Tigers come out of nowhere as potential suitor for Roki Sasaki due to key advantage

Corbin Burnes is still available in free agency as of Sunday morning, but Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki's posting to MLB on Monday stole headlines throughout the week. Burnes is looking for hundreds of millions of dollars and is well out of the Tigers' (and other small- and mid-market teams') reach, but Sasaki will not be.

He just turned 23 last month, and pushing his NPB team to post him before he was 25 means that he's an amateur international free agent, therefore unable to receive the $325 million payday Yoshinobu Yamamoto got last year as a fully-fledged free agent. Sasaki may have been looking at himself if he'd waited a few more seasons.

This means Sasaki can only make league minimum and get a signing bonus from the signing team's international funds (up to $7,550,000 for eight teams, including the Tigers, and as low as $5,146,200 for two, including the Dodgers). This levels the playing field for the entire league, and it means that everyone should be throwing their hat in the ring for him.

Rumors have been incredibly split on Sasaki's mindset in free agency. Some believe the Dodgers are a no-brainer, but agent Joel Wolfe also said his client's options are open, and he'll at least hear presentations from smaller market teams to facilitate a softer landing in MLB.

Every team should be talking to Sasaki, and the Tigers are no exception. On Tuesday, Scott Harris confirmed that Detroit was, in fact, interested in Sasaki, and were working on a presentation to sell him on the team.

Scott Harris confirms Tigers will be in on heated Roki Sasaki chase

The Tigers do have the maximum amount of money to spend on international free agents in 2025, but it's important to note that they've committed to signing the No. 4 prospect in the international class, Cris Rodriguez, and he's expected to make more than $3 million as a signing bonus. Still, it's unlikely that any team will be willing to throw the entirety of their bonus money at Sasaki and go without any signing additional international free agents. Besides, if Sasaki really cared about money, he would've waited to be posted.

Rumors have also suggested that Sasaki wants to join a team that's proven its ability to develop young talent, and the Tigers do have the reigning AL Cy Young winner in Tarik Skubal and baseball's No. 1 pitching prospect in Jackson Jobe.

Again, this will be an uphill battle for the Tigers, but the same can be said of all of the teams currently interested in him (read: the entire league). Sasaki's posting opened a 45-day window for signing that ends on Jan. 23 (though he can't sign when the international signing period is closed from Dec. 15 to Jan. 15), and the Tigers have as good a chance as anyone.