Lotte’s Roki Sasaki and his mother insist on “letting us go to the US”… A messy negotiation drama unfolds.
“We have no enforcement power, so we can’t force them to stay.”
“I’m not sure if I ‘m going to renew my contract this season,” said Tadahito Mori, secretary general of the Japan Professional Baseball Players Association, in a tone of confusion, has already withdrawn from the players’ association. Secretary-General Mori acknowledged this fact in an interview with this newspaper and said the following:
“He contacted me before last spring’s training camp. I explained to him what the players’ association is and what we have done up until now, but he still said he wanted to quit. What are the benefits of leaving the players’ association? That is something he needs to decide, and I don’t know.”
At the end of last year, Sponichi reported that Sasaki had requested to try out for the majors this offseason through the posting system, causing a big stir inside and outside the baseball world. The team’s president showed a certain degree of understanding, saying, “As I have said before, our desire as a team to support successful players who want to try their hand at playing in the majors has not changed,” but in reality the relationship between the two parties is said to be in a mess.
A former player from a certain baseball team said this.
“It seems that the team is negotiating with the lawyer acting as his agent, rather than Sasaki himself, but Sasaki’s side is adamant that they should allow him to try out for the majors and let him go to America. Sasaki’s mother, who started a sports management company, is also pleading with them to let him go, so the team is at a loss as to what to do next. Even if Sasaki, who will turn 23 in November this year, were to cross the ocean via posting next offseason, he would not be able to sign a major league contract under current rules.
Until the age of 25, players can only sign minor league contracts, so naturally, Lotte ‘s profits will decrease. This offseason, Yoshinobu Yamamoto will join the Dodgers. The company signed a large 12-year contract worth 45.5 billion yen and put it up for bid. Lotte will receive a transfer fee of over 7 billion yen, but Sasaki can only sign a contract worth around 300 million yen, so the transfer fee will be around 50 million yen. Lotte cannot accept this. But more than the financial issue, Lotte is seriously worried about Sasaki’s future, saying, “There is nothing positive to be gained from this method.”
Read more about Roki Sasaki’s mother:
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