Japanese Star Roki Sasaki Plans to Sign With Dodgers After Season: Report
By committing more than a billion dollars in future salaries to free agents, the Dodgers would appear set for years to come. However, they might not be done adding to their collection of talent.
According to USA Today’s Bob Nightengale, one MLB general manager thinks the Dodgers will add yet another Japanese sensation to their team: 22-year-old pitcher Roki Sasaki.
Just when you think the Dodgers can’t possibly sign any more stars, several GMs believe that Roki Sasaki, 22, one of the best pitchers in the world, already has plans to sign with the Dodgers after the season.
“Every team in baseball wants this guy,” one GM told USA TODAY Sports, “but there’s no way he’s going anywhere else but the Dodgers. We all know it.”
— via USA Today’s Bob Nightengale
Sasaki is a menace on the hill. Last season, he became the youngest pitcher in the history of Japanese baseball to throw a perfect game. He also holds a 1.90 career ERA with 395 strikeouts in 303.2 innings for the Lotte Marines in Japan’s Pacific League. Sasaki says he wants to be in the big leagues next year, and the Dodgers are among the favorites to sign the young right-hander ace if he becomes available.
The Dodgers’ roster is already unfair. It would look unbeatable — on paper, at least — if they added another international superstar to this team. Sasaki is trying his best to play in the big leagues despite not being 25 years old, having not reached six years of service in a foreign major league, and being subject to MLB’s international amateur signing bonus pools.
The Dodgers have more than $68 million in free agent salaries coming off the books after this season between Teoscar Hernandez, Walker Buehler, Jason Heyward, James Paxton, Joe Kelly, Ryan Yarbrough, Kiké Hernandez, Daniel Hudson and Blake Treinen.
Sasaki can’t earn Yoshinobu Yamamoto money (the Dodgers signed him to a record 12-year, $325 million contract in December) because he doesn’t have the requisite amount of experience playing professionally in Japan. He is subject to the same restrictions on international amateurs that Shohei Ohtani was subject to when he signed with the Angels in Dec. 2017. Ohtani’s signing bonus cost the Angels less than $3 million at the time.
Still, if that doesn’t create enough room to slide Sasaki into the team’s internal budget, the Dodgers can always free up more salary via trades. They can also suppress their short-term payouts to free agents via their preferred method of late: salary deferrals.
Photo Credit: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
Have you subscribed to our YouTube channel? Subscribe and hit that notification bell to stay up to date on all the latest Dodgers news, rumors, interviews, livestreams, and more!
