The Los Angeles Dodgers have formally met with Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki, turning into the sixth workforce publicly identified to have had a proper assembly with the 23-year-old pitcher.
President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has publicly stated signing Sasaki is a big precedence for the Dodgers this winter.
“He’s somebody that, clearly, is a significant precedence for us,” Friedman instructed Dodgers Nation on the Winter Conferences. “We’re going to do no matter we will and know that there are a variety of different groups which might be going to do the very same factor.”
Sasaki has additionally met with the New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants, New York Mets, and Texas Rangers. Nonetheless, most groups have reportedly entered the assembly with the understanding that the Dodgers stay the favorites.
In contrast to the massive cash contracts the Dodgers gave to beginning pitcher Blake Snell and outfielder Teoscar Hernández, Sasaki comes at a less expensive worth. Sasaki will be part of stateside baseball as a global beginner free agent, that means groups can solely provide him cash from their worldwide bonus pool.
Sasaki is predicted to signal within the subsequent worldwide signing interval which opens on Jan. 15, the place the Dodgers will probably be amongst groups which have the least sum of money of their bonus pool with roughly $5 million. Nonetheless, cash doesn’t appear to be the precedence for Sasaki since he’s becoming a member of MLB earlier than he’s age eligible to signal a large contract.
“There are not any absolutes in baseball. And thru Roki’s eyes, there are not any absolutes in life. … he doesn’t take something with no consideration,” Joel Wolfe, Sasaki’s agent, stated on the Winter Conferences.
“The opposite factor is, it’s all the time been his dream to come back to the most important leagues since he was in highschool. He’s grown up idolizing gamers like Yu Darvish and Tanaka and Matsuzaka. That is one thing he’s all the time wished to do,” Wolfe added.
There may be hypothesis the Padres might additionally snag Sasaki due to a the star’s connection to veteran pitcher Yu Darvish. Nonetheless, the World Sequence champion Dodgers stay the favorites to signal Sasaki.
Sasaki is poised to be top-of-the-line pitchers to come back from Japan. He grew to become the youngest pitcher to throw an ideal recreation in Nippon Skilled Baseball in 2022. He additionally tied Shohei Ohtani for the quickest pitch recorded in NPB historical past at 102.5 mph.
In 4 NPB seasons, Sasaki posted a 29-15 report with a 2.10 ERA and 11.5 strikeouts per 9 innings. Final season, he handled some harm points however went 10-5 with a 2.35 ERA.
Picture Credit score: Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports activities
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