You'll never believe the latest Yankees Roki Sasaki update (yes you will)

The New York Yankees have set aside a swath of their international bonus pool money in pursuit of star Japanese right-hander Roki Sasaki, a once-in-a-generation overseas pitching prospect (unless you count Yoshinobu Yamamoto, in which case ... huh).

Yamamoto waited to declare free agency until the year that allowed him to maximize his earnings; after weighing lucrative offers from the Yankees, Mets and Dodgers, he opted to partner with Shohei Ohtani in Los Angeles, gleefully rolling around in a field of deferrals. Sasaki, on the other hand, reached the open market as an amateur, meaning that money is no object in this particular pursuit.

The teams interested in Sasaki -- including the Yankees -- have limited funds they're able to use. That places the onus on the bidding teams' pitching development infrastructure, history of success, and current competitive window. No market is too big or small, according to Sasaki's representation. Twenty teams submitted initial bids and pitch decks (which should've been all 30), and a select few -- including the Yankees -- got whittled down into the final group of in-person meetings.

After that get-together, the contending teams were sent home with a homework assignment from Sasaki, who'll weigh his options and consider an additional round of meetings. And, as Jack Curry noted in a bombshell segment on Thursday's YES Hot Stove show, the Yankees ... felt "satisfied" by their performance, and Sasaki will probably go to either the Dodgers or Padres, the two teams that have been thought to lead the bidding all along. Alright, well, then, great!

BREAKING: Yankees probably losing Roki Sasaki to Dodgers, Padres. Wow. Whoa. #Whoa

Kudos to Sasaki for entering the process with an open mind. He didn't want to be tied down by monetary concerns. He just wanted to learn. This wasn't a financially motivated process. Instead, he just wanted the opportunity to disappoint the largest number of teams possible before choosing between the Dodgers and Padres.

According to those who know Sasaki, he has no inherent preference, beyond the Dodgers and Padres. Every other MLB team had a perfectly fair chance to sell themselves as a destination. And, after those presentations were finished, Sasaki was able to take them back to the Dodgers and Padres and demand they be beaten.

When final word drops on Sasaki's choice, the Yankees will be waiting with bated breath to see who he chooses between the Dodgers and Padres. The only thing certain about the finish line, as of now, is that the Yankees will remain satisfied with their efforts, rather than spending too long dwelling on a Powerpoint presentation in their digital trash cans.

At the very least, they laid some groundwork for next offseason, when slugging first baseman Munetaka Murakami will have a difficult decision to make: how much of the Yankees' time should he waste before heading to an NL powerhouse, likely on the west coast?