23 Year Old Japanese Pitching Sensation Roki Sasaki Is Expected To Be Posted This Offseason And If That Happens You Can Basically Pencil Him Into The Dodgers Starting Rotation
Sports Nippon. Getty Images.A sign of a great organization in sports is one that doesn't get complacent. You win the championship? Instead of sitting on your hands knowing you have a winning roster in front of you, you go out and improve it. Pedal to the metal as you crush everyone in your path. The Dodgers have their sights set on doing just that and it's exhausting to hear for a fan of the other 29 teams int he league.
As if they needed more help, here comes Roki Sasaki coming over from Japan to sure up their rotation for the future, and it's not going to cost them a thing.
So who is Sasaki? This monster has been on MLB radars for quite some time. He's one of the best pitching prospects in the world and has a game that some have said is perfect. His fastball easily hits triple digits to accompany a nasty splitter. In the World Baseball Classic he showed it all off.
His splitter is unfair.
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Everything about him is special. If he can just stay healthy he'll come over to the MLB and dominate.
What makes Sasaki's incoming arrival so interesting is how young he's going to be (23) when he comes over. Foreign players under the age of 25 with less than six years of pro experience are subject to international bonus pool restrictions. That means he can't sign a 12 year, $325M deal like Yoshinobu Yamamoto just did. He'll have to settle for the same thing Ohtani got, a limited signing bonus and a minor league contract. He'll need to accrue years of service time before he can earn a monster contract.
If he's posted this soon that means there will be no bidding war for Sasaki's services. Someone like the Red Sox, who are in desperate need of front line starting pitching, wouldn't be able to break the bank to pry him away from everyone else. Instead everyone will be on an even playing field, which will favor high payroll teams who might otherwise be hesitant to add substantial money to their roster.
LA is where everyone assumes he's going to end up if he's in fact posted this offseason. The rich just get richer. They'll be able to assemble a rotation that looks like Ohtani-Yamamoto-Saski-Glasnow-May if they're all healthy. That is fucking ridiculous and there's really nothing anyone can do about it. It seems like the Dodgers have become the Japanese player's pipeline. With Ohtani and Yamamoto already in the fold, someone like Sasaki can venture over to a new country and culture where he can assimilate much easier than if he was on his own. Also doesn't hurt you're gonna join the reigning World Champs who will be a hell of a lot stronger in 2025 than when they hoisted the trophy in 2024. Pressure will be low and he'll be with former stars from the NPB.
Not sure if the Dodgers just hoarding all these Japanese stars is going to make MLB change their rules when it comes to international free agents. The NPB is basically a farm system for the Dodgers now. Outside of an international draft I'm not sure what else you can change honestly. It's simply a situation that the Dodgers are capitalizing on and don't have any plans to stop. Power hitting 1B/3B Munetaka Murakami will likely come over in a year or two and I have a funny feeling where he'll end up! The Mets shouldn't bother adding to their payroll, skip town on Soto, and just let him stay in the AL for his own good.