Breaking: Dodgers on Track to Land Coveted…
There’s not much to complain about nowadays for the Los Angeles Dodgers and their fans.
Winning a second World Series in five years will create a pretty positive narrative, and the Dodgers have been happily basking in the afterglow. World Series parades, parties, boastful podcast appearances, anything a team of superstars could want has been on the table.
But the rich could soon get richer. The Dodgers were not only missing three All-Star starting pitchers during the postseason in Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, and Tony Gonsolin, but they might be able to add a new superstar to their rotation for next to nothing.
Roki Sasaki, the 23-year-old Japanese phenom who throws 102 miles per hour with a devastating splitter, will be eligible to sign with any Major League Baseball team in mid-January. And the Dodgers, who already have a pair of Japanese superstars in Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, have been widely tabbed as the early favorites.
Recently, Erik Beaston of Bleacher Report predicted that the odds would hold in the Dodgers’ favor, prognosticating a Sasaki-to-LA signing before the winter is up.
“Adding him to the mix in Los Angeles would give the 2024 World Series champs a decided advantage in defending their crown,” Beaston said of Sasaki. “The Dodgers are a team that typically gets what it wants and if Sasaki is that guy, expect the champs to further bolster their roster.”
“In four seasons, Sasaki compiled a 2.02 ERA while allowing just six hits per nine innings. In his career, he tallied 11.4 strikes per nine innings. That ability to sit opponents down makes him one of the most promising young pitchers in baseball and one of the more intriguing free agent possibilities for contending teams.”
Because Sasaki is under 25, he is only eligible to sign a minor-league contract and is subject to the international signing bonus pool, meaning no team can exceed their designated dollar amount for international free agents (capped at $7.55 million) to convince him to sign with them.
Landing Sasaki could come down to whether the Dodgers are able to convince him that there’s enough spotlight to share between him, Ohtani, and Yoshinobu Yamamoto. Does Sasaki want his own team altogether, or is he comfortable forming a dynamic trio?
