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The Defending Champion Dodgers Land Star Roki Sasaki

Roki Sasaki pitches for Team Japan.

The defending champion Dodgers are having a busy offseason and still emerge as one of the biggest offseason winners.

Like the old saying goes “the rich get richer”. Here you can apply the same principle with the Los Angeles Dodgers, who still find ways to land superstars in a big-time deal. Most recently, they were able to land another ace to their already stacked starting rotation: SP Roki Sosaki. This news comes after Sasaki announced his decision on Instagram after narrowing down to the final three teams. This is not surprising at all though. A lot of experts have expected him to go to the West Coast and sign with the Dodgers. Sasaki now becomes their third Japanese player that Los Angeles has added to their team. He will join DH Shohei Ohtani and SP Yoshinobu Yamamoto as the third player on the team from Japan they signed as a free agent.

The Deal

Unfortunately for the rest of the league, the Dodgers are able to give Sosaki a much lower deal than he is worth. Instead, they offered him a minor league contract with a $6.5 million signing bonus. The young ace had until Thursday to finalize a contact. He was considered an international amateur under Major League Baseball’s rules because he is under 25 and does not have six years in the Japanese major leagues, making him subject to international signing rules. Players who sign this way are almost always inexperienced teenagers, who so getting a true ace at that price is a coup for the Dodgers.

Meanwhile, Los Angeles started with a pool of $5,146, 200 but increased it to $8,102,800. This was thanks to multiple trades that they did with both the Cincinnati Reds and Philadelphia Phillies. The Dodgers received $1.5 million from the Reds and $1,456,600 from the Phillies. This is what led to the team saving up enough money to offer Sasaki. It was a smart financial decision the team made before the signing took place.

How Sasaki Fits the Starting Rotation

With the latest addition of Sasaki, the Dodgers are preparing to run a six-man starting rotation. But that’s not the only goal Los Angeles has in mind: they’re also aiming to become the first team to repeat as champions since the New York Yankees accomplished that feat from 1998-2000.

To achieve that, the Dodgers must make crucial decisions about how to structure their rotation. As currently projected, the team have at least three starting pitchers that could be fighting for the top spot of the rotation. For now, Sasaki is currently slotted in as the sixth starter, but his talent could quickly propel him higher in the rotation. Meanwhile, his teammate Shohei Ohtani, one of the league’s most dominant players, would probably pitch ahead of him.

With Sasaki’s addition and a championship repeat in their sights, the Dodgers have set the stage for a season filled with high expectations and challenging decisions. Sasaki will join his two countrymates, as well as SPs Tyler Glasnow, Blake Snell, and a likely return from SP Clayton Kershaw.

What Sasaki Brings to the Rotation

Roki Sasaki is going to be a lot of fun to watch in 2025, no doubt, but there are other things that are going to make him so much intriguing. With a 2.02 ERA and just 16 home runs given up in 414.2 professional innings, the hard-throwing hurler does have a decent shot of becoming one of the best prospects from Japan. This is a country that has produced some of the best flamethrowers such as SPs Masahiro Tanaka, Yu Darvish, Yashinobu Yamamoto, Shota Imanaga, and Hideo Nomo. Though he’s not comparable to these names at this point, Sasaki still has chance to make a great impact.

The 23-year-old has an electric fastball that averaged up 96.8 MPH in 2024 with the Chiba Lotte Marines and touched 102 mph earlier in his career. Many don’t even consider the fastball Sasaki’s best pitch. They consider his splitter to be his most effective pitch. Sasaki’s splitter achieved a 57.1% whiff rate, unmatched by any MLB pitcher. Then you also have his slider. That type of pitch is also filthy as you can ever imagine. The slider pitch ranges between 83-85 mph. These are some interesting pitches that would be exciting coming from a veteran, let alone a rookie.

Aside from his impressive arsenal, Sasaki’s control and poise on the mound are what truly set him apart. In his 2024 season, he maintained an exceptional strikeout-to-walk ratio, showcasing not just power but precision. His ability to command the zone with such a diverse pitch mix is rare for someone so young, and it’s one reason scouts believe he’ll transition smoothly to MLB. His poise will indeed get challenged in 2025 as he prepares himself to face some of the most dangerous hitters in the league.

What’s Next for the Dodgers

With the Dodgers’ acquisition of Roki Sasaki, attention now turns to the future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw, who is currently a free agent. The 36-year-old veteran says he plans on pitching in 2025. It would be hard to envision Los Angeles moving on from the fan favorite pitcher. Kershaw missed most of the 2024 season with a shoulder surgery and a toe injury, and he will be turning 37 in March. It will be interesting to see what decision the Dodgers make regarding to Kershaw.

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