Roki Sasaki - It's Happening!!!

[fabiani12333]

Originally Posted by kykid4uk

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.

This person gets it.

The mid- and semi-big market teams can just coast while the biggest market teams blow them out of the water with spending and hoard the top players.

The Dodgers are becoming a Japanese-centric team that the league can market to the Japanese market -- MLB tv and merchandise revenue in Japan gets shared with all teams.

And the Dodgers and MLB are thanking the Japanese for letting them poach their best players so they can benefit financially from them instead of the Japanese league.

Shall I go on?

[Jaypers]

His signing bonus - $6.5M.

[Boring Derp]

It's official!

Will the Dodgers win over or under 160 games in 2025?

[JWBlue]

The only question that matters is will the competitive imbalance cause fans to lose interest meaning less money to the owners.

I can't say it will for certain.

[fabiani12333]

Imagine if, instead of being the all-time home run record holder in Japan, Sadaharu Oh was the all-time home run record holder in MLB?

The Dodgers/MLB are just poaching the best Japanese players like Japan is their minor league system lol!

[fabiani12333]

Imagine if Ohtani was still playing in Japan -- how worse off would MLB be in terms of marketing?

[ThoseBackPages]

the only pitcher the hobby cares about is Ohtani

[fabiani12333]

The Dodgers are secretly thanking dummy Ohtani for taking such a low contract and helping to recruit other Japanese stars from Japan.

[Trueblue]

More like Ohtani is thanking the dodgers for doing exactly what he told them to do

[JRX]

Originally Posted by Trueblue

More like Ohtani is thanking the dodgers for doing exactly what he told them to do

Its hard for me to believe there's no tampering at play here, but even if there was, what would the punishment be? Lose a draft pick? They don't need those anymore they'll just sign another FA.

[Trueblue]

I think we should all remember the gambling money situation from last year before accusing people of tampering with no proof.

[JRX]

Originally Posted by Trueblue

I think we should all remember the gambling money situation from last year before accusing people of tampering with no proof.

Its clear Ohtani deferred to bring over more guys from japan. The dodgers also clearly were going to match whatever Cohen offered for Yammamto and Roki bypassed getting 9 figures to come to the Dodgers. I don't know if the other two are giving him money under the table, but its not like this is all just coincidence and the Dodgers front office is unware of what's going on and is all "gee wow we had no idea we would have another Japanese player pick us"

Also, wtf did Canada do to Japan?

[fabiani12333]

Originally Posted by Trueblue

More like Ohtani is thanking the dodgers for doing exactly what he told them to do

Well, there's a level of mutual benefit, obviously.

Ohtani clearly likes living in the LA area, even with the fires, traffic congestion, and the homeless and crime problems.

But the Dodgers are making bank on him. The whole point of getting to free-agency and signing a free-market deal is to maximize your value. He clearly valued the creature comforts of LA and the relative proximity to Japan over maximizing what he's worth.

[Trueblue]

Both of you guys are assuming these japanese players think like Americans. They are already financially set for life and if it means glory/winning versus more money they don't even know how to spend, it's a no-brainer.

Japan is a country where people put back groceries on the correct shelves when the power goes out. Last I checked, people here loot.

[fabiani12333]

Originally Posted by JRX

Its hard for me to believe there's no tampering at play here, but even if there was, what would the punishment be? Lose a draft pick? They don't need those anymore they'll just sign another FA.

Maybe Roki wouldn't have signed with an MLB team if not the Dodgers. Maybe every key party behind the scenes knew this which is why MLB looked the other way.

[Boring Derp]

Originally Posted by fabiani12333

Imagine if, instead of being the all-time home run record holder in Japan, Sadaharu Oh was the all-time home run record holder in MLB?

What does that have to do with anything

[fabiani12333]

Originally Posted by Boring Derp

What does that have to do with anything

MLB is pulling away the best players from Japan. If that had been the case generations ago, Japan fans would have had to root for their best players like Oh on TV, get it?

[JWBlue]

Dodgers wager to win the World Series at +350 is looking like a CD at this point.

[rms13]

Originally Posted by fabiani12333

Imagine if, instead of being the all-time home run record holder in Japan, Sadaharu Oh was the all-time home run record holder in MLB?

The Dodgers/MLB are just poaching the best Japanese players like Japan is their minor league system lol!

Imagine if he came over and flamed out after 3 years and went back to Japan. Imagine if he came to MLB and played 20 years and hit .260 with 200 HR. I can imagine a lot of things. The talent disparity between MLB and NPB in Oh's day was much greater then it is today and it's still pretty big. In the history of baseball Ichiro and Ohtani and the only two Japanese players who've come to MLB and had no drop off from their performance in Japan.

Tyler Austin and Domingo Santana were the two best hitters in Japan last year. Why don't they just come to the MLB and do the same thing? Because they already played in MLB and had to leave because they suck.

I remember when the Red Sox got Dice K. He was a phenomenon in Japan going back to high school. He had the same hype and bidding war as Sasaki. He had a decent career in MLB but he definitely wasn't the perineal Cy Young winner people were hoping for. Sasaki may end up being the greatest pitcher of his generation but he'll probably end up being 20-30% worse then he was in Japan.

[NYRE2PECT]

Temperature is getting spicier…


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[PejaD]

Will the Dodgers create the first 7-man rotation?

[green4407]

Originally Posted by rms13

I remember when the Red Sox got Dice K. He was a phenomenon in Japan going back to high school. He had the same hype and bidding war as Sasaki. He had a decent career in MLB but he definitely wasn't the perineal Cy Young winner people were hoping for. Sasaki may end up being the greatest pitcher of his generation but he'll probably end up being 20-30% worse then he was in Japan.

Huh? Dice K went 15-12 his first year in MLB, then went 18-3 with a 2.90 ERA his second year. He then was the WBC MVP while going 3-0 with a 2.45 ERA, including beating Team USA and Roy Oswalt in the semifinals. Then he got hurt.

[fabiani12333]

Originally Posted by rms13

Imagine if he came over and flamed out after 3 years and went back to Japan. Imagine if he came to MLB and played 20 years and hit .260 with 200 HR. I can imagine a lot of things. The talent disparity between MLB and NPB in Oh's day was much greater then it is today and it's still pretty big. In the history of baseball Ichiro and Ohtani and the only two Japanese players who've come to MLB and had no drop off from their performance in Japan.

Tyler Austin and Domingo Santana were the two best hitters in Japan last year. Why don't they just come to the MLB and do the same thing? Because they already played in MLB and had to leave because they suck.

I remember when the Red Sox got Dice K. He was a phenomenon in Japan going back to high school. He had the same hype and bidding war as Sasaki. He had a decent career in MLB but he definitely wasn't the perineal Cy Young winner people were hoping for. Sasaki may end up being the greatest pitcher of his generation but he'll probably end up being 20-30% worse then he was in Japan.

Yes, a significant drop-off would have been reasonably expected. I was just using a hypothetical to make a point about the recent drain of elite talent from Japan to MLB. For what it's worth, this detailed analysis projects Oh would have hit 527 home runs in MLB: https://baseballguru.com/jalbright/a...lbright08.html.

[Tom Oates]

Originally Posted by Jaypers

His signing bonus - $6.5M.

That and his annual salary, AND... he can pretty much count on playoff checks EVERY year. You can't say that about Toronto or San Diego. Let's be honest, anyone should be able to live their life in luxury for their remaining years on $6.5 Million (Minus taxes and agent fees). Oh yea, let's not forget any endorsement deals he gets. The kid will be just fine! Go Blue!

[texmcpherson]

From a different perspective - Dodgers at +310 WS winners looks really good