MLB rumors: Padres’ Roki Sasaki pursuit could be impacted by international signing

Major League Baseball’s offseason continues to tick down with spring training camps opening in less than a month. In just a few weeks, pitchers and catchers will report for duty. It won’t be long, then, until the exhibition starts before mercifully giving way to the regular season. (Although the Cubs and Dodgers will technically begin the season with a series in Japan, Opening Day is still being recognized as March 27.) Below, CBS Sports has compiled all of Friday’s most notable news, moves, and rumors for your convenience. 

Padres make signings with possible Sasaki implications

The Padres will sign left-hander and international amateur free agent Carlos Alvarez, according to The Athletic’s Will Sammon. That’s an intriguing development given that the Padres are considered one of the three finalists (alongside the Dodgers and Blue Jays) in the running for Japanese ace Roki Sasaki. 

Each of those teams had, through the first few days of the new international amateur signing period,  kept their powder dry and not finalized any agreements — the Dodgers had even allowed some players they had handshake deals with to sign elsewhere as they waited for Sasaki to make his decision. For the Padres to commit any money to Alvarez could be an indication that they don’t believe they’re winning the Sasaki sweepstakes since it means they’ll have less available funds to offer him. (“Could” should be considered the key word here.) 

Alvarez, 17, was ranked by MLB.com as the 39th best prospect in the class. Per their report: “Alvarez works consistently with his heater in the low 90s, while deftly deploying a biting slider and changeup with significant fade to make up his current arsenal. He has short arm action coming from a bigger frame, but it’s the raw stuff that excites evaluators at this early stage of his development.”