Rocky Sasaki Named in Lawsuit for Padres Ownership

Rocky Sasaki is already making a splash in Major League Baseball, and he hasn’t even signed with a team yet.

The 23-year-old Japanese phenom pitcher is mentioned Sheel Seidler’s lawsuit against her brother-in-law while she seeks control over San Diego Padres.

Sheel, the widow of late team owner Peter Seidler, claims that Peter’s brothers, Robert and Matthew, breached their fiduciary duty and committed fraud in their roles at the helm of the Padres. She also claimed that Peter wanted her to take control of the team before handing it over to their children.

“A family-centered approach has been a cornerstone of the franchise’s values ​​and fostered a unique sense of authenticity and belonging,” the lawsuit says before turning to Sasaki as an example.

“For example, a recent column in the San Diego Union-Tribune underscored Schill’s key role in successful player recruiting, arguing that Shel Seidler, the former president’s wife, should be part of the Padres team trying to court Rocky Sasaki,” it states. se. .

PEther’s brothers hit back at Shill’s accusations in a statement through the Peter Seidler Trust on Monday, calling her lawsuit “completely without merit.”

“Peter had a clear estate plan,” the statement said. “The plan specifically named three of his nine siblings, with whom he had worked closely for many decades, as heirs to his trust, and Peter himself prohibited Sheila from ever serving as a trustee.”

Rocky Sasaki remains the Padres’ top target

The The Padres are on the list of teams Sasaki has met with as it nears a decision, but the competition remains fierce. John Morosi of MLB Network reported that Sasaki did talked to at least one team beyond the already announced list of Padres, Los Angeles Dodgers, San Francisco Giants, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs and Texas Rangers.

As it stands, the Dodgers are considered the favorite to land him, but don’t count the Padres out. Former MLB GM Jim Bowden suggested that Sasaki he would be in the shadows Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto with the Dodgers and added that he grew up a fan of Masahiro Tanaka and was mentored by Yu Darvish.

“Therefore, if for no other reason, I predict he will sign with either the Yankees or San Diego,” he concluded in an op-ed for the Athletic.

Sasaki’s agent, Joel Wolfe, told The Athletic that there is no timeline yet for the decision.

“We still talk and have Zoom calls,” he said. “So I don’t have a precise time frame for it like we had for the (winter) meetings.” Teams will be notified at some point if there will be additional meetings or travel or anything like that. But other than that, I don’t believe there will be any specific time frame.”