Roki Sasaki could change MLB as we know it before he even chooses a team

We've reached the middle of January, and we're still no closer to learning the ultimate destination of the new biggest free agent on the market: Japanese ace Roki Sasaki, a 23-year-old phenom whose overwhelming raw stuff and team-friendly financial stipulations have over half the league chasing him this winter.

An established star in Nippon Professional Baseball, Sasaki is already one of the most talented pitchers in the world. But his age and relative lack of experience mean that, for MLB purposes, he's classified as an international free agent — meaning that he can only be paid out of a team's pool of international bonus money. Whoever eventually signs Sasaki will be getting a potentially historic bargain, a frontline pitcher making orders of magnitude less than what he would command on the open market.

We're not quite sure when we'll figure out just who that team will be; Sasaki has conducted in-person meetings with a handful of finalists, but since then it's been radio silence, as he and agent Joel Wolfe use every bit of the 45-day posting window they have to make a decision. But even before he ever steps foot on a Major League mound, Sasaki is already looking like he'll change the entire landscape of the league — because the thing that makes him such a steal is also causing chaos for every team looking to land him.

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Roki Sasaki sweepstakes could change how MLB handles international amateur free agency

Each team has a finite amount of bonus money available for each year's signing class. And that money is often accounted for years in advance, as teams reach agreements with international prospects and then make those agreements official when they turn 16 years old.

Sasaki, however, has turned that system upside-down. Teams weren't sure whether he would be posted this winter, and even after he was, they weren't sure which international window he would be eligible in. Long story short, they couldn't plan their finances in advance, and once he became available, they had to go back on previous agreements in order to free up enough money to sign him should he choose to come there.

This has already cost several teams, including the Los Angeles Dodgers, deals with some of their biggest international prospects of the current cycle. It's also causing chaos in places like the Dominican Republic, where prospects and their camps have watched money disappear overnight. And according to at least one report, they're looking for a change:

It's obvious why Dominican trainers want Sasaki to be handled differently, as whatever money he gets will come from the pockets of players who had previously agreed to sign with that team. Actually instituting a change like this, however, is easier said than done, and ignores the fact that Sasaki is a one-of-one player — it's not often that talents like this forgo tens of millions of dollars to come to the States a couple of years earlier.

Maybe MLB will listen and act quickly; some of the sport's biggest and most influential franchises are in turmoil, and everyone seems annoyed. More likely, though, is that everyone has to weather this storm, with any changes coming next winter at the earliest.