NEW YORK – The Baltimore Orioles left about $2.1 million of their international signing bonus allocation unused in 2024 and the Los Angeles Dodgers left about $1.9 million in one year. There was speculation that Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki would be available.

Major League Baseball’s international amateur signing period runs from January 15th to December 15th, and Sasaki was not announced until December 8th. The 2025 signing period begins on January 15th and the 45-day window to complete a deal with the touted 23-year-old. The year-old’s contract runs until January 23, meaning he will sign within the 2025 window.

Bonus pools for 2025 range from $7,555,500 for eight teams to $5,146,200 for the Dodgers and San Francisco Giants. The Dodgers are among the many teams interested in Sasaki.

“He’s someone who’s obviously a top priority for us and we’re going to do what we can and know that there are a lot of other teams that will do exactly the same thing,” said Andrew Friedman, president of baseball operations Dodgers said during the winter meetings last week.

San Diego, which has a pool of $6,261,600 next year, is considered the favorite for Sasaki alongside the Dodgers. The pitcher’s agent, Joel Wolfe, said he expects Sasaki to “seriously consider” San Diego, where Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish is on the roster and Hideo Nomo is a special advisor.

“I feel like the organization is in a really good place with Sasaki,” Padres manager Mike Shildt said at the winter meetings. “If there is competition in the open market, I think we are in a good position for a variety of reasons. First, we are in San Diego. Our stadium is sold out every evening. We have a very competitive ballclub.” “It’s a chance for him to create a legacy for himself and help win the first World Series.”

Teams typically spend their international signing bonus allocations on Latin American players.

Other teams that didn’t spend more than $500,000 this year, according to final figures, included San Francisco ($767,500), Boston ($740,000), Colorado ($647,800) and the Chicago White Sox ($640,000).

Atlanta, the New York Yankees and Texas spent exactly their quota. Teams are not allowed to go over it.

Fourteen teams had less than $100,000 unspent.

Players born between September 1, 2006 and August 31, 2007 were eligible to sign from January 15 to December 15, and signing bonuses of $10,000 and less did not count toward a team’s allotment.