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JThe Los Angeles Dodgers are no stranger to signing the top free agents available. They’ve done so in the past and have already started this winter after landing Blake Snell.
Most owners and general managers would be content with the Dodgers’ roster, but that isn’t the case for them. In fact, they want to continue improving and plan on doing just that over the next few months.
The Dodgers don’t even have to break the bank to add talent. With Roki Sasaki on the market, who can only sign for up to $7.5 million due to international signing rules, the Dodgers could find a generational talent for a very low price.
Matt Johnson of SportsNaut predicted that to be the case, writing that Sasaki will sign with the Dodgers in the offseason.
“Roki Sasaki to the Los Angeles Dodgers for a while, there were even reports back in the spring that a majority of MLB teams expected the Japanese pitcher to sign with Los Angeles. After officially being posted at the start of the MLB Winter Meetings, the Dodgers’ window to sign Sasaki is now open. Just 23 years old, the Dodgers’ pitching depth will allow the club to ease Sasaki into action after an injury-plagued 2024 season.
“He would also join a pitching staff with fellow countrymen Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto, with Los Angeles offering marketing opportunities that can far exceed anything Sasaki will make on a contract restricted by international free-agency rules for players under 25. This has always felt inevitable and Sasaki will presumably sign with the Dodgers in January,” Johnson wrote on December 10.
Dodgers Prior Injuries Have Changed Their Mindset
The Los Angeles Dodgers have a loaded roster and are coming off a World Series win. Winning a World Series is always impressive, but it was incredible that the Dodgers did so with all of the injuries they dealt with.
While the injuries were tough, it didn’t stop them, and from the sound of things, it only made the Dodgers want to do more.
“I’ll never say again that I feel good about the depth,” president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said on December 10, according to Sonja Chen of MLB.com, “so the answer’s now always, I feel terrible about the depth.”
When specifically speaking about Sasaki, Friedman added that Los Angeles plans to do whatever it can to get him in Dodgers blue.
“He’s someone that is obviously a major priority for us,” Friedman said, “and we’re going to do whatever we can, and know that there are a lot of other teams that are going to do the exact same thing,”
Dodgers Signing Sasaki Isn’t Guaranteed
Many around Major League Baseball believe Sasaki will join the Los Angeles Dodgers this winter. Some have even called it a done deal.
While that’s a possible outcome, Sasaki’s agent, Joel Wolfe, told reporters at the Winter Meetings that he has no predetermined location.
“There were some accusations, allegations, all of them false, made about predetermined deals, things like that,” Wolfe said, according to Rowan Kavner of FOX Sports. “However, MLB rightly wanted to make sure this was going to be a fair and level playing field for everyone. So, they did their due diligence and interviewed numerous parties ahead of time to make sure that was the case.”
If Wolfe had said he was signing with the Dodgers and didn’t want to meet with others, the league would’ve had a major issue with that. He has to play this smart and let everyone believe they have a chance, which seems to be the case anyway.
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