Latest Roki Sasaki update opens these 3 trade avenues for the Pirates

On Monday, a flurry of reports dropped regarding star international free agent Roki Sasaki. Jeff Passan of ESPN first reported that Sasaki is down to just three remaining finalists in the Blue Jays, Dodgers, and Padres. Helpfully, he also stated that the final teams involved may make a last-minute trade to add more money to their international bonus pool in order to even the playing field.

MLB teams are locked into a certain monetary limit for each international signing period, but they are also able to acquire more through small trades if they haven't hit that upper cap.

The Pirates have a history of doing this, too, which helped them sign underrated pitching prospect Po-Yu Chen. Pittsburgh traded Jarrod Dyson at the 2020 trade deadline for the necessary space. The value of international bonus money to these three finalist teams is much higher than it was in 2020, which is why the Pirates should utilize their current funds to improve their big-league roster. They can take advantage of desperation rather than spending their unassigned money on high-ceiling amateurs.

They could add a semi-productive player to their major leauge roster if they were to deal some of their international money to one of these teams. Pittsburgh has used a good chunk of their space for this cycle by flipping Darrel Morel from the Dodgers, but started with $6,908,600 to play with, tied for MLB's second-highest total. These three possible trades with the Sasaki finalists could come to pass as Pittsburgh looks to maximize their potential avenues.

The Pirates should try to make a trade with the finalists for Roki Sasaki using their international bonus pool space.