The Sasaki Derby: Dodgers, Padres Neck and Neck in MLB Exec Predictions for Rōki Sasaki’s Next Move

MLB free agency this offseason has been headlined by Juan Soto and small group of elite starting pitchers available, which was a group that recently added Roki Sasaki.

The Japanese phenom was officially posted during the MLB Winter Meetings in Dallas, and his jump from Nippon Professional Baseball at just 23 years old has front offices across the sport preparing respective pitches.

Reports of a handshake agreement between Sasaki and the Los Angeles Dodgers, or that they are the clear favorite, have been rampant but continuously dispelled by agent Joel Wolfe.

Nevertheless, the Dodgers and San Diego Padres both garnered the majority votes in a survey asking which team would sign Sasaki, per Jonathan May of MLBPipeline.com.

As part of the questionnaire, executives were asked who they thought was the favorite to sign Sasaki. It should be noted that many of the responses came before the Wolfe media session, but two teams received nearly all of the votes.

Dodgers: 11

Padres: 7

The Giants and Rangers each received one vote.

While speaking during this year’s Winter Meetings, Wolfe assured all teams would receive equal consideration from Sasaki and his advice to the right-hander would be not to base his signing decision on bonus pool total.

Thus, the likes of the Colorado Rockies and Minnesota Twins have been among the reported teams preparing presentations for Sasaki.

The Padres and Dodgers have long been considered heavy favorites for Sasaki, both because of their locale and respective connections through Yu Darvish, Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.

President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman identified the right-hander as a “major priority” for the Dodgers. Friedman added the organization believes Sasaki has the potential to be the “best pitcher in the world.”

Roki Sasaki posted: key dates

Dec. 10, 2024: Sasaki is officially posted

Dec. 15, 2024: End of 2024 international signing period

Dec. 16, 2024-Jan. 14, 2025: International signing period freeze goes into place and teams must pause until the start of the 2025 period. Negotiations are permitted during this time, however.

Jan. 23, 2025: Final day Sasaki can sign with an MLB team before his 45-day window closes.