From the moment news broke that pitching phenom Roki Sasaki was being posted to the Majors, everyone naturally assumed that the Los Angeles Dodgers would be prohibitive favorites for his services. L.A. has seemingly gotten just about everything it's wanted over the past 12 months or so, from landing Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto last winter to rolling to a World Series win, and the signings of Ohtani and Yamamoto were proof positive of the team's compelling pitch to Japanese stars. Arguably the richest team in the league, with a loaded roster, on the West Coast, with not just one but two fellow members Team Japan to help with the recruiting pitch? How could anyone compete with that?
But if we've learned anything about Hot Stove season, it's that things are never quite as they same on the rumor mill. Sasaki's status as an international amateur free agent erases the Dodgers' financial advantage, and the more we learn about the righty's priorities, the less it seems like he's destined for L.A. after all. In fact, one recent report makes it seem like he definitely won't be in Dodger blue next season.
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The Athletic's Jim Bowden hopped on Foul Territory on Wednesday afternoon, where he was asked for an update on the Sasaki sweepstakes. Bowden had poured some cold water on the Dodgers' case before, pointing out that other teams like the San Diego Padres could also make compelling pitches to the 23-year-old. This latest report, however, went above and beyond: Citing sources close to the player, Bowden claimed there was an 85-percent chance that Sasaki would sign somewhere other than Los Angeles.
Granted, we should be taking all of this with a giant grain of salt. Sasaki remains a bit of an unknown, and reporters aren't as familiar with he and his camp's thinking as they are of, say, Juan Soto and Scott Boras. Still, it's noteworthy that someone relatively plugged in would be so bearish on the prospect of the righty going to L.A. It suggests that Sasaki is looking for something different in his free agency — or, as Bowden later pointed out, that he stands to make a lot more endorsement money as the sole Japanese star in his market rather than sharing the spotlight with Ohtani and Yamamoto.
Is that motivating to Sasaki? There's no real way to be sure. But it just goes to show that what we don't know far outpaces what we do at this point, and that there are plenty of appealing landing spots for a pitcher like Sasaki once money is removed from the equation. And if he's looking to blaze his own trail, the Dodgers may be forced to look elsewhere for rotation upgrades.
