caulfield12

Like a Clydesdale stomp on the rest of baseball... https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2025/01/17/bryce-miller-roki-sasakis-clydesdale-stomp-decision-to-join-dodgers-pains-padres/ "In San Diego, news that one-man Powerball ticket Roki Sasaki has decided to join the Dodgers was more than a gut punch. It was a steel-toed boot to the shin, a Clydesdale stomp to the foot, a right hook to the jaw. This hurt in all kinds of ways, big and bigger than big. The Dodgers, a team that spent more than $1 billion last season alone before winning the World Series, just became a one-city All-Star team. Sasaki, the Japanese star with a ceiling as mesmerizing as the Sistine Chapel, has joined a rotation that includes two-time Cy Young winner Blake Snell, $700 million arm and bat Shohei Ohtani, $325 million Japanese pickup Yoshinobu Yamamoto and All-Star Tyler Glasnow. That’s insane. Who’s next, time-machine Nolan Ryan? Then you tick off the offense Sasaki and the Dodgers line up behind that staff, starting with league MVPs Ohtani, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, and the big picture staggers."

Yes, that same villain who was almost orphaned as a child, losing a father and two grandparents in a natural disaster....he betrayed the Padres/Preller!!! "Sasaki is from Rikuzentakata in the Iwate Prefecture. Born in 2001, he was named after the villain Rouki from Hyakujuu Sentai Gaoranger, a Super Sentai show that was aired in the same year.[2][3] He was in the third grade during the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake. The resulting tsunami swept away his house. His father and grandparents died, while Sasaki, his mother, and his two brothers had to live in a nursing home during the recovery.[4][5][6] The family moved to Ōfunato the next year and Sasaki began to play baseball at his new school." wikipedia

Balta is in trouble now...this seems worse than the Native American nicknames controversy, lol.

If you have a team with SIX And SOON SEVEN $100+ million contracts on the books in Machado, Tatis Jr., Cronenworth, Darvish, Musgrove, Bogaerts, Merrill (pending)...and they barely have the slimmest hopes to compete now, and the Rockies are basically done for before Opening Day...what message does that send to fans in medium and small markets and Chicago lol? Not even wildfires and earthquakes can detail their juggernaut unless two of those three pitchers get hurt again (it would mean the end of Ohtani ever pitching again in all likelihood).

https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2025-01-17/roki-sasaki-choosing-dodgers-pitcher-development https://www.latimes.com/sports/dodgers/story/2025-01-17/dodgers-sign-japanese-star-roki-sasaki With Sasaki TEAM WINS PLAYOFF CHANCES WORLD SERIES CHANCES Dodgers 102.6 98.5% 27.9% Padres 89.9 66.6% 4.8% Blue Jays 87.1 57.2% 4.2% Without Sasaki TEAM WINS PLAYOFF CHANCES WORLD SERIES CHANCES Dodgers 99.9 95.4% 22.8% Padres 86.4 51.4% 2.7% Blue Jays 83.1 40.1% 1.8% For the Dodgers, the regular-season impact is negligible. Sasaki adds additional certainty but they were already heavy favorites to repeat as National League West champs. The bigger impact comes in defending their World Series title. But the addition of Sasaki further highlights the Dodgers' dominance, especially over their division rivals, who, to an even greater extent, are looking at long odds for a first-place finish. There isn't anything not to like for Los Angeles. If you consider the signing through the prism of risk/reward, it's an easy A. If you consider it through the prism of moving the needle in the short term, also an A. If you consider it through the prism of making an impact addition without inhibiting your financial flexibility, also an A. If you think of it from the standpoint of giving your fans a unique player and talent who should be incredibly fun to watch, also the easiest of As. Finally, the last reason for the straight A: Sasaki could have signed with any team, and every team wanted him. He chose the team. That's not just "A" material -- it's a triumph and a validation for a franchise that bolsters its ever-expanding global dominance. Grade: A https://global.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/43440151/mlb-offseason-2025-grading-roki-sasaki-los-angeles-dodgers

The Dodgers are basically the Chiefs/Patriots....but they will soon be able to outspend the Mets and Yankees by nearly 50-100% since Ohtani alone generated an extra $100 million (conservatively) by himself, and now they have the three national stars of one baseball crazy country with the 4th largest GDP in the world all together, unified, now basically backing one team... Are/were those two dynastic NFL teams bad for the league? Well, not if the fans of other teams believe they still have a fighting or at least punchet's chance. SD was on the cusp of stopping LA early three years in a row but made the mistake of starting Cease on 3 day's rest and that was all she wrote. Yamamoto played a key role as well.

Looks like the entire Dodgers' remaining intl class is open season unless they are willing to wait another year.

https://sports.yahoo.com/roki-sasaki-says-hes-signing-with-dodgers-giving-them-monster-japanese-trio-in-rotation-231051776.html $6.5 million signing bonus 7 deep rotation...featuring three star Japanese pitchers

Will Klein is available now due to the LeClerc push to get the A's payroll up to $105 million... https://www.mlb.com/player/will-klein-694361 11.05 career mlb ERA, would seemingly fit right in

696 lifetime ops well above whatever the team average was last year... Oh yeah, 618.

