Valuable Japanese pitcher Roki Sasaki said in an Instagram post that he intends to sign with the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
Sasaki, a 23-year-old right-hander with a fastball exceeding 100 mph, will join fellow Japanese stars Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in a move long anticipated by many baseball executives.
The San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays are said to be the other finalists still pursuing Sasaki, and Sasaki has until next Thursday to finalize his contract.
Sasaki posted in Japanese, “I have recently signed a minor league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers.It was a very difficult decision, but looking back now, I feel it was the right one and I will do my best.” Life as a baseball player. At the press conference for joining the team, I would like to wear a Dodgers uniform to express my gratitude to everyone who has supported me. ”
Los Angeles has up to $5,146,200 available in its international signing bonus pool, but the Dodgers could increase that amount by up to 60% with a trade within the next week.
The Dodgers plan to use a six-man rotation to ease Sasaki’s transition to the major leagues as they seek to become the first team to win consecutive championships since the New York Yankees from 1998 to 2000.
Under a posting agreement between the Japan Baseball Organization and MLB, Sasaki was made available to an MLB team by the Chiba Lotte Marines of Japan’s Pacific League for a 45-day window. Because Sasaki is under 25 years old and has less than six years in the NPB, he is considered an international amateur by MLB and is limited to minor league contracts subject to the contract pool.
The Marines will receive 25% of Sasaki’s contract fee as a contract termination fee.
In a press conference at last month’s winter meetings, Sasaki’s agent, Joel Wolfe, denied that an agreement with the Dodgers had already been signed. Wolf said MLB investigated.
“There was a lot of discussion in the media, the league and the NPB about Loki’s situation,” Wolf said. “There have been some accusations and allegations regarding pre-arranged trades and things like that, all of which were false. But, of course, MLB has made sure that this is a fair and level playing field for everyone. We wanted to make sure that was the case, so we did our due diligence and interviewed a lot of people beforehand to make sure that was the case.”
Sasaki appeared in 18 games last year in a season limited by shoulder inflammation, posting a 10-5 record and a 2.35 ERA, striking out 129 batters in 111 innings. Although he suffered an oblique injury in 2023, he started 15 games and posted a record of 7 wins, 4 losses, and an ERA of 1.78. He has a career record of 29-15 with a 2.10 ERA in four seasons with the Marines, and pitched a perfect game against Orix in April 2022.
The Dodgers’ first spring training will be held in Glendale, Ariz., on February 11th, before their opening two games against the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo on March 18th and 19th.
Source link
