On the first day of October, two Dodgers the executives were on the other side of the world.
Shortly after the end of the regular season, the president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and vice president of player personnel Galen Carr were in Japan on a scouting trip.
The center of their attention: the phenomenal pitcher Roki Sasaki.
For several years, the Dodgers front office has adored Sasaki, seduced by a dazzling repertoire headlined by a triple-digit fastball. The only question was when the right-hander would cross the Pacific.
Late Friday night, they finally got their answer.
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The Chiba Lotte Marines, Sasaki’s team in Japan’s professional baseball league, announced they would recruit the 23-year-old star for Major League Baseball teams to sign him this winter.
“From the moment he joined the organization, he told us his dream of playing in America,” Chiba Lotte general manager Naoki Matsumoto said in Japanese in a statement. “Taking into account all of the last five years, we decided to prioritize his thoughts. We hope he will do his best as Japan’s representative. We encourage it.
In Los Angeles, the Dodgers offseason became much more interesting.
Although Sasaki doesn’t have the credentials of other top free agent pitchers, he is considered to have tremendous potential and, thanks to MLB’s rules regarding international free agents, he will be able to be signed at a fraction of the cost.
If Sasaki had waited two more years, he would have been free to sign like a normal free agent. Last winter, Yoshinobu Yamamoto I have a file $325 million contract from the Dodgers coming from Japan. Sasaki could have been positioned to compete with him.
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But with Sasaki being assigned under 25, he will be limited to a minor league contract with a modest signing bonus; similar to when Shohei Ohtanithen also 23, signed with the Angels before the 2018 season for just $2.3 million.
Just like Ohtani, Sasaki will be under club control regardless of which team he signs with for six seasons, just like any other rookie.
This makes Sasaki a dream target for the Dodgers; a talented, young and cost-controlled branch to strengthen – or even considerably improve – their starting rotation.
Over the past few seasons, the Dodgers have devoted considerable scouting effort to evaluating Sasaki’s development. Last winter, the team hoped he would be assigned. But after a long saga with his Japanese team, Sasaki ended up staying.
He had one of his most complete seasons, winning a career-high 10 games with a 2.35 ERA. And one of his best starts came on the day Friedman was there: a one-run, 10-strikeout complete game.
“Good start,” is all Friedman was willing to reveal a few days later.
Now that Sasaki’s team will begin the release process – his maximum singing bonus would apparently depend on whether he is classified in the 2024 or 2025 international signing class, but would not be much more than Ohtani’s – he should become l One of the Dodgers’ top offseason targets.
The team already has two Japanese stars, Ohtani and Yamamoto, who have resisted the notion that Japanese big leaguers prefer not to play on the same team. And the Dodgers would give Sasaki the chance to instantly compete for a World Series title, entering 2025 as the defending champions and favorites to repeat — especially if they could bolster their starting pitching.
“Obviously we can never have enough pitchers, as we’ve learned,” general manager Brandon Gomes said Wednesday, after the Dodgers won the title despite having one of the most injured pitchers. “So pitching will be a priority.”
Gomes declined to discuss Sasaki during his media scrum at the general manager’s meetings in San Antonio since the pitcher had not yet been released. But Sasaki’s potential speaks for itself.
Although he had some durability issues in Japan, pitching over 100 innings in just two of his four seasons, he had a 2.10 ERA with an average of 11.4 strikeouts per nine innings.
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“From the time I joined the organization until today, I have nothing but gratitude for how they have continually lent their ear to me regarding my future challenge in MLB and have now given me the permission to be assigned,” Sasaki said in Japanese in a statement.
“In my five years with the Marines, there have been many games that have not gone well, but I have been supported at all times by my teammates, staff, front office and fans, and I was able to reach this point by focusing solely on baseball. To have no regrets in my one and only baseball career, and to be able to live up to the expectations of those who pushed me behind my back. my best to come out of a minor league contract to become the No. 1 Player in the world.
I repeat: his goal is to become the best player in the world.
There will be a long line of teams trying to woo Sasaki. As with Ohtani, his inexpensive and highly touted skillset will lead to all kinds of potential suitors. But there has been a lot of speculation in the industry that the Dodgers are the favorite to sign him.
They got Ohtani. They got Yamamoto. And they’ve been watching Sasaki for several years, waiting for the moment when he might be next.
Columnist Dylan Hernández contributed to this report.
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This story was originally published in Los Angeles Times.
