Roki Sasaki has Padres and Dodgers scrambling for additional bonus pool money

As the rest of the league has seemingly left their hopes of signing Roki Sasaki behind, the Padres and Dodgers are still neck and neck in their pursuit of the Japanese star pitcher. The Toronto Blue Jays are also still in the mix to sign Sasaki, although the league consensus seems to point to one of the two Southern California teams winning the pitcher over.

With Sasaki needing to make a decision before the January 23rd deadline, the Padres and Dodgers have been pulling out all the stops to convince the star to head their city. Recent positive news for San Diego fans came in the form of an unverified video showing what is believed to be Sasaki throwing a bullpen in front of General Manager AJ Preller and the Padres pitching staff at Petco Park. Even with its unverified status, Padres fans are full of hope seeing Sasaki in the brown and gold.

Both teams waiting for Sasaki decision

In recent news made available to MLB.com's Mark Feinsand, both the Padres and Dodgers have been calling other teams in the league inquiring about trading for more international bonus pool money. Because of Sasaki's status as an international amateur free agent, teams cannot spend more than their allocated bonus pool.

The Dodgers currently have the lowest amount of bonus pool money available in the league, sitting at $5.15 million. The Padres have a little more money to spend with $6.3 million available, although contract size is not expected to be a determining factor for Sasaki.

If either the Padres or Dodgers were able to secure more international bonus pool money from other teams through trade, they would only be able to trade for 60% of their original pool amount. This means the Dodgers could at most add just above $3 million, while the Padres could add around $3.78 million.

As the international free agency period continues, both the Padres and Dodgers have held off on signing other names available to them until Sasaki makes a decision. For the Padres, this means holding off on names like Jhoan De La Cruz and Deivid Coronil, a decision that may come back to haunt them if Sasaki chooses the Dodgers.