Roki Sasaki - It's Happening!!!

[crpav]

Better sell your house to get into those Dodger PYT breaks in products that have his rookie.

[JWBlue]

The 2025 MLB season is officially an exhibition.

[awz50]

So lame

[mfw13]

Originally Posted by JWBlue

The 2025 MLB season is officially an exhibition.

As will be the 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029, and 2030 seasons.

[texmcpherson]

Originally Posted by Jaypers

Sasaki just announced it on his IG. He's officially a Dodger.

No way!

[Trueblue]

I'm glad I got an unintentional headstart

[JRX]

Collusion works

[JWBlue]

Originally Posted by mfw13

As will be the 2026, 2027, 2028, 2029, and 2030 seasons.

The CBA is up in 12/2026. If the Dodgers win the next 2 WS there might be some drastic changes.

[JRX]

Originally Posted by JWBlue

The CBA is up in 12/2026. If the Dodgers win the next 2 WS there might be some drastic changes.

It would be interesting to know if most owners really care. Most of them are fine not competing so they probably don't care if its the Dodgers, Mets, or Yankees signing everyone.

[fabiani12333]

Originally Posted by Hollywood42

Yes if you want to look at payrolls for 2024 and 2025, that is when the Dodgers started going nuts and lapping even the other top spending teams in the league. But when the Dodgers have spent in line with those top teams for the past 10 years prior, why is it that Dodgers stand alone as far and away more successful than any other team that was spending right in line with them?

Over their last half decade of dominance, the Dodgers went from a team based around homegrown and undervalued players, to a team based around star and accomplished players from other teams:

WAR leaders of the 2020 championship Dodgers team:
1. Mookie Betts
2. Corey Seager
3. Chris Taylor
4. Clayton Kershaw
5. Cody Bellinger
6. Justin Turner
7. Dustin May
8. Will Smith
9. Tony Gonsolin
10. Julio Urias


WAR leaders of the 2024 championship Dodgers team:
1. Shohei Ohtani
2. Mookie Betts
3. Freddie Freeman
4. Teoscar Hernandez
5. Will Smith
6. Miguel Rojas
7. Max Muncy
8. Gavin Lux
9. Tyler Glasnow
10. Gavin Stone

The Dodgers stopped being able to draft and develop good players, so they gradually started buying up and trading for good players from other teams.


Even the dynastic 90s Yankees didn't do this:

WAR leaders of the 1996 championsip Yankees team:
1. Andy Pettitte
2. Mariano Rivera (yes, he was worth 5.0 bWAR)
3. Bernie Williams
4. Paul O'Neill
5. Wade Boggs
6. Kenny Rogers
7. Derek Jeter
8. Jimmy Key
9. David Cone
10. Mariano Duncan

WAR leaders of the 2000 championship Yankees team:
1. Jorge Posada
2. Bernie Williams
3. Derek Jeter
4. Roger Clemens
5. Andy Pettitte
6. David Justice
7. Orlando Hernandez
8. Mariano Rivera
9. Jeff Nelson
10. Ramiro Mendoza


So, as you can see, the current Dodgers are on an island by themselves in terms of roster creation.

[JWBlue]

The Dodgers arguably have 5 Ace/#1 pitchers. Let that sink in.

[mikejones]

MLB needs a salary cap if they want to be competitive.

[regularp]

Like I said, this whole process was a farce. He was always going to the Dodgers and anyone thinking otherwise was deluding themselves.

With all things being equal, which they were since everyone could basically only offer the same contract, he woulda been a fool to go somewhere other than the Dodgers.

They're gonna be World Series favorites every year, they already have Japanese infrastructure and they also have like an eight man rotation now so he won't get overused.

[BdotHobbs]

The baseball fan in me says this is such a coward move to go be the SP4 on a championship team

The realist in me says I don’t blame him at all

This sucks

[awz50]

Originally Posted by mikejones

MLB needs a salary cap if they want to be competitive.

Salary Cap won't fix everything

[packbusta]

Sasaki in Topps Series 2?

[eastbayak]

Originally Posted by Trueblue

I'm glad I got an unintentional headstart

Me2!

[kykid4uk]

Originally Posted by JRX

It would be interesting to know if most owners really care. Most of them are fine not competing so they probably don't care if its the Dodgers, Mets, or Yankees signing everyone.

Not only do they not care, they LOVE this. They can convince their fans that they simply can't compete financially with the Dodgers, Mets and Yankees and that becomes the built-in excuse for not spending at all.

And they don't want a salary cap, because that will also come with a mandatory spending floor, which a vast majority of the owners won't want to meet. Essentially, the inequality that fans complain about is actually a boon to the pockets of most owners.

[Trueblue]

Originally Posted by eastbayak

Me2!

What a release!! Inserts heaven!

[hammertime]

[kykid4uk]

The Blue Jays should be furious. They literally made a trade today for Myles Straw's TERRIBLE contract in order to get more international bonus money.

Sasaki's reps jerked them around to the point they made this trade believing they actually had a chance, and then hours later he announces he's signing with the Dodgers.

[fulltritty]

So can we officially rename them the Asian Dodgers or Pacific Rim Dodgers to be more PC?

[hotcalsun]

Where do we think he shows up with a flagship and sapphire RC?

Update?

Topps holds him back for 2026 and peppers us for a year with call-up Topps Now cards?

[eastbayak]

Originally Posted by Trueblue

What a release!! Inserts heaven!

Absolutely!!

Easily the product of the year!!

Not to mention, both of us (IIRC) hit an Ohtani WBC game-used auto relic!!

[eastbayak]

Originally Posted by fulltritty

So can we officially rename them the Asian Dodgers or Pacific Rim Dodgers to be more PC?

ドジャース, the greatest Japanese team in the MLB.