Posted on 01/17/2025 3:39:06 PM PST by chrisinoc
Roki Sasaki, the prized Japanese pitching prospect who has had scouts drooling over his potential since high school, has chosen the Los Angeles Dodgers as his major league team, he announced on Instagram on Friday.
Sasaki called this "a very difficult decision, but I will do my best to make it the right decision when I look back after my baseball career."
The Dodgers, long viewed as the favorites for Sasaki, had recently emerged as one of three finalists for the 23-year-old right-hander, along with the Toronto Blue Jays and San Diego Padres. On Friday morning, the Padres began agreeing to deals with their prospective international signees in the Dominican Republic, a clear sign throughout the industry that they were out on Sasaki. The Blue Jays thusly acquired $2 million in international-bonus-pool space -- along with center fielder Myles Straw -- from the Cleveland Guardians in hopes of enticing Sasaki further.
(Excerpt) Read more at espn.com ...
All your baseball players are belong to us.
I thought Ohtani was going to pitch this year. In any case, they’ll be quite a pair.
Oooops, I forgot about pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto, too. LOL
The Dodgers will be going to a six-man rotation next year.
For sure starters barring injuries: Ohtani, Yamamoto, Sasaki, Snell, and Glasnow.
Contenders for sixth position: Kershaw, Knack, Gonsolin, May, and Miller.
Considering the entire 2024 starting rotation spent significant time on the injured list, they may need all of the above.
‘Los’ Dodgers seem to have the inside track in Japan and it seems to work.
-fJRoberts-
With more and more MLB pitchers going as hard as they can for as long as they can injuries and stamina are becoming a larger issue each year forcing GM’s to cultivate more pitchers and be more creative with the 40 man roster and minor leagues call ups. Having another young arm will be helpful.
Although starting pitchers are becoming less important every year, dwindling down to three of them as the Dodgers did in October won’t do—even though their bullpen did shoulder the load.
They still have just three, even with Sasaki! He joins Snell and Yamamoto. They let Buehler go and have not resigned Flaherty. They await the return of several pitchers from injury: Kershaw, Ohtani, Glasnow, Gonsolin, May, Miller....
No, it is not used as a slur against anyone in any way in my post. You have no right to ask for that.
There are better entertainment options. (When and how will the establishment in LA steal the land?). But to each their own.
Kunichiwa, Sasaki-san!
CC
I’m thinking the Dodgers are getting so big that it’ll have to be split due to anti-trust laws. 😁
The Seattle Mariners, who once had the former Nintendo owner as a majority owner, who have a pitcher’s ball park, who once had many Japanese ball players among which was Ichiro and Kaz Sasaki, and who once were a huge draw on week end Japanese TV, were never in the running.
They no longer have “face” in Japan due to poor owner management.
“I’m thinking the Dodgers are getting so big that it’ll have to be split due to anti-trust laws”
Eventually MLB will put a stop to or limit the Dodgers’ deferred contracts. I’m the biggest Dodger fan but it could get dangerous for Dodgers, and MLB as a whole.
As if anyone not living in Southern California cares one bit about a major league team that just buys titles.....And the Dodgers used to have a good farm system too.
Now..it’s all money and nobody cares anymore. You think these care about the fans? Just ask Sonny :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WkP_S5gmmg
I think this was a good decision for him. I am surprised he picked the Dodgers, but think he will be more happy here. Now there are not many places to rent in Los Angeles, CA at the moment, with the money he will make -> I could tell him some property owners of apartments and skyscrapers he could rent first. I would then suggest, after 1-2 years, he could buy an empty burned out lot and build his dream home. Hope he is really good.
“With more and more MLB pitchers going as hard as they can for as long as they can injuries and stamina are becoming a larger issue each year
Hardly. How many complete games are there now? They never had pitch counts; the starter went until he ran out of gas. Now you’re getting six innings at most. It used to be four-man rotations, now there’s talk of six. There are hardly any 20 game winners now, let alone 25.
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