodgers contract.

2025 international signing period

The Dodgers enter 2025 with a bonus pool of $5,146,200, tied with the Giants for the lowest pool in the sport. The Dodgers lost $1 million from their pool as a competitive balance tax payer in 2023 and signing Shohei Ohtani. San Francisco was not a tax payer in 2023, but lost $500,000 each for signing Matt Chapman and Blake Snell last offseason.

Every international amateur signing above $10,000 counts against the pool.

Many international signings are announced and official on the first day of the period, because they are the result of of verbal agreements dating back months and even years. For the teams angling to sign Sasaki, some of those previous, non-binding informal pacts go away.

In the Dodgers’ case, they’ve already lost a few players they planned to sign in 2025 while clearing bonus space for Sasaki.

Dominican shortstop Darell Morell was one of the Dodgers’ planned signings, ranked the 20th-best international prospect per Baseball America., and rated 30th by Eric Longenhagen at FanGraphs. He was set to make somewhere between “a little under $1 million” (per Ben Badler at Baseball America) and $1.1 million (per Francys Romero). But rather than wait for the Dodgers, Morell went back to market and will get a reported $1.8 million from the Pirates instead, per Badler, Romero, and The Athletic.

Orlando Patiño, an outfielder from Venezuela, was going to sign with the Dodgers for $400,000 per Romero, but instead will sign with the White Sox. Patiño is rated as the No. 81 international prospect at Baseball America.

It’s a gamble to hold off on these signings for the hope of landing Sasaki, but he’s also as close to a sure thing as can be found on the international amateur market, considering the right-hander is essentially major league ready. If the Dodgers don’t sign Sasaki, they will still spend at least some of that international bonus pool space, just on different players. The 2025 period runs through December 15.

The Dodgers also held back bonus space in the 2024 signing period, and in December had $2.5 million left, more than any other team. But with the timing of Sasaki pushing his deal into 2025, the Dodgers signed seven international players in the final days of the 2024 period — pitchers Aneudy Almonte, Shai Romero, Samuel Savinon, Cesar Sanchez, and Alexis Reyes; plus infielders Hendry Arvelo and Antony Urena.

It’s unclear how much of that remaining $2.5 million was spent, as only three of the bonuses were reported.

Trading bonus pool slots

Once the 2025 international period opens on Wednesday, teams can begin trading for bonus space. Any team can add by trade up to 60 percent of its beginning bonus pool in total, which for the Dodgers would mean adding an additional $3,087,720 to its original $5,146,200 pool.

Individual trades are limited to increments of $250,000 in bonus pool space, unless a team is sending its entire remaining bonus pool. Examples of these types of trades include the Dodgers getting $500,000 in international bonus pool space from the A’s in August 2017, and the Dodgers sending $500,000 in bonus space to Atlanta for Connor Joe in September 2017.

Before the Dodgers might add any bonus space by trade, they still have a reported $3.6 million left to spend, per Romero on Saturday. Among the other players they are slated to sign, two are in the top 100 international prospects at Baseball America.

Francisco Rivera, a catcher who grew up in Arizona but moved to Venezuela, is rated the No. 63 international prospect by BA, and outfielder Teilon Serrano out of the Dominican Republic is ranked 74th.

“Serrano has an intriguing mix of quick-twitch athleticism and offensive upside,” Ben Badler wrote. “He’s a 6-foot-1 lefthanded hitter who has shown good bat-to-ball skills with the bat speed that gives him a chance to drive the ball with impact, as well.”

However, Longenhagen at FanGraphs added on Tuesday that “the Twins pried center fielder Teilon Serrano away from Los Angeles late [Monday],” so that’s another potential casualty of the Dodgers asking their potential signees to wait for Sasaki.