Top Japanese League right-hander Roki Sasaki has said he will sign with the Los Angeles Dodgers. … [+] (Photo by Eric Espada/Getty Images)
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The World Series-winning Los Angeles Dodgers made another giant splash in the free agent market Friday, when right-hander Roki Sasaki posted on Instagram that he planned to sign with them.
The rich just got richer, and the irony is that it will cost the Dodgers a drop in the bucket compared to the $700 million they committed to fellow Japanese League star Shohei Ohtani last winter.
A case could be made that Sasaki was the most valuable pitcher on the winter market — more so than even new Dodgers’ left-hander Blake Snell, new Arizona right-hander Corbin Burnes and new Boston left-hander Max Fried — because of the unique circumstances of his departure from the Nippon Professional Baseball league.
Sasaki, 24, is equipped for success. Not only does he feature a 100 mph fastball and a good feel for his craft, according to the scouts who saw him with the Chiba Lotte Marines, but his age makes him a true bargain in a game of ever-escalating salaries, making value a premium.
Because Chiba Lotte posted Sasaki before he turned 25, major league baseball considers him an international free agent, which comes with its own set of rules. The Dodgers will have control of Sasaki for six seasons, the same as any other player chosen in the summer Rule 4 draft. He also is subject to the same pay scale that tamps down value on young stars.
Sasaki’s Earnings Will Be Capped Early
Sasaki is to receive a $6.5 signing million signing bonus, according to The Athletic, and is expected to play for the major league minimum salary in 2025. The minimum was $740,000 last season and is expected to inch up to $760,000 this year. He will be eligible for arbitration in his fourth, fifth and sixth seasons, which will dramatically bump his salary, and could become a free agent in Year 7.
Roki Sasaki and Masataka Yoshida celebrate Japan’s victory over the U.S. in the 2023 World Baseball … [+] Classic. (Photo by Alex Trautwig/Getty Images)
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Sasaki combines his triple-digit fastball with an off-speed repertoire that includes a split-finger pitch, and agent Joel Wolfe told reporters in late December that Sasaki’s success in the World Baseball Classic while teaming with Ohtani and another new Dodger teammate, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, was a motivating factor in his decision to come to the U.S. early.
“Being around (Yu) Darvish, being around Ohtani, and then seeing (Shota) Imanaga come over and dominate at such a level in the first half, I believe he realized … in order to take it to the next level, he had to come here,” Wolfe said.
“(To) play against the best players in the world every day and tap into all the resources that major league teams have … to help him become one of the best pitchers to ever not just come out of NPB, but to be one of the best pitchers in major league baseball.”
Sasaki Uses Shohei Ohtani As a Model
Sasaki is following the same path as Ohtani, who joined the Los Angeles Angels as an international free agent in 2018 at age 23 and played six seasons in Orange County before joining the Dodgers on a 10-year, $700 million deal, then the largest free agent contract in major league history.
Shohei Ohtani could do about anything he wanted last season. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
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Sasaki will join Ohtani and Yamamoto in a rotation that will include Snell, Tyler Glasnow and perhaps Clayton Kershaw, who is expected to re-sign with Dodgers after undergoing offseason surgery.
Ohtani, the unanimous 2024 National League MVP after posting the first 50-homer, 50-stolen base season in major league history, is not expected to be ready to pitch when the 2025 season opens as he continues to recover from 2023 elbow surgery that kept off the mound all last year, but he is likely to join the rotation sooner rather than later.
He suffered a torn labrum in his left (non-throwing shoulder) in the World Series, but he is expected to be ready for spring training.
The San Diego Padres had made Sasaki their No. 1 offseason priority, according to reports, but now must make other plans to fill their rotation. Toronto Blue Jays were considered the third team on Sasaki’s short list after both New York teams, Boston, San Francisco and the Chicago Cubs were eliminated.
Show Them The Money
Snell was the Dodgers’ biggest get earlier in the winter, signing a five-year, $182 million contract after opting out of the second year of a two-year, $62 million deal with San Francisco.
The Diamondbacks made Corbin Burnes the highest paid pitcher on the market with a six-year, $210 million deal that includes an opt-out after 2026, part of agent Scott Boras’ price for accepting less money that was offered elsewhere.
Yamamoto joined Ohtani and Glasnow in the Dodgers’ $1 billion-plus spend a year ago when he signed 12-year, $325 million contract last winter. Imanaga was 15-3 with a 2.91 ERA after signing a four-year, $53 million free agent deal with the Chicago Cubs last winter, at age 30. He finished fourth NL Rookie of the Year voting.
Sasaki was dominant for Chiba Lotte the last three seasons, going a combined 26-13 with a 2.13 ERA. He had 437 strikeouts in 321 1/3 innings. He was 10-5 with a 2.35 ERA last season.
Joel Wolfe, Roki Sasaki’s agent, holds court at the major league baseball winter meetings in … [+] December. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)
Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
