At long last, the Roki Sasaki sweepstakes are officially over. The Japanese pitching sensation will take his talents to the Los Angeles Dodgers, he announced in an Instagram post (h/t ESPN’s Alden Gonzalez).
Signs have pointed toward Sasaki heading to Los Angeles, especially after the San Diego Padres were eliminated from the bidding war. But he and the Dodgers have formally reached an agreement, making the reigning World Series champions even more of a threat to defend their title.
According to The Athletic’s Fabian Ardaya, the Dodgers are giving Sasaki a $6.5 million signing bonus.
Dodgers get richer and win Roki Sasaki sweepstakes
Sasaki joins a loaded Dodgers pitching staff alongside Blake Snell, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and two-way superstar Shohei Ohtani. Los Angeles has no shortage of top-of-the-rotation-caliber arms, with the 23-year-old being the latest addition to the already stellar group.
Notably, Sasaki, Yamamoto and Ohtani were teammates as members of Samurai Japan, their home country’s national baseball team. Suddenly, they will unite in the MLB, playing in arguably the sport’s biggest media market city.
In 2024, with the Chiba Lotte Marines, Sasaki put his incredible skill set on full display. He went 10-5 with a 2.35 and 1.036 WHIP, striking out 10.5 batters per nine innings. The right-hander boasts a lethal combination of pitches and will have a chance to show it alongside Yamamoto and Ohtani in Los Angeles.
Sasaki was only signing a deal based on teams’ international bonus pools. The Toronto Blue Jays, the runner-up for his services, had enough funds to offer him up to $8.26 million. Meanwhile, the Dodgers reportedly could have given him a “maximum” of $8.23 million. With that in mind, money ostensibly wasn’t a deciding factor for the young phenom. But it was officially $6.5 million.