Best developmental guys in low minors. That may or may not be a Santos or Jirschele...leadership, strategy, rapport with vets/AAAA types, balancing winning vs. development etc. Dealing with guys sent down or blocked. Pushing some, comforting others. Different skill sets. Clearly Santos is now the heir apparent after V enable.

https://www.espn.com/mlb/insider/story/_/id/43429216/mlb-2024-25-mid-offseason-grades-dodgers-mets-yankees-phillies What grade do Getz/White Sox have so far lol???

Could have brought back Iguchi... "Not that he would've been a savior for us, but this is the final blow of what has been a disastrous offseason for the team and their fans. Regardless of who we blame, the Seidlers, Sasaki's BS dog and pony show, the Dodgers' ultimate goal of eliminating competition, the fact of the matter is that we were the closest to beating the defending champs last year and decided to go the opposite direction. Just focus on trading Cease, King, and Arraez for assets and wait another 5-10 years to be competitive again while wasting away FTJ's prime years. It's sickening." gaslampball.com

https://www.mondaq.com/canada/income-tax/1540278/canadian-tax-traps-for-professional-athletes-entering-leaving-or-playing-in-canada-tax-planning-considerations-for-cross-border-professional-athletes Fine...tax consequences for athletes are much more complicated. "We discussed some of the intricacies that these athletes face in Canada. I think the general consensus among sports fans is that Canada has a very hard time attracting athletes because of its very high tax rates, its complicated tax system, and the Canada Revenue Agency's laser focus on these athletes' income just as soon as they set foot in the country. The conversation mostly focused on income, personal income tax, allocation of income, taxation of nonresident employees, Canada's tax treaties, and how that complicates how these athletes are treated." https://www.forbes.com/sites/taxnotes/2022/06/22/how-canada-taxes-pro-athletes/ Am not going to get into California tax politics lol.

Not in this case. Especially if you consider the exchange rate. This was never about $$$. Heck, he's going to have to clear border control/immigration/customs over and over again going in and out of Cacontract so frequently. Remember he lost his father and grandparents to natural disaster as a kid...Toronto is as safe as it gets compared to LA now.

You're conjuring up nightmares of him and Jerry Dybs.

"To quote the great Rocky Balboa “life aint all sunshines and rainbows”. This quote is true on many levels and Astros prospect Joe Perez has experienced this first hand. Going into the 2017 draft Joe Perez was seen as one of the best high school prospects available. Big power from the right hand side of the plate but also a big arm that could pitch. Unfortunately, it was known during the draft process that he would need Tommy John surgery. The Astros ended up selecting Perez with the #53 overall pick and announced him as a third baseman, not a pitcher. Shortly after the draft, Perez had surgery." https://astrosfuture.com/2021/05/former-2nd-round-pick-joe-perez-off-to-a-hot-start-in-2021/#:~:text=The Astros ended up selecting Perez with the,get on the field in the Astros organization.

Ozzie Jr./Ozney？

Not if he's completely reinventing himself as a pitcher from a position player. He would be in Arizona or Kannapolis.

Going to go ahead and now predict Dylan Cease or the much more affordable Michael King (former Yankee) to Baltimore for Mayo lol...or Basallo. Or Kjerstad. Or Cowser. Or Westburg. The end. And Toronto really does start to make sense. International city. Rogers controls media. Yusei Kikuchi spoke very highly of experience there. You have your Japanese stars, Dominican stars, Arjun Nimmala (first Indian star), Bichette, Springer, Jose Berrios, Gausman...maybe they can add Pete Alonso as well and really go for it this 2025 season. That's the quintessential cosmpolitan image of a very international city. There will probably be some type of opt outs in his deal if the Jays were to suddenly become non competitive in the East...maybe a no-trade list as well.

It's all over but the shouting. Spring Festival flight to Xi'an China takes off in a matter of hours. Need to escape from baseball and basketball for a week. White Sox need to go all out after 2B/SS Christopher Polanco...#22 guy in the signing class. caulfield12 https://www.mlb.com/news/mlb-rumors-trades-and-signings?t=trades-and-transactions Blue Jays fit all the descriptors...but not sure their fans can handle another disappointment after the Ohtani flirtation last year. That he flew all the way to Toronto is pretty telling. Thank god the White Sox don't have to compete in the East...it would be completely homeless.

https://www.thebaseballcube.com/content/hs_team/8671/ Nick "Fathom" Castellanos and Alex Kid K Fernandez attended the same high school in Florida.

Why the hell isn't he Jose Perez? Sounds too blue collar/lunch bucket. Bring back Matty Davidson to pitch while we're at it. https://www.thebaseballcube.com/content/player/209833/ He can play five positions, sort of. 25 year old originally a second round pick, $1.6 million signing bonus. Banny will fix him!!! Cooper will come out of retirement and fix him...certainly he will work with Sergio Santos on his transition. https://www.thebaseballcube.com/content/player/209833/

Well...to quote Frank Thomas, and the ladies will love this move, too.

Between this and Iowa women's BB falling off a precipitous cliff...getting a bit salty. And when you're conditioned to life as an Iowa fan...you then automatically expect to see a defection from your #18th ranked signee from Mater Dei of all places in California, Addie Deal. Life comes in buckets.