West Coast Welcomes Sasaki: Japanese Superstar Expected to Thrive with Padres

The arrival of Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki to Major League Baseball has been one of the most popular storylines of the offseason. While Sasaki still needs to make a decision, MLB executives believes the San Diego Padres and Los Angeles Dodgers have by far the best chance to sign the pitcher.

MLB.com’s Jonathan Mayo wrote a story in which executives shared their opinions in a questionnaire that asked where Sasaki was most likely to land.

“As part of the questionnaire, executives were asked who they thought was the favorite to sign Sasaki,” Mayo wrote. “It should be noted that many of the responses came before the (agent Joel) Wolfe media session, but two teams received nearly all of the votes: Dodgers (11), Padres (7).

“The Dodgers have a track record of spending big for elite talent, and they presumably would be able to do so to offer Sasaki an extension if his pitching translates to MLB as most expect it will. They’ve also been able to get the most out of pitchers, and there is the fact that Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto would welcome Sasaki with open arms.”

The Dodgers were considered the favorites for several weeks, but recently it seems the tide has changed. Padres manager Mike Shildt has publicly expressed the team is quite optimistic about emerging as winners in the Sasaki sweepstakes.

“We should be very legitimate contenders,” Shildt said on MLB Network Radio during the Winter Meetings. “We fully expect to be right in the mix and actually, at the end of the day, have Sasaki a Padre. We’ve got a lot of inroads to get to Sasaki. I know we’re gonna put the full-court press to make it happen and we’re very optimistic.”

Padres veteran pitcher Yu Darvish has a strong connection to Sasaki, which could certainly aid the organization in its efforts to sign the 23-year-old. Another advantage San Diego has over the Dodgers is the amount of money in their bonus pool in the 2025 international signing period, when Sasaki is projected to sign.

Sasaki is being coined as the biggest bargain in baseball. While the Padres are a talented team, the organization is hoping to shed its payroll this winter. Adding Sasaki would be huge for a San Diego rotation that will be short one of its aces next season in Joe Musgrove. Additionally, preventing Sasaki from joining the Dodgers would be an even bigger bonus for San Diego.