The 2025 international signing period officially opened Wednesday morning without much activity from the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres or Toronto Blue Jays due to being the three finalists for Roki Sasaki.
While the 23-year-old can now sign with a team, agent Joel Wolfe indicated Sasaki’s decision likely was not going to be made until days later. Sasaki’s deadline to sign with a team is Jan. 23.
The sweepstakes have already impacted the Dodgers as three of their top international commits — Darell Morel, Orlando Patiño and Teilon Serrano — each signed with another team and received more lucrative bonuses than they would have with L.A.
Meanwhile, the Dodgers reportedly have held trade talks with other teams to acquire additional international bonus pool money, according to Jack Harris of the L.A. Times:
Meanwhile, Dodgers officials have had discussions with several other teams about potentially acquiring more international bonus pool money via trade, according to multiple people with knowledge of the situation not authorized to speak publicly — though it is believed those talks to this point have been more exploratory in nature.
Because Sasaki is joining the Majors at this stage in his career, he’s sacrificing a significant amount in potential earnings with his first contract. That’s the same path Shohei Ohtani took when signing with the Los Angeles Angels before the 2018 season, but different from Yoshinobu Yamamoto setting a record for richest contract signed by a pitcher in MLB history.
It’s also possible the Dodgers are looking to increase their bonus pool total for additional international prospects, but that doesn’t figure to be likely given the majority of the top talents have already come off the board.
Any signing bonuses of $10,000 or less don’t count against a team’s international bonus pool.
Dodgers bonus pool money 2025
The Dodgers have $5,146,200 in bonus pool money for the 2025 international signing period, which is tied with the San Francisco Giants for the smallest amount among all teams.
The Padres and Blue Jays both have $6,261,600.
Teams are permitted to acquire up to an additional 60% of their original bonus pool total via trade. Bonus pool money can only be traded in increments of $250,000 unless a team is parting with its entire total.
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