Insane Details on Dodgers’ Winning Pitch to Roki Sasaki Officially Revealed
The Los Angeles Dodgers came out on top of one of the most unique offseason storylines in recent memory.
What made this offseason so peculiar wasn’t the dominance in acquiring big-name talent — the Dodgers are used to doing that. It wasn’t their ability to hit the road and start improving upon a roster mere weeks after they were crowned champions of the North American baseball world — although that in and of itself is impressive.
But it was the name plastered around MLB rumors this offseason, Roki Sasaki, that made this offseason so specy.
Sasaki, the 23-year-old phenom from Japan, presented an unusual free agency. Since he is under 25 and has less than six years of professional baseball experience, he was limited to each team’s international bonus pool.
Sasaki was only able to sign a minor league contract with the restrictive bonus pool as a signing bonus. For most of the pursuit, the Dodgers had a league-low $5.1 million available in their pool.
There was also an ‘unspecified homework assignment‘ presented to interested teams by Sasaki and his agent, Joel Wolfe.
In analyzing the results of his given assignment and rejecting a $10 million signing bonus from the San Diego Padres, Sasaki agreed to wear a Dodger uniform for the foreseeable future.
With the now public homework assignment and details of the Dodgers pitch reported by The Athletic, it is now clear why the phenom took less money to be in L.A.
“Their presentation centered around the city of Los Angeles, which boasts a strong Japanese-American population. It spoke to the organizational continuity that has led to postseason runs in every season since 2013. Stability became a topic they’d continue to hammer in their recruiting efforts, particularly as a contrast to the ongoing legal battle surrounding the rival Padres’ ownership group. More than anything, the Dodgers laid out their development plan and how they hoped to make Sasaki better.”
The Dodgers knew that development was key to Sasaki’s interest in coming to MLB and made sure to touch on it in their meeting, but also knew another one of Sasaki’s interests: Basketball.
It helped that Dodgers’ minority owner Earvin ‘Magic’ Johnson is a five-time NBA champion, three-time league MVP, and currently in the NBA Hall of Fame.
The Athletic also reported that current Dodgers like Freddie Freeman, Mookie Betts, Will Smith, Tommy Edman, and of course, World Baseball Classic teammate Shohei Ohtani were in attendance for Sasaki’s second meeting. Ohtani reportedly was “driving the bus” in the effort to land Sasaki.
Dodger Stadium was not where the secondary meeting took place due to stadium renovations. Instead, it was at the Bel Air home of part-owner Peter Guber, who hired a sushi chef to prepare dinner.
“The chef worked as Sasaki sat on the couch and chatted with his future teammates, who each vouched for what life was like with the reigning World Series champions,” the Athletic wrote.
The Dodgers wanted to emphasize how welcomed Sasaki would be in the clubhouse by making a video “featuring personalized messages from a litany of players — including some new to the franchise — speaking to the franchise’s treatment of their families and their player.”
When all was said and done, Wolfe wanted to inform teams of the updates in the process and text the teams that missed out following the announcement via Sasaki’s instagram.
However, things did not go as planned as moments before the decision was made final, the Dodgers received word on Sasaki via none other than Ohtani.
A text message from Ohtani was sent reading: “We got him.”
Photo Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
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