The Los Angeles Dodgers are looking to be the first team to three-peat since the New York Yankees in 2000. They are widely considered the favorite to win the World Series, but there’s a potential problem brewing.
24-year-old pitcher Roki Sasaki struggled in the early parts of his first season playing MLB. However, he was able to get on track as a closer for the team.
The Dodgers decided to spend big on Edwin Diaz in free agency, so they don’t need Sasaki to be a closer. They want him to transition back into being a starting pitcher.
Unfortunately, it looks like he’s heading in the wrong direction. During the exhibition season, Sasaki has registered a 15.58 ERA. That’s a problem considering he’s supposed to be starting regular season MLB games in the coming weeks.
Dylan Hernandez of the California Post believes that Sasaki is “broken” and needs fixing.
“Now that Roki Sasaki has been torn down, the Dodgers have to rebuild him,” Hernandez wrote. “How they do that, or whether that’s even possible, is anyone’s guess, but this is what the Dodgers unknowingly signed up for when they beat out 29 other major league teams for the Japanese fireballer’s signature.
“Because Sasaki is broken.”
Dodgers Still Believe in Sasaki
The Dodgers arguably have the best starting pitching rotation in MLB. Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Blake Snell, Tyler Glasnow and Shohei Ohtani headline the rotation. While that rotation should be good enough to get the Dodgers through any playoff series if they’re all healthy, the team needs more players to step up during the regular season.
Sasaki has a lot to lose this season. If he can’t play well on baseball’s most stacked team, it’s difficult to see any team putting a ton of trust in him. For now, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts is still confident in the pitcher.
“I believe in him,” Roberts said. “I really do. I told him that in the dugout.”
For now, Roberts hasn’t removed Sasaki from the starting pitching rotation for the regular season. That’s mainly because he wants to get a clearer idea of what he has.
“That’s the big, big driver of that,” Roberts said.
Is Sasaki Fixable?
The Dodgers aren’t going to be a patient team. Their goal is to win another World Series. If Sasaki’s 15.58 ERA continues into the regular season, he’s going to get demoted to the minor leagues.
Hernandez went so far as to suggest that Sasaki could have to start from scratch to get back on track as a pitcher.
“Where Sasaki starts the season doesn’t matter in the long run. At some point, he will end up in the minor leagues,” Hernandez wrote.
“Once there, the job of the Dodgers will be to guide him back to where he was when he was at his best, as a 20- or 21-year-old dominating the Japanese league. Either that, or they will have to help him discover a new identity as a pitcher.”
Sasaki was highly touted coming from Japan, but it’s looking like he may never reach the heights that many thought he would.
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