DALLAS — Roki Sasaki was on his way to the United States on Tuesday as his agent laid out a timeline for the Japanese sensation to sign with a major league club.

Joel Wolfe expects to meet with his client, the 23-year-old right-hander who is among the most sought-after free agents of the winter, in the coming days and begin hosting representatives of MLB clubs as soon as next week.

What will follow for Sasaki is a return to Japan for the holidays and then a second round of meetings in the United States, with a narrowed-down list of suitors.

That could well mean Sasaki visits San Diego in early January, as it is expected he will sign sometime between Jan. 15 and Jan. 23.

“The incentive to sign as early as possible is to get the visa process going, so he would be on time for spring training,” Wolfe said. “The earlier we make a decision, the better.”

The Padres are thought to be one of the favorites to land Sasaki. The Dodgers have long been considered a leading contender as well.

But the fact that Sasaki is considered an international free agent and is, thus, limited in how much he can receive as a signing bonus ostensibly means every team is in the running.

Sasaki officially posted Tuesday and could sign anytime in the next 45 days. But Wolfe acknowledged it is a virtual certainty the start of the 2025 signing period for international free agents, which is Jan. 15, is the earliest his client will sign.

That will allow all teams to woo Sasaki with their full international bonus pool allotment, which range from $7.55 million down to $5.15 million. The Padres are at $6.26 million. Teams can also make trades to add up to 50 percent of their initial allotment.

“Given the gap in the bonus pool amounts is so negligible,” Wolfe said, “my advice to him is don’t make a decision based on that, because the long-term arc of your career is where you’re going to earn your money.”

Wolfe stressed he is “not entirely sure yet … what (Sasaki’s) decision making process would be for choosing a team.” But the agent did offer some insight, some of which could be interpreted as potentially benefiting the Padres.

Primarily, Sasaki’s friendship with and the widely reported respect he has for Yu Darvish could help point Sasaki to San Diego.

“I would assume (the Padres) would be a team that he would seriously consider,” said Wolfe, who also represents Darvish. “But his relationship with Darvish is private between the two of them. How much that will weigh on his decision-making, we’ll have to find out.”

The Padres have expressed confidence in their eventual pitch to Sasaki, though a chance meeting between A.J. Preller and Wolfe in the lobby of the Hilton Anatole here Tuesday was the first known contact between the sides since Saski posted.

“Focus on our organization, the environment, the culture,” Preller, the Padres president of baseball operations, said regarding what the team will present to Sasaki. “Obviously, get into trying to show him a lot of the resources we have. We have a great team, a tremendous ballpark, a tremendous city.”

Wolfe referred to a difficult couple years Sasaki has endured dealing with the media in Japan, which he said unfairly attacked him for his stated desire to depart for MLB sooner than most players do.

“I think that there’s an argument to be made that a smaller, mid-market team might be more beneficial for him as a soft landing coming from Japan, given what he’s been through and not having an enjoyable experience with the media,” Wolfe said. “It might be. I’m not saying it will be. I don’t know how he’s going to view it, but it might be beneficial for him to be in a smaller market. I really don’t know how he looks at it yet because I haven’t had a chance to really sit down and discuss it with him in great detail.”

Never stop looking

The Padres have Darvish, Dylan Cease and Michael King atop their rotation. They have Randy Vásquez and Matt Waldron as experienced starters.

And Preller continues to talk about how they could find their next King or Seth Lugo, two relievers who transitioned to starting pitchers under pitching coach Ruben Niebla the past two seasons.

The leading in-house candidate would seem to be left-hander Adrián Morejón, who began the 2021 season as a starter before undergoing Tommy John surgery and has worked out of the bullpen since returning. Other possibilities are Bryan Hoeing and Jhony Brito, both of whom have started in the major leagues before.

“It’s something we’ll talk a little bit more about in the next couple weeks and see how the whole roster plays out,” Preller said Tuesday. “I think we’ll have a little better sense of which path for Adrián specifically and, honestly, a couple guys in the pen we think have a chance to extend out.”

The possibility of bolstering the rotation from within is attractive for its cost-effectiveness.

The Padres are also open to trading Cease, which could help them fill needs at other positions. And since Japanese pitchers generally start every six days (rather than the five-day cycle typical in MLB) the Padres could use an extra starter early in the season even if they sign Sasaki.

Looking like X

Preller said last month that he wants to let Xander Bogaerts know where he will be playing earlier in 2025 than the team did last season, when they told him at the start of spring training they wanted to switch him from shortstop to second base.

Indications have been that Bogaerts will play shortstop this season, which is where he played his first 10 seasons and where he finished ‘24 when Ha-Seong Kim was shut down with a shoulder injury.

Manager Mike Shildt stopped short of confirming that will happen.

“Bogey did a great job towards the end of the season,” Shildt said here at the winter meetings. “We’re still having conversations with him. A.J. has a job to do during this offseason to figure out our roster. It will be a little early to name that shortstop at the moment. Clearly, Bogey is a definite candidate for that.”

Draft order set

The Padres will pick 25th in this summer’s amateur draft. The Washington Nationals won the draft lottery, and will pick first despite having just a 10.2% chance of getting the top spot.

The draft will take place July 13-15 in Atlanta as part All-Star Week.