Did Orioles have a chance to sign Sasaki? | MAILBAG

Question: Do you have any idea if the Orioles had at least a conversation with Roki Sasaki? Or did the team rule itself out from the beginning? From: Michael Janofsky 

Answer: Michael, a similar question was asked by Mike Berney. We haven’t had the chance to ask Mike Elias about this yet, and I’m sure this will come up next week during the Orioles’ Caravan.

There were reportedly 20 teams that made pitches for Sasaki, and I would be surprised if the Orioles weren’t one of them.

We saw no report that the Orioles were one of a smaller number of teams invited for meetings. Those teams seemed to have all been major market teams, and I’m including Toronto because it’s the only team in Canada.

Theoretically, the Orioles had as good a chance as any team to sign Sasaki, and all along, the Dodgers were considered the favorite because of their history with Japanese players.

Money wasn’t a consideration because most teams had about the same amount to spend on international signees. Baltimore has few Japanese residents and a limited history with Japanese players. The recently signed Tomoyuki Sugano said he didn’t know Sasaki.

Question: Have the Orioles discussed how they plan to deliver games in the future?  MASN seems to be outdated and everyone gets upset, including me, when you can’t see the game on MASN and have to pay to watch it on Peacock or Apple TV+. From: Daniel Forte

Answer: Daniel, I’ve heard talk for a few years that MASN was preparing to market a direct-to-consumer streaming product so that fans could see Orioles and Nationals games without a cable subscription, but there’s been no recent news about it.

While most Orioles fans don’t have any interest in the Nationals, MASN still must make sure that fans of both teams have equal opportunity to see both teams.

It’s expensive to be a sports fan these days, to attend games and watch them. Streaming will only become more pervasive because more consumers have gone away from cable, and the NFL and NBA have new agreements with Netflix and Amazon Prime. MLB has agreements with Roku and Apple TV+. Last year, the Orioles streamed their games on FobuTV.

MLB is preparing to market its own direct-to-consumer streaming service, but because so many teams’ cable agreements have differing expiration dates, it’s still a few years away.

Most weekdays, I’ll be answering at least one Orioles question. If you’d like to submit a question, send it to: Rich@BaltimoreBaseball.com. Questions may be edited for clarity, length and style.