Inside The Dodgers

Could the Dodgers Land Another Japanese Star This Coming Offseason?

Maren Angus-Coombs

Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports
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One of the baseball world’s brightest stars is reportedly heading for Major League Baseball and the Los Angeles Dodgers have money to spend.

MLB executives are planning for Japanese pitching sensation Roki Sasaki to be posted this offseason, according to Chelsea Janes of the Washington Post.  Janes adds that neither Sasaki nor his team, the Chiba Lotte Marines of the Nippon Professional Baseball league, have confirmed that to be the case — nor are they likely to anytime soon.

The 22-year-old is considered to be the best pitcher in the world, possibly on any continent, and he hasn’t thrown a pitch for an MLB club. The Marines, Sasaki’s NBP team, did not make the pitcher available for an interview for the Washington Post. If they had, he would have probably said that he’s eager to make his way to North America.

“He asks me about [the big leagues] every day,” said his Chiba Lotte teammate Gregory Polanco, who played eight seasons for the Pittsburgh Pirates. “I go in there, and he’s joking around: ‘I’m going to this [MLB] team, I’m going to that [MLB] team!’ He’s so ready to go.”

USA Today baseball writer Bob Nightengale wrote about Sasaki in late March, predicting that the Dodgers would make a run at signing him. He also quoted an anonymous general manager who agreed.

“Every team in baseball wants this guy,” the GM said, “but there’s no way he’s going anywhere else but the Dodgers. We all know it.”

The Dodgers have nine players becoming free agents at the end of the season and Sasaki won’t be making Yoshinobu Yamamoto-type money because he doesn’t have the years of experience of his resumé. He could sign for a bargain price because he has yet to reach six years of professional service. That means he is subject to MLB’s international amateur signing bonus pools.

Shohei Ohtani was under similar restrictions when he signed with the Los Angeles Angels in 2017. He received a $2.315 million signing bonus.

Regardless of what happens with Sasaki, the Dodgers have their eyes on him and will make a competitive offer when the time comes.

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Maren Angus-Coombs
MAREN ANGUS-COOMBS

Maren Angus-Coombs was born in Los Angeles and raised in Nashville, Tenn. She is a graduate of Middle Tennessee State and has been a sports writer since 2008. Despite growing up in the South, her sports obsession has always been in Los Angeles. She is currently a staff writer at the LA Sports Report Network.

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