Roki Sasaki rumor contains an unnecessary and hilarious shot at lowly White Sox

The Roki Sasaki chase was always expected to take awhile – heck, the international signing period does not start until Jan. 15. Sasaki is a 23-year-old starting pitcher who could instantly transform just about any rotation. And, like Shohei Ohtani before him, Sasaki is well within budget for even small-market teams. This makes it even more baffling that 10 organizations opted against sending Sasaki a formal pitch.

The Chicago White Sox, thankfully, were not one of those 10 teams. The White Sox play in a big market but have undergone a complete rebuild the last season-plus. The most recent step in that rebuild was trading Garrett Crochet to the Boston Red Sox for a bundle of prospects.

Sasaki is said to be considering all factors, including each team's history with developing pitchers and their long-term prospects of winning. Ohtani found out the hard way when he signed with the Angels that his talent alone wasn't enough to propel an organization into the playoffs, hence his choice to ink a long-term deal with the Dodgers last winter.

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Roki Sasaki rumors take a shot at the Chicago White Sox

The 23-year-old Sasaki doesn't want to make that same mistake, as there's no guarantee he'll get a reasonable second shot at this thing. Landing with the right organization is everything to an international prospect, especially a starting pitcher. And while we appreciate the White Sox for trying, they don't get a participation for failing to secure Sasaki, per Jim Bowden.

Yikes! As if the White Sox needed to catch more strays. It's a new year on the south side of Chicago, but the baseball team still lacks talent or an organizational structure it can boast about to Sasaki or another top-tier free agent. As for Sasaki, he has narrowed his choices down and will select a new team soon enough, per agent Joel Wolfe.

"The next steps will be something in the neighborhood of possibly meeting with one or two additional teams, or narrowing the field, which I think may be more likely," Wolfe said, "and whether or not he wants to visit one or two cities as he tries to finalize the decision-making process."

Frankly, Chicago even getting consideration for such a coveted prospect is a step in the right direction. Chris Getz may not be the right man for the job at the end of the day, but at least he's trying. That's more than we can say about most rebuilding teams in smaller markets.