On the first day of October, two Dodgers executives were on the other side of the world.
Shortly after the end of the regular season, president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman and vice president of player personnel Galen Carr were in Japan on a scouting trip.
The center of their attention: phenom pitcher Roki Sasaki.
For the last several years, the Dodgers’ front office has adored Sasaki, enamored by a dazzling repertoire headlined by a triple-digit fastball. The only question was when the right-hander would come across the Pacific.
Late Friday night, they finally got their answer.
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The Chiba Lotte Marines, Sasaki’s team in the Nippon Professional Baseball league, announced they will be posting the 23-year-old star for Major League Baseball teams to sign this winter.
“From the time he joined the organization, we were told by him of his dream to play in America,” Chiba Lotte general manager Naoki Matsumoto said in Japanese in a release. “Taking into account the last five years as a whole, we have decided to prioritize his thoughts. We are hoping he does his best as a representative of Japan. We are cheering for him.”
In Los Angeles, the Dodgers’ offseason just got a lot more interesting.
While Sasaki doesn’t have the big-league credentials of other top free-agent pitchers, he is viewed as having huge potential, and thanks to MLB rules regarding international free agents, will be able to be signed at a fraction of the cost.
Had Sasaki waited two more years, he would have been free to sign like a normal free agent. Last winter, Yoshinobu Yamamoto got a record $325-million contract from the Dodgers coming over from Japan. Sasaki might have been positioned to rival it.
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But because Sasaki is being posted under the age of 25, he will be limited to a minor-league contract with a modest signing bonus; similar to when Shohei Ohtani, then also 23, signed with the Angels before the 2018 season for just $2.3 million.
Also like Ohtani, Sasaki will be under club control with whichever team he signs with for six seasons, like any other rookie.
It makes…