Tigers' dream scenario of acquiring Roki Sasaki is dead and front office must wake up

It remains unknown where Roki Sasaki will play in his first MLB season this year, but we do know that it won't be in Detroit. The Tigers have been informed that they are out of the running to sign the Japanese pitching phenom, according to a report from Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press.

At this point, this should come as a surprise to no one. But, hey, they tried.

The Tigers were one of the 20 teams to submit information to Sasaki's camp after the 23-year-old was posted by the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan's Nippon Professional Baseball on Dec. 10. Sasaki met with at least eight teams – the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres, Toronto Blue Jays, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, Texas Rangers and San Francisco Giants – before trimming his list down to three finalists (Dodgers, Padres and Blue Jays).

The international signing period opens Wednesday and lasts until Jan. 23, but it's unlikely that we will have to wait long to learn where Sasaki will be playing in 2025. Give credit where it's due to the Tigers for actually throwing their hat in the ring on this one, but it was always going to be a dead heat between the Dodgers and Padres. (Frankly, it's surprising that the Blue Jays even made the final cut.)

Tigers' dream scenario of acquiring Roki Sasaki is dead and front office must wake up

As one of eight teams with the highest international bonus pool at just over $7.5 million, Detroit had a non-zero chance of signing Sasaki, but we could have predicted this outcome a while ago. Now that it's official, the Tigers do not – and should not – need to wait to make their next offseason move.

Whether it's making a big splash in free agency to acquire a bat (Alex Bregman or Anthony Santander, perhaps?) or mixing things up on the trade market, the Tigers need to get going before time runs out. The pair of free agent signings they have already made this offseason – pitcher Alex Cobb and infielder Gleyber Torres, each for one year at $15 million – aren't going to be enough to move the needle for a team that is serious about taking the next step toward contending for a World Series. Perhaps they were holding out hope for a star-on-a-budget-type acquisition in Sasaki, but that longshot is far in the rearview. It's time to return to reality.

There's still time for the Tigers to make another move or two, but that time is growing short. Sasaki is no longer on the table, so Scott Harris and company need to wake up and start turning their attention toward Plan B, whatever that may be.

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