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Roki Sasaki Free Agency - Dodgers vs Blue Jays for Roki's heart


Timmy U

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2 hours ago, T R U said:

Come on, it’s hard to complain about this one they didn’t shell out some crazy contract. 
 

Amazing place to live, top tier team, close to Japan, another Japanese superstar on the roster. Why wouldn’t you choose them?

Why is he going through the amateur process to begin with when he’s played multiple years of professional ball in Japan?  Yeah, there are plenty of reasons to go to the Dodgers when he’s limited to a like $6M signing bonus.  Unfortunately, it’s a flawed system and one that rewards teams like the Dodgers.

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1 hour ago, 46DidIt said:

Maybe he and other international players should be subject to a draft

Exactly this…or make them free agents.  Don’t build situations like this where a highly talented intentional player like this just goes “f*** it, I guess I’ll sign with the Dodgers”.  But for some reason, there is a subset of MLB fans who like to pretend the Dodgers spend more because their owners are generous with their wealth and want to win more than the other cheap owners instead of simply having access to more revenue streams than the vast majority of clubs.

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2 hours ago, T R U said:

Come on, it’s hard to complain about this one they didn’t shell out some crazy contract. 
 

Amazing place to live, top tier team, close to Japan, another Japanese superstar on the roster. Why wouldn’t you choose them?

I had two reasons I hoped would matter.

1. The Dodgers now legitimately have 7 starters. Yes, some are always hurt, but there will be a major crunch for innings. That isn’t good for a guys development.

2. Pretty much 29 teams now hate this guy for front running before they know anything else about him. He’s a villain that I’ll be rooting against. It’s like when Durant went ring hunting and at least I stopped cheering for either him or the Warriors. The Dodgers are suddenly a team where it feels ok to root for injuries, and that’s a bad way for a young player to market himself.

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16 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Exactly this…or make them free agents.  Don’t build situations like this where a highly talented intentional player like this just goes “f*** it, I guess I’ll sign with the Dodgers”.  But for some reason, there is a subset of MLB fans who like to pretend the Dodgers spend more because their owners are generous with their wealth and want to win more than the other cheap owners instead of simply having access to more revenue streams than the vast majority of clubs.

2/3s of baseball has no chance to compete financially with the Dodgers and must find other ways to win. But big market franchises like the Yankees, Cubs, Astros, Red Sox, Phillies etc could operate like this and choose not to. Their ownership group is willing to go to levels other teams aren't both in terms of MLB payroll *and* player development. That's why they are the gold standard organization in MLB right now and players like Ohtani (SF and TOR offered him the same contract) + Sasaki want to play there when everything else is equal.

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16 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

I had two reasons I hoped would matter.

1. The Dodgers now legitimately have 7 starters. Yes, some are always hurt, but there will be a major crunch for innings. That isn’t good for a guys development.

2. Pretty much 29 teams now hate this guy for front running before they know anything else about him. He’s a villain that I’ll be rooting against. It’s like when Durant went ring hunting and at least I stopped cheering for either him or the Warriors. The Dodgers are suddenly a team where it feels ok to root for injuries, and that’s a bad way for a young player to market himself.

Sasaki likely left several hundred million dollars on the table coming to MLB early but somehow he's a villain?

Edited by maxjusttyped
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31 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Why is he going through the amateur process to begin with when he’s played multiple years of professional ball in Japan?  Yeah, there are plenty of reasons to go to the Dodgers when he’s limited to a like $6M signing bonus.  Unfortunately, it’s a flawed system and one that rewards teams like the Dodgers.

I can agree with you on the first part, there really is no scenario where an elite level talent just should be able to enter the league and just pick where they want to go. 
 

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15 minutes ago, maxjusttyped said:

Sasaki likely left several hundred million dollars on the table coming to MLB early but somehow he's a villain?

Are you cheering for the Dodgers or now angry by this?

This is the same scared of competition front running that LeBron did, Durant did, and I didn’t like those either. I cheered against those teams and frankly because of how they were assembled, yeah rooting for injury became an option. Sasaki sucks.

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I’ve been sitting here reflecting how crazy MLB contracts have gotten. We went from stars getting paid about $300M or a little over to $700M. Never even really saw $300, 400, 500, 600 million contracts. I kinda get it with Ohtani since he’s kind of like 2 players but damn.

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42 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Exactly this…or make them free agents.  Don’t build situations like this where a highly talented intentional player like this just goes “f*** it, I guess I’ll sign with the Dodgers”.  But for some reason, there is a subset of MLB fans who like to pretend the Dodgers spend more because their owners are generous with their wealth and want to win more than the other cheap owners instead of simply having access to more revenue streams than the vast majority of clubs.

I hope the Dodgers win the WS the next five years straight and force cheap bastard teams owned by bums like Jerry to spend.  But they probably still won’t because they value MLB royalties via profit sharing over actually winning a WS.

Edited by WhiteSox2023
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13 minutes ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

I hope the Dodgers win the WS the next five years straight and force cheap bastard teams owned by bums like Jerry to spend.  But they probably still won’t because they value MLB royalties via profit sharing over actually winning a WS.

If they win a couple, that’s an easy way to get me to lose interest in baseball.

its no fun when the villain wins every time.

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5 minutes ago, Balta1701 said:

If they win a couple, that’s an easy way to get me to lose interest in baseball.

its no fun when the villain wins every time.

The Dodgers have 2 World Series titles in their 11 year run of dominance. There is no amount of talent they could stockpile that outweighs the randomness of October baseball.

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5 minutes ago, maxjusttyped said:

The Dodgers have 2 World Series titles in their 11 year run of dominance. There is no amount of talent they could stockpile that outweighs the randomness of October baseball.

I sure hope that’s true but I also cannot remember a team looking like this on paper.

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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.

Edited by caulfield12
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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

 

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

Edited by caulfield12
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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).

Edited by caulfield12
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1 hour ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Exactly this…or make them free agents.  Don’t build situations like this where a highly talented intentional player like this just goes “f*** it, I guess I’ll sign with the Dodgers”.  But for some reason, there is a subset of MLB fans who like to pretend the Dodgers spend more because their owners are generous with their wealth and want to win more than the other cheap owners instead of simply having access to more revenue streams than the vast majority of clubs.

Meanwhile, MLB's leaguewide revenues reportedly grew to $11.6 billion last season -- a figure that represented year-to-year growth. "We've had a good year," commissioner Rob Manfred said during the World Series. "Our business was strong." 

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4 hours ago, T R U said:

Come on, it’s hard to complain about this one they didn’t shell out some crazy contract. 
 

Amazing place to live, top tier team, close to Japan, another Japanese superstar on the roster. Why wouldn’t you choose them?

I hate it, but yeah, this.

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29 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

I hate it, but yeah, this.

I’ll take the almost guaranteed WS and promotional money in the near future.  Hell, he might make more money from that than his second MLB contract.  He’s not stupid.

Edited by WhiteSox2023
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2 hours ago, Balta1701 said:

Are you cheering for the Dodgers or now angry by this?

This is the same scared of competition front running that LeBron did, Durant did, and I didn’t like those either. I cheered against those teams and frankly because of how they were assembled, yeah rooting for injury became an option. Sasaki sucks.

I feel like this is reserved for Deshaun Watson or Julio Urías

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2 hours ago, caulfield12 said:

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.

Yeah, there was a time when it got tiresome watching the Cowboys and 49ers go to the Super Bowl regularly. Richard Dent even signed with the 49ers to win a ring. Teams built to win over a period of time isn't "bad" for their sport. 

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