The Roki Sasaki sweepstakes is expected to come down to one of the world’s most intense baseball rivalries: the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres. The 23-year-old ace boasts a triple-digit fastball and many swing-and-miss offspeed pitches. His splitter is particularly lethal, with an outstanding whiff rate of around 90 miles per hour.
Every team in the league will be wanting his services, but Bleacher Report’s Zachary Rymer recently predicted he would sign with the San Diego Padres for a $6.3 million signing bonus. “Because he is not yet 25, Sasaki is only an amateur free agent, eligible to what teams can give from their international bonus pools. Rymer noted, “These range from $4.1 million to $7.6 million.” “Every team in the MLB should try to sign Sasaki, but he is likely to join with one that can guarantee success and sponsorship chances. According to Jonathan Mayo of MLB.com, he is expected to sign with either the Dodgers or the Padres.
Both the Padres and the Dodgers have Japanese connections that could help Sasaki choose a franchise. San Diego possesses Yu Darvish, who has previously played with Sasaki. Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto are both based in Los Angeles. In San Diego, Sasaki has a chance to win, but he may also be regarded as the town’s finest Japanese phenomenon.
With the Dodgers, Sasaki would be outperformed on the foreign market by Ohtani and Yamamoto. With the Padres, the attention is primarily on him. Sasaki’s free agency is still wide open. It’s difficult to forecast where he will join because no team has a financial advantage over the others.
Leave a Reply