Japanese RHP Sasaki to begin meeting with teams
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Jesse Rogers, ESPN Staff Writer
DALLAS — Japanese free agent pitcher Roki Sasaki will begin meeting with MLB teams next week as he begins the process of choosing where he wants to play next season, agent Joel Wolfe said on Tuesday morning at the winter meetings.
Sasaki, 23, was posted by his Japanese team, Chiba Lotte, this week and is free to sign with an organization no earlier than Jan. 15. Because of his age, international rules only permit him to sign a minor league deal unlike last year’s top free agent arm, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who signed with the Dodgers for $325 million. Yamamoto is three years older. Players under 25 and with less than six years of experience can only sign minor league deals as an international amateur.
Sasaki was 10-5 with a 2.35 ERA in the Japan Pacific League last season after posting a 1.78 ERA in 2023.
“Some of it is Japanese culture, some of it is just Roki Sasaki,” Wolfe said when asked why Sasaki didn’t want to wait until he turned 25 to make more immediate money in MLB. “There are no absolutes in baseball, there are no absolutes in life and through Roki Sasaki’s eyes — and if you look at some of the things that have happened in his life — some of the tragedies that have happened in his life, he does not take anything for granted.”
Sasaki lost his father in the aftermath of a 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan.
He’ll first meet teams at a central location next week before beginning visits to individual cities. Upward of half the league scouted him in Japan last season as Wolfe isn’t quite sure what his client’s desires are just yet.
“I’m not entirely sure yet because I’ve known Roki for a little over two years now and it’s been a little bit difficult to really ascertain what his decision-making process would be for choosing a team because his focus has predominantly been on whether or not he’s going to be able to post,” Wolfe said. “The best I can say is he has paid attention to how teams have done as far as overall success both this year and in years past.”
There has been industry speculation that the Los Angeles Dodgers were the predetermined, clear favorites to land Sasaki — a notion both the team and Wolfe denied.
“There were some accusations, allegations, all of them false made about predetermined deals, things like that,” Wolfe said.
Considering his price tag is just a minor league deal — teams can’t even talk about a potential extension until after he joins their organization — Wolfe indicated both big- and small-market teams have expressed interest. He was asked if Sasaki wants to join a team that already employs Japanese players. He has a good relationship with Padres star Yu Darvish as well as those who played on Team Japan in the WBC.
“Each player is unique in how they feel about it, and I think it also matters on the player that is already on the team,” Wolfe answered. “He asks a lot of questions about weather, about comfortability, about pitching development, and just watching what other Japanese players in the major leagues are doing and how they’re doing.”
Wolfe dismissed any geography issues outside of the West Coast, citing many cities have direct flights to and from Japan unlike a “decade ago.” Wolfe was also asked what his advice to Sasaki is as they begin a unique process which most resembles the one Shohei Ohtani went through before he signed with the Angels in 2017.
“My advice to him is don’t make a decision based on [the next contract] because the long-term arc of your career is where you’re going to earn your money,” Wolfe said. “So it’s probably not advisable to make a short-term decision in that regard, to take all of the factors into consideration.”
Wolfe is hopeful his client will sign close to when the new international window for spending opens on Jan.15. That would give Sasaki time to clear any visa issues in order to report to spring training on time. He’ll have to do so under the guidelines of a minor league deal but can quickly be promoted to the major league team whenever his employer wants.
“It’s always been his dream to come to the major leagues since he was in high school,” Wolfe said.
FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — The two-time defending Stanley Cup champion Florida Panthers are now dealing with even more injuries, including one sustained in a grilling accident.
And coach Paul Maurice, when looking at the big picture, is seeing all of this as a way for the champs to get even better.
Forward Eetu Luostarinen will be listed as week-to-week, Maurice said Wednesday, after what the coach described as “a barbecuing mishap.” But the already-shorthanded Panthers don’t seem to have a concrete timeline in mind for Luostarinen’s return.
“We don’t have a lot of experience with this,” Maurice said. “When he comes back and feels comfortable with the equipment on him, away we go.”
And forward Cole Schwindt, claimed off waivers last month to help with the Panthers’ injury problems, is now on the injury list himself. Schwindt will need surgery in the coming days to repair a broken arm, and the Panthers expect that he’ll miss two to three months.
Luostarinen and Schwindt become the latest entries on an injury log for the Panthers that already included long-term issues for captain Aleksander Barkov (preseason ACL tear), Dmitry Kulikov (upper body), Jonah Gadjovich (upper body), Tomas Nosek (knee) and Matthew Tkachuk (groin). Barkov, Kulikov, Gadjovich and Nosek all still have months to go in their recoveries; Tkachuk might start skating by the end of this month and could make his season debut sometime in December.
It is not at all what the Panthers expected to start the season. But that’s where Maurice sees opportunity; the roster depletions have forced Florida to change its playing style somewhat, and he thinks that could wind up providing valuable lessons.
“There’s an awful lot of good if you can capture, if you can learn some new things, things that you have to learn to survive,” Maurice said. “And that’s really in some ways what we’re doing, is trying to survive. When you get to seven guys out of your lineup, you’ve got a problem. We can survive that and then learn through the adversity of it eventually.
“We’re going to have, slightly after the trade deadline, the biggest movement in the league,” he added. “We’re going to get some players back. We can be a better team than we were going into the playoffs last year, if we can learn how to do this. It’s just going to be hard. It’s going to be uncomfortable right now. And we’ve got to be good with that.”
The Panthers expect that rookie forward Jack Devine, part of two NCAA title teams at Denver and twice a Hobey Baker Award finalist before turning pro last year, will make his NHL debut Thursday in a home game against New Jersey.
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Kristen Shilton
Neck guards will be mandatory for all hockey players at the upcoming Olympic Games in Milano-Cortana.
An NHL source confirmed to ESPN on Wednesday that the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) will require the protective gear be worn throughout the upcoming tournament. BBC Sports was first to report the news.
The decision comes in the wake of Adam Johnson’s death in October 2023 after he took a skate blade to the neck from Matt Petgrave during a game in Sheffield, England. The IIHF had previously announced in December 2023 that neck guards would be required at all levels of the sport but never set a date when that would be instated at the most senior level amid issues with supplying teams with the garments. They’ve finally set a timeline now with three months to go until the Olympics open in Italy.
The upcoming Games will feature NHL players in competition for the first time since 2014. There is no mandate that neck guards be worn by all skaters in the NHL, although some have opted to use them following Johnson’s accident. Incoming NHL players will be required to wear them starting in the 2026-27 season, however, per the league’s new collective bargaining agreement. Players who dressed in at least one NHL game before next season will continue having the option.
Hockey action begins at the Games on Feb. 5.
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Greg Wyshynski
The NHL Department of Player Safety has decided Dallas Stars forward Mikko Rantanen will not receive any supplemental discipline for his boarding major against the New York Islanders on Tuesday, a source told ESPN on Wednesday.
Rantanen was ejected from the Stars’ loss to the Islanders after an injurious hit on defenseman Alexander Romanov. With less than a minute to go in regulation, Rantanen skated through a check by Islanders defenseman Scott Mayfield and shoved Romanov in the back, sending him violently into the end boards. He was eventually helped from the ice.
The Islanders didn’t offer any update on Romanov’s health after the game, other than to say he didn’t have to leave the arena for the hospital.
“When one of your friends gets hurt on the ice, it’s way more important than hockey. We get the two points. We’re happy about that. But our first concern was Romy,” Islanders forward Jean-Gabriel Pageau said.
Rantanen, the Stars’ leading scorer with 27 points in 20 games, was given a five-minute major for boarding, which carries an automatic game misconduct. Dallas played the last 27.3 seconds without him, nearly tying the game on a goal with 0.1 seconds remaining that was overturned by the NHL Situation Room for goalie interference. New York won an emotional game 3-2.
Islanders coach Patrick Roy, who unleashed a profane tirade at Rantanen as he left the ice, said the hit was “disrespectful” to his team.
“I’m going to say is [that] when you see the number, you have to lay off. Everybody knows that. You don’t go through the guy,” Roy said. “I was in Colorado when [Rantanen] was drafted there. It’s not his style. But at the same time, that should not be part of our game.”
Ultimately, the NHL saw the play as Stars coach Glen Gulutzan did, with Gulutzan arguing that Rantanen was simply off-balance and didn’t intend to deliver a hit on Romanov near the end boards.
“If you watch the play, I think Mayfield holds up Rants and they actually clip skates. So Rants is going off-balance going in there too. If you played the game and you’re off-balance, you usually put your hands out,” Gulutzan said. “I’ve seen Rants play enough in the last 10 years. It’s just one of those hockey plays that happened. I’m hoping Romanov is OK. It’s a dangerous play for everybody.”
Rantanen will be available when the Stars face the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday.
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