On Friday, Japanese ace Roki Sasaki introduced his intention to signal with the Los Angeles Dodgers, selecting the defending World Sequence champions over the San Diego Padres and Toronto Blue Jays, amongst different groups who confirmed curiosity in acquiring his providers. Sasaki, designated as an beginner due to his age and repair time, will obtain a $6.5 million signing bonus, or an quantity that pales compared to the phrases he would have fetched if he had been a extra conventional free agent.
Sasaki’s determination to affix the Dodgers has since given new life to unfounded conspiracy theories suggesting that he all the time supposed to signal with Los Angeles — you already know, as if underhanded dealings are obligatory to elucidate why a participant might need to be part of the game’s most profitable group in latest instances, not to mention one which occurs to make use of two of his Workforce Japan teammates, in Shohei Ohtani and Yoshinobu Yamamoto.
The rash of Sasaki conspiracy theories appears to stem from two gadgets specifically: 1) he was related to the Dodgers for greater than a yr on the rumor mill (hardly unusual lately for elite gamers), and a couple of) the Blue Jays, not the Dodgers, had the capability to take advantage of profitable supply, albeit solely by a pair million {dollars} (once more, it is hardly uncommon for crew high quality and different elements to function the deciding issue if the cash is shut).
No matter one thinks about all that, it needs to be famous Main League Baseball has already investigated the matter previous to Sasaki’s official posting and located no purpose to imagine there was any improper settlement in place between Sasaki and the Dodgers. This is extra on MLB’s investigation, in accordance with Jack Harris of the Los Angeles Instances:
Based on a league official, MLB performed an investigation previous to authorizing Sasaki’s posting to “make sure the protocol settlement had been adopted.” One other individual with data of the scenario, who wasn’t licensed to talk publicly, mentioned the league interviewed “quite a few events” in its probe, however discovered no proof to substantiate the rumors.
If nothing else, it is price noting the opposite finalists for Sasaki’s providers did not behave as if they believed it was a fait accompli he’d be part of the Dodgers. Certainly, the Padres stored their bonus pool powder dry till Friday morning. The Blue Jays, conversely, made a commerce to acquire more room simply hours forward of Sasaki’s announcement, within the course of taking over important cash within the type of Myles Straw’s contract.
