Roki Sasaki rumors: Dodgers begin inevitable, Padres big question, Red Sox sad position

Especially with Corbin Burnes now off the free agency market, Roki Sasaki is now the hottest name in baseball. And frankly, he might've been that all along. The 23-year-old Japanese right-hander has dominated overseas and is making the shocking decision to come over now and earn a contract from International Bonus Pool money instead of a free-for-all that would've ensued had he waited two more years to be posted.

The Sasaki sweepstakes, however, appears deliberate and slow-moving as he looks to make the right decision and meets with prospective suitors. But what is the latest buzz around the Japanese ace? Here are some of the latest rumors and developments.

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Red Sox shouldn't get their hopes up with Roki Sasaki

Let's be clear that the Boston Red Sox have never been considered a frontrunner for Roki Sasaki. However, you when then expand the considerations for the Japanese star to potential sleeper teams that would make a ton of sense, that's where Craig Breslow and Co. have come into play and rightfully so.

Breslow noted at the Winter Meetings that the Red Sox could sell Sasaki on Boston's legacy with Japanese pitchers, not the least of which include Daisuke Matsuzaka and Koji Uehara, among many others. But the Red Sox have not yet been granted a meeting with the right-hander to make that pitch. Even if that does change, though, the latest updates on Boston don't make it sound like anything will come of it.

Chris Cotillo of Mass Live reported this past week that the Red Sox still believe they could get a meeting as Sasaki is expected to meet with some additional teams in January. There's also not currently a deadliine set by the free agent for when he'll stop meeting with organizations. As Cotillo noted, though, the fact that Boston wasn't among the first crop of suitors is not a positive sign.

If there's a silver lining, the Red Sox don't need Sasaki to have successfully upgraded their rotation this offseason, trading for Garrett Crochet and signing Walker Buehler to a one-year deal. Having said that, the 23-year-old ace would've been a cherry on top. But Boston is definitely trending toward being cherry-less in that capacity based on the latest rumblings.

Padres still haven't met with Roki Sasaki this offseason

When the subject of Sasaki landing spots comes up, the two favorites mentioned most often are the Dodgers and their NL West rivals, the San Diego Padres. The obvious West Coast fit to be closer to home for Japanese players, even if that's not something of the utmost importance to Sasaki according to reports, starts there, but these are also two franchises with good history and current roster construction with Japanese stars.

For the Padres with Yu Darvish in tow, though, one of their biggest potential aces in the hole could be their location in San Diego. They don't offer the same massive market that Los Angeles does but, at the same time, we've heard Sasaki's representation mention the possibility that a softer landing spot with a team that's possibly not a massive major market could be enticing for the 23-year-old.

There's just one problem that's hard to ignore when it comes to the Padres right now. As the list of teams that have met with Sasaki has now grown to six, there has not reportedly yet been a meeting with the San Diego front office to this point.

Of course, that doesn't mean that the Padres won't get a meeting. In fact, the sequencing of the meeting that Sasaki has taken thus far has been surprising. So possibly having one of the favorites in the sweepstakes take their time and get into the mix when they need to is absolutely in the cards. However, it's still getting weirder by the day to call the Friars one of the frontrunners when they've still not been in the room with the young ace.

Dodgers start inevitable with Sasaki, hold first meeting

From almost the moment that it was reported that Sasaki would be posted this winter, there has been a strong contingent that he'd ultimately end up with the Los Angeles Dodgers no matter how the process played out. While it's a different financial situation than it was last offseason with Yoshinobu Yamamoto, the fact that Sasaki could joing the 2024 signee and Shohei Ohtani as well has long made sense.

Until Saturday, though, there was still at least some hope because, as Sasaki was beginning to take meetings, the Dodgers weren't among the teams that had officially gotten in the door. That changed over the weekend.

Bill Plunkett of the Orange County Register reported on Saturday that the Dodgers and Sasaki met so that the 23-year-old could hear the pitch from the organization. While Sasaki's agent, Joel Wolfe, has been adamant that the right-hander and LA don't have any term of wink-wink agreement in place this offseason, that won't stop many people from simply assuming that the Dodgers deal is nothing but a formality at this point.

I choose to believe, especially when money is no longer a deciding factor with Sasaki signing with International Bonus Pool money, that the Dodgers aren't a foregone conclusion but are still the favorites. The news of their meeting, although, scant on details, only further confirms that much.