As international signing period opens, Padres await Roki Sasaki's decision

Jeff Sanders, The San Diego Union-Tribune on Jan 14, 2025

Published in Baseball

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SAN DIEGO — The Padres have walked away from the last two international signing periods with arguably the best prospects on the board.

Expect crickets when this year’s window opens Wednesday — at least until Japanese superstar Roki Sasaki makes his decision.

The Padres have joined the Dodgers and Blue Jays as finalists for the Japanese superstar’s services, a financial boon for any team because his payday will be capped as an under-25 player headed to Major League Baseball as an international free agent.

The Padres and Blue Jays can both offer Sasaki as much as $6.26 million. The Dodgers can offer $5.15 million, although the ability for teams to acquire an additional 60% could push Sasaki’s purse to as much as $8.23 million from the Dodgers and $10.02 million from San Diego and Toronto.

Teams cannot begin to make trades to add to their pools until the window opens Wednesday.

Consider it another wrench thrown into a process that is usually years in the making.

The Padres courted the likes of catcher Ethan Salas (2023) and shortstop Leodalis De Vries (2024) for years before their signings, so much so that their signings were mere formalities by the time the international signing window opened.

This year, the Padres are not attached to any of the upper-echelon prospects, in part because they’re all-in on Sasaki.

Baseball America’s top-100 international board currently links the Padres to Dominican shortstop Jhoan De La Cruz (No. 43), Venezuelan shortstop Deivid Coronil (No. 50), Dominican left-hander Carlos Alvarez (No. 69) and Venezuelan outfielder Sebastian Peña (No. 77).

The Padres could attempt to push their handshake deals into the 2026 window, but that’s more complicated than it seems.

The White Sox have swiped Venezuelan outfielder Orlando Patiño (No. 81) from the Dodgers for an expected $570,000, up from the $400,000 he was going to sign for with Los Angeles, according to Baseball America. The Dodgers, also playing the waiting game with hopes of landing Sasaki, lost Dominican shortstop Darell Morel (No. 20) to the Pirates for twice as much as Los Angeles was going to give him.

Similarly, the Padres could lose players while they wait for Sasaki to make his decision, and they could miss out on everyone they’ve been linked to if the Japanese star chooses the Dodgers or Blue Jays before Jan. 23, when his 45-day posting window closes.

If Sasaki chooses another team, the Padres could pivot and sign their top targets — or, perhaps, take players who were set to sign with the team that signed Sasaki.

Which likely means the only Padres international prospect news that will trickle out before the Sasaki decision are players signing for $10,000, which does not count against pools.