Analyst Names The Favorite To Land Roki Sasaki (original) (raw)

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The Los Angeles Dodgers are the 2024 World Series champions as they defeated the New York Yankees in five games to win their eighth title in franchise history.

Now that the season has concluded, attention will be directed at the free agent class this offseason.

One free agent that stands out is Roki Sasaki, who is a starting pitcher coming over from Japan to join the MLB.

According to MLB Analyst Jon Heyman, the Dodgers are the favorites to land Sasaki, but the San Diego Padres could have a shot.

According to @JonHeyman, the Dodgers are favorites to land Roki Sasaki but the Padres "could have a shot".#MLBNHotStove | @AlLeiter22 pic.twitter.com/S84HXp1D1J

— MLB Network (@MLBNetwork) November 12, 2024

Sasaki is a 23-year-old starting pitcher from Japan who will be signing with an MLB team and has a special arm.

Heyman names the Dodgers as being the favorite to land Sasaki, and he would potentially join both Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto in the Dodgers rotation.

Yamamoto and Ohtani were both born in Japan, so their presence could have an impact on where Sasaki decides to play.

Heyman also says the Padres could have a chance at signing Sasaki, where he would join Yu Darvish, who is another Japanese-born starting pitcher.

Sasaki played in 18 games in 2024 for his overseas team and held a record of 10 wins and five losses with a 2.35 ERA and 129 strikeouts in 111.0 innings pitched.

The Dodgers already have some big names in their starting rotation, but they are still the favorites to land Sasaki.

It will be interesting to see if Heyman is correct and Sasaki signs with either the Dodgers or the Padres, or if another team comes into play.

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James Merling

MLB enthusiast, covering all 30 MLB teams top to bottom.