Cubs Reportedly Not Among 3 Teams Remaining in Rōki Sasaki Sweepstakes

Several teams are being informed that they are no longer in the running for Japanese pitcher Rōki Sasaki, and the Cubs are apparently one of them. According to Jeff Passan, the obvious options of the Dodgers and Padres are joined by the Blue Jays. Toronto is certainly a dark horse here, but Sasaki recently conducted an in-person visit and their drastic differences from the other two clubs says something about their inclusion.

This means if the Cubs do intend to flip Michael Arias for IFA pool money, it’ll be to poach other players who lose their deals when Sasaki signs. It also means Jed Hoyer can turn his full attention to domestic free agents.