Cue the wailing, again.
Roki Sasaki broke the news himself on Instagram on Friday afternoon, much the same way that Blake Snell announced his signing with a doctored photo of himself in a Dodgers uniform on Nov. 26. Baseball’s latest Japanese import is now a Dodger as well, and the club’s hold on Japan might as well be an iron grip.
For the record, the translated version of Sasaki’s announcement was as follows: “I have signed a minor contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was a very difficult decision, but I will do my best to make it the right decision when I look back after my baseball career. I want to slip my sleeve on the Dodgers’ uniform at the opening conference, thanking everyone who has supported me this far.”
Oh, the support is just beginning. That Instagram post had more than 111,400 likes in just 44 minutes. Dodger fans were waiting for this.
Meanwhile … well, I ran the term “Evil Empire” through the Google translator. In Japanese it’s 悪の帝国, or “Aku no teikoku,” and while that term might not actually be used in Japan, I guarantee you the complainers on this continent are fuming, again. As was the case after the Snell signing, or after the Dodgers got Shohei Ohtani, or Yoshinobu Yamamoto, or Tyler Glasnow or Freddie Freeman or Mookie Betts or … well, you get the drift.
And now let’s cue the calls, again, from 29 deprived fan bases for a salary cap. Those aggrieved fans won’t care that Sasaki signed a minor league contract for less than $10 million, as is the rule for a Japanese player younger than 25 or with fewer than six seasons in Nippon Professional Baseball who wants to come to the big leagues. This time, it wasn’t about the Dodgers bludgeoning the rest of the sport with their financial might.
The Dodgers outlasted the Toronto Blue Jays, after the San Diego Padres dropped out of the running earlier Friday and began using their international bonus pool money on other players. The Jays had actually made a trade with Cleveland earlier Friday to add $2 million to their bonus pool space, with outfielder Myles Straw going to Toronto as well. Subsequently, the Dodgers made their own deal with the Phillies to add to their bonus pool space.
But the Jays should be used to this. Remember the private jet flight that wasn’t in December of 2023, the one that purportedly was carrying Shohei Ohtani to Toronto to sign with the Jays? We all know how that turned out.
How impactful is this signing? Sasaki reached NPB at age 19 and has become dominant, with a four-pitch mix that features a 100-mph fastball, a plus slider and an 88-90 mph splitter that has been described as unhittable. In four seasons with the Chiba Lotte Marines, he compiled a 29-15 record in 64 starts, with a 2.10 ERA, 0.88 WHIP and 11.5 strikeouts per nine innings. He was a member of the Japan pitching staff that won the 2023 World Baseball Classic, along with Yamamoto and Ohtani.
Sasaki’s heaviest usage in his four NPB seasons was 129⅓ innings in 2022. He logged 110 innings last season and was said to have showed some shoulder fatigue at one point.
But consider: What might have been the Dodgers’ final selling point was a conversation between Sasaki and Yamamoto, and the suspicion is that Yamamoto pointed out some of the Dodgers’ pitching methods.
There are 10 potential candidates for the Dodgers’ six-man rotation in 2025, but keep in mind how many starting pitchers were still standing when they finished off the Yankees in the World Series last October. That old adage that you can never have too much pitching? It’s not just a saying any more, especially in The Ravine.
So should we assume that Yamamoto and Sasaki will start the Dodgers’ opening games against the Chicago Cubs in Tokyo on March 18 and 19?
Beyond that, Snell and Tyler Glasnow will be there. Ohtani won’t be ready to pitch at season’s start but he will be in the mix at some point. Tony Gonsolin and Dustin May will be available. Youngsters Bobby Miller – who regressed in 2024 – and Michael Grove will, too. And then there’s a future Hall of Famer waiting in the wings, with Clayton Kershaw expected to sign at some point with a targeted return of midseason.
And no, Dodger fans, there is no need for defensiveness or apology over this embarrassment of riches.
This is the bottom line, ever since Mark Walter’s Guggenheim group took over the Dodgers from Frank McCourt in 2012 and assembled an organization willing to pay and with decision-making brainpower and savvy: These owners not only have the wherewithal to win, they care, mightily.
Team president Stan Kasten put it this way during the championship celebration at Dodger Stadium on Nov. 1: “Every one of you cares as much about being here today as every one of us on this stage.” You can flip that statement, in fact, and it sends an even more powerful message: The owners and the executives care as much as their fans do.
If you root for another team, can you say that about your ownership?
Didn’t think so.
jalexander@scng.com