{"id":15383,"date":"2024-12-29T02:12:07","date_gmt":"2024-12-29T02:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=15383"},"modified":"2024-12-29T02:12:07","modified_gmt":"2024-12-29T02:12:07","slug":"breaking-dodgers-officially-meet-with-roki-sasaki-as-pursuit-for-japanese-superstar-heats-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=15383","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Dodgers Officially Meet With Roki Sasaki as Pursuit for Japanese Superstar Heats Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Dodgers have officially met with Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki, becoming the sixth team publicly known to have had a formal meeting with the 23-year-old pitcher.<\/p>\n

President of baseball operations Andrew Friedman has publicly said signing Sasaki is a huge priority for the Dodgers this winter.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is someone that, obviously, is a major priority for us,\u201d Friedman told\u00a0Dodgers Nation at the Winter Meetings<\/a>. \u201cWe are 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sasaki has also met with the New York Yankees, Chicago Cubs, San Francisco Giants, New York Mets, and Texas Rangers. Nonetheless, most teams have reportedly entered the meeting with the understanding that the Dodgers remain the favorites.<\/p>\n

Unlike the big money contracts the Dodgers gave to starting pitcher Blake Snell and outfielder Teoscar Hern\u00e1ndez, Sasaki comes at a much cheaper price. Sasaki will join stateside baseball as an international amateur free agent, meaning teams can only offer him money from their international bonus pool.<\/p>\n

Sasaki is expected to sign in the next international signing period which opens on Jan. 15, where the Dodgers will be among teams that have the least amount of money in their bonus pool with approximately $5 million. However, money doesn\u2019t seem to be the priority for Sasaki since he is joining MLB before he is age eligible to sign a massive contract.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are no absolutes in baseball. And through Roki\u2019s eyes, there are no absolutes in life. \u2026 he does not take anything for granted,\u201d Joel Wolfe, Sasaki\u2019s agent, said at the Winter Meetings.<\/p>\n

\n
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\u201cThe other thing is, it\u2019s always been his dream to come to the major leagues since he was in high school. He\u2019s grown up idolizing players like Yu Darvish and Tanaka and Matsuzaka. This is something he\u2019s always wanted to do,\u201d Wolfe added.<\/p>\n

There is speculation the Padres could also snag Sasaki because of a the star\u2019s connection to veteran pitcher Yu Darvish. Nevertheless, the World Series champion Dodgers remain the favorites to sign Sasaki.<\/p>\n

Sasaki is poised to be one of the best pitchers to come from Japan.\u00a0He became the youngest pitcher to throw a perfect game in Nippon Professional Baseball in 2022. He also tied Shohei Ohtani for the fastest pitch recorded in NPB history at 102.5 mph.<\/p>\n

In four NPB seasons, Sasaki posted a 29-15 record with a 2.10 ERA and 11.5 strikeouts per nine innings. Last season, he dealt with some injury issues but went 10-5 with a 2.35 ERA.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Los Angeles Dodgers have officially met with Japanese phenom Roki Sasaki, becoming the sixth team publicly known to have had a formal meeting with the 23-year-old… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"\nBREAKING: Dodgers Officially Meet With Roki Sasaki as Pursuit for Japanese Superstar Heats Up - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=15383\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"BREAKING: Dodgers Officially Meet With Roki Sasaki as Pursuit for Japanese Superstar Heats Up - 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