Our long wait is finally over. After being posted by the Chiba Lotte Mariners of Nippon Professional Baseball back on November 9th, Rōki Sasaki has finally signed with an MLB team, agreeing to an international minor-league contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers which will come with a $6.5 million signing bonus.
Japanese star Roki Sasaki signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers, he announced on Instagram. The 23-year-old right-hander with a sizzling fastball and deadly splitter joins Samurai Japan teammates Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto with the World Series champion Dodgers.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) January 17, 2025
Despite a last-ditch effort by the Toronto Blue Jays and an earlier belief that the Padres might have presented an alluring option, Sasaki wound up choosing the destination many predicted for him from the start and will be the latest big-name free agent to join the Dodgers’ new Evil Empire.
While the Dodgers, deep pockets and willingness to defer millions of dollars have become incredibly attractive to many free agents, there was a belief that Sasaki‘s status as an international free agent could level the playing field. Every team who wanted to sign him was only eligible to offer him the money they had in their international signing pool for 2025. Other teams offered more money and more job security in the rotation, including the Blue Jays, who had over $2 million more to offer than the Dodgers, but in the end, none of that mattered. Sasaki wound up with the Dodgers, which may have always been how this would turn out months ago when the process began.
So what does it all mean?
Earlier this offseason, I wrote an article breaking down Sasaki’s resume, his pitch mix, and why so many teams were lining up to sign him, so I encourage you to check that out if you want a detailed breakdown of who he is as a talent. In this article, we’ll focus more on what this means for the Dodgers, the teams who swung and missed on the Japanese right-hander, and Sasaki’s fantasy value in 2025.
What does this mean for the Dodgers?
The Dodgers didn’t sign Sasaki to have him pitch in the minor leagues, so he should be expected to join the MLB rotation from the start of the season. That improves the Dodgers from having a great rotation to, well, a great rotation. But anytime you can add a pitcher who has a 2.02 ERA over his last four seasons with a 0.88 WHIP, and 524 strikeouts to 91 walks in 414.2 innings, you know you’re making your rotation better.
However,…